Dream Wear Mask - My opinion

[Luthie2006]

Does anyone know what short hose may work with Dream Wear? Pugsy: How did you like it last night, your first night? The problem for me is that hooking up the hose to my head, I feel my hair pull for some reason and can feel the weight of the large hose on my head. This is a small price to pay though. I also have to put my hair in a pony-tail and put it in between the head gear because the head gear tends to slip up on the back of my head for some reason.
Only negative to having another short hose, is that it is one more hose to have to clean in the morning. Do they make a short hose for Dream Wear and I wonder why it was not included in the package?

[jilliansue]

I know that I must have at least one short, lightweight hose in my box of All Things CPAP. Perhaps from the Dream Weaver cloth mask or some other one.....I am going to look through when I get home this evening. I will post what I find out.

[Luthie2006]

But does any short flexible tube in our CPAP hose/mask collection fit the Dream Wear elbow tube to connect to the big hose?
I sure hope Pugsy has had her coffee too this morning, so she can write us her opinion of Dream Wear. So far so good for me!

[garagelogician]

I posted a review, I will link to it rather than repost it here.
viewtopic/t108215/New-Dreamwear-Nasal-Mask.html

As for the lack of a short and lightweight hose, I agree that it might be nice to see how one would work with this mask. I'm going to purchase this one and will report back how it works. https://www.cpap.com/productpage/circad ... -tube.html

I also don't care for the included cheek pads (but I don't need them yet as the mask is very comfortable)...they are just too thick for this mask. A thin wrap like Resmed uses on the Swift or Airfit lines would work better I think. Maybe Karen at Pad-a-Cheek can come up with a lighter wrap, like with the material she uses for mask liners.

[Pugsy]

Pugsy will you hurry up and drink your coffee, I've had 2 cups already and I am anxiously awaiting your reviews .

Okay, I think I am ready.

Though I don't really have a lot to report. This was such a big change (in more ways than one) that I anticipated not having a perfect night and I ended up being right. I know my body and how it responds and stuff like that.

Wasn't a horrible night but wasn't an "OMG what a great mask" night either.
I used the small cushion...didn't bother to measure (don't have a printer) but the small felt fine.
I do like the softness of the cushion.

First of all the air blowing on the nose area, even if it is a small area, was a bit weird to me...felt like it was leaking when it wasn't but feeling like it was enough to wake me during the night several times which of course was unwanted.
I miss the diffuse venting of the P10 ...the venting on the cushion often seemed to hit the bed covers and bounce back in my face and that woke me up a lot.
It's getting colder here at night be windows are still open so I was probably doing a lot of snuggling with the bed covers up around my face.
In terms of vent noise itself...not a deal breaker. While not silent like the P10, the fact that the venting is divided between the cushion and up at the top of the frame makes for it not being particularly noisy.

I did use the side strap covers last night but am going to take them off for tonight. Just a little too bulky to suit my preferences (remember less on my face and head). Though they were quite comfortable and I had no lines on my face this morning. I am going to try it without any side covers tonight and if I get marks tomorrow then I will look to see if I have something that isn't so bulky. I don't think the thin ResMed covers will quite wrap around the side things but I think I have some somewhere that I could try.

My biggest issues right now...the bouncing of the vented air back onto my face and the "leak" at my nose that isn't a leak. Both woke me up a lot which is a big annoyance but both are fixable in that I will learn to keep the covers away and I will adjust to the leak feeling that isn't a leak. It's a matter of subconscious adjustment on my part.

The lack of a short flexible hose...ended up not being as big of an issue as I anticipated but I think that is more because of the way I have always routed my hose anyway.
My typical hose routing is laying on the bed routed up around the top of my bed pillow and then down to my face. So the routing to the top of the head really wasn't that much of a difference and I really didn't notice the not so flexible ClimateLine tugging on things enough to be an issue. I might still prefer adding the flexibility of something like the Featherweight hose but will decide on that later.
I can certainly see where it could be a potential issue for some people depending on how they normally route their hose to start with.

No issues with air flow though...no suffocation issues during the night except for one brief time when I woke up and I was on my side and my arm was laying across my head squishing the other side just a little. Have no idea why my arm was up there.

Overall it is quite comfortable. The silicone is super soft in both the cushion and the side thingies.
Will this new mask replace my long term nasal pillow mask preference...I doubt it but then that wasn't the reason I decided to try it anyway. I just thought it was something that looked interesting and new in design and worth trying.
I do like the lightness of it. Once it is on it sort of disappears which is one of my preferences.
I have no idea why they put that second tiny back strap on the headgear...as it doesn't appear to do much.
I may be a candidate for a small frame but at this point I don't think that frame size is a deal breaker for me...I know I am borderline as I had to snug things up a bit and the snugness was initially a bit annoying.
I will have to think on whether I want to invest more money in this mask with getting a small frame.

Overall...the multiple wake ups annoyed me but wasn't unexpected since this is so new and it's so totally different from what I have been used to. My brain needs to learn that air blowing on my skin isn't necessarily a leak.

My leak line last night...actually quite good for me...couple of times I was up around 22 L/min for about 30 minutes which probably was a little mouth opening but I slept through those times and the rest of the time was pretty much total flat 0.0 leak which means it didn't move around much.


I suspect that it will take a few nights for the brain to get adjusted to this mask so I will precede with a few more nights testing. I don't "hate" it...but then I don't ever particularly "love" any mask as I have yet to find one that is totally 100% perfect in all aspects. I just want the mask to have more pros than cons.
For tonight...I will lose the fleece side strap covers as the bulk annoyed me.

[Pugsy]

Regarding short hoses....unless they have some sort of special connection at one end then any short hose should work. The Nano short hose won't fit on one end because of the flange for attaching to the mask but the other end would work...
My first thought is the DreamWeaver Featherweight hose. From the pictures it looks like one end would slide into the long hose and the other end would slide over the plastic thing on the mask frame.
I used to have one in my donations stash but I think I gave it away...darn it...but will look to day to make sure.

Only negative to having another short hose, is that it is one more hose to have to clean in the morning.

That's assuming someone cleans hoses daily and I sure don't do that. Way more "work" than I want to do and I simply don't see the need.
Even my P10 short hose only got washed when the headgear needed shrinking (maybe once a month) and then it was washed because washing the headgear only meant removing the headgear and that again was too much work.

[Luthie2006]

Thanks Pugsy for your views and opinions: I pretty much felt the same way with the air. When I kept hearing the "air rushing" I thought that the air was leaking but I put my finger around the nasal area, and I couldn't feel any air escaping. It does have the sounds of "rushing/leaking air." But I don't think that it was. The "Jury is Out" on whether I would get a short hose. I do feel tugging at my head with no short-hose, but I am sure it is the way I have the slim line hose draped around the headboard. If I put the hose on the side of the bed, it feels even heavier on my head. I haven't figured out either what that tiny thin strap in the back is for.
Pugsy: Did you feel the headgear slipping up on the back of your head? Do I like it better than nasal pillows? For now, because I have chronic issues with stuffy nose from CPAP air, I think the air gets disbursed a little more widely on the Dream Wear mask than Airfit Pillows. I do like the Airfit Pillows P10 also, but the constant direct air into my nostrils makes me stuffy. It's a toss up. I will have to wear the Dream Wear mask a little more to see if that will be "My forever permanent mask."

[nanwilson]

Thanks Pugsy, I am in the same frame of mind as you, I don't like air blowing back at me either. Sometimes my P10 will annoy me with an air flow from hitting my spare pillow that lays beside me, and I have to roll over to get away from it. . I tried that nasal mask a long time ago, (I think it was the Optilife cradle with the open end ) and I HATED the air blowing on my nose & face. I kinda had that idea in the back of my mind when I first read about this new mask.
For those that find the headgear slides on their hair, remember the fix with the velcro tab at the back of the strap.... easy way to stop the sliding. Use the rough side of the Velcro ( use one of the self sticky type) and just stick it to the inside of the strap. It will just be rough enough to keep the strap from sliding up but will not hurt your hair.
Cheers
Nan

[Luthie2006]

Thanks Nan, for the tip on the head gear sliding up. I never heard the velcro one. So just buy a piece of self-stick velcro (both sides?) and stick it to the inside of the head gear and the other side sticks to your hair?

[Pugsy]

Did you feel the headgear slipping up on the back of your head?

No, I felt no movement of the headgear on the back of my head at all with the DreamWear.
Now I do get that movement sometimes with the P10 or even the Swift FX but it was never a huge issue for me to have it happen as the nasal pillows would still stay in place no matter where that back strap ended up.

Do I like it better than nasal pillows?

No. Not at this point in the evaluation process but remember I have been using nothing but nasal pillows since May of 2009. I am not doing this experiment really looking to change anyway.
Just wanted to try something new for the fun of it.
Also bear in mind I am not experiencing any nasal issues with nasal pillows because I just max out the humidity and it works well that way for me.

[nanwilson]

Thanks Nan, for the tip on the head gear sliding up. I never heard the velcro one. So just buy a piece of self-stick velcro (both sides?) and stick it to the inside of the head gear and the other side sticks to your hair?

Yup... just use the rough sided piece.. not the smooth. I actually keep a whole roll of the stuff, you would not believe on what it comes in handy for .
The underside of my machine.. no more sliding there either... especially in the motorhome.
Straps that no longer stick to the other side.
Keeps my hose cover perfectly attached to each end of the hose.
In my motorhome, I string an extension cord from the bottom of my bed to the top and Velcro the cord to the wall, since there is no plug at the head end of my bed.

Many, many uses Just call me the Velcro queen

[RogerSC]

Yes, I looked at that short SleepWeaver featherlight hose on cpap.com first, but it looked like it had one special end on it for the SleepWeaver mask end, rather than a "universal" connector. That's why I ended up looking at the short hose that I posted above. I'll be interested to hear if that "featherlight" hose will work, since it would be a better choice than the other short hoses that had the "universal" connectors on them.

[Pugsy]

Yes, I looked at that short SleepWeaver featherlight hose on cpap.com first, but it looked like it had one special end on it for the SleepWeaver mask end, rather than a "universal" connector. That's why I ended up looking at the short hose that I posted above. I'll be interested to hear if that "featherlight" hose will work, since it would be a better choice than the other short hoses that had the "universal" connectors on them.

That's what I looked at too at cpap.com and the ends are different but I am wondering if one end slides into the long hose and one end goes over the mask outlet thing.
Since someone here already thinks they have a Featherweight stashed away I am waiting to see what they say about it working with the DreamWear before I go spending any more money.

[curems]

I'm a newbie here so I'm not making a comparison to a mask that I've settled into for a long time (this is actually my 7th mask in just under 3 months!)

First of all the air blowing on the nose area, even if it is a small area, was a bit weird to me...felt like it was leaking when it wasn't but feeling like it was enough to wake me during the night several times which of course was unwanted.
I miss the diffuse venting of the P10 ...the venting on the cushion often seemed to hit the bed covers and bounce back in my face and that woke me up a lot.
It's getting colder here at night be windows are still open so I was probably doing a lot of snuggling with the bed covers up around my face.
In terms of vent noise itself...not a deal breaker. While not silent like the P10, the fact that the venting is divided between the cushion and up at the top of the frame makes for it not being particularly noisy.

I had just gotten started using the P10 thanks to Pugsy's information about them but my leak rates were lower with the DreamWear (and the jury is still out for me on nasal pillows due to nosebleeds and cauterizations). I've felt small leaks from every mask I've used and I've never had large leaks so I can't make a good comparison on that except that my leaks according to SH seem to be better with this mask. As for the venting issue, I tend to get hot so vented air hitting the covers isn't an issue for me.

I did use the side strap covers last night but am going to take them off for tonight. Just a little too bulky to suit my preferences (remember less on my face and head). Though they were quite comfortable and I had no lines on my face this morning. I am going to try it without any side covers tonight and if I get marks tomorrow then I will look to see if I have something that isn't so bulky. I don't think the thin ResMed covers will quite wrap around the side things but I think I have some somewhere that I could try.

I had no intention of using the covers but I needed them because the medium frame is too big for me and the bulk adds enough to make it work for me. I'm looking forward to getting my small frame and see how that works. I can try without the covers at all to see how it feels and/or with the covers if I think I need them for comfort or fit.

The lack of a short flexible hose...ended up not being as big of an issue as I anticipated but I think that is more because of the way I have always routed my hose anyway.

I had never had a hose go over my head before and thought this would be an issue for me. I'm not claustrophobic but couldn't image having a hose go over my face and over my head. Even without it going over my face, I didn't know how I'd react to having it on top of my head. I was shocked by how comfortable I found it. The only issue I ran into was when I scooted my pillow too close to the headboard and the hose would get squeezed so it would pull on the mask but that is easily solved. I don't see any need of a short hose for me.

No issues with air flow though...no suffocation issues during the night except for one brief time when I woke up and I was on my side and my arm was laying across my head squishing the other side just a little. Have no idea why my arm was up there.

Same here - the air flow didn't seem to be affected unless I intentionally pressed on one side while laying on the other.

Overall it is quite comfortable. ...
I do like the lightness of it. Once it is on it sort of disappears which is one of my preferences.
I have no idea why they put that second tiny back strap on the headgear...as it doesn't appear to do much.
I may be a candidate for a small frame but at this point I don't think that frame size is a deal breaker for me...I know I am borderline as I had to snug things up a bit and the snugness was initially a bit annoying.
I will have to think on whether I want to invest more money in this mask with getting a small frame.

I find it very comfortable and love the low profile but I do need the small frame, not a deal breaker as I am already happy with the medium but the larger frame causes the top to slide too much on my head affecting overall comfort, leaks and the hose pulling on it. I'll post an update on the small frame and maybe my experience will be helpful to you, Pugsy before deciding if it's worth a try to get the smaller frame. For all you've done helping me, I'd be thrilled if I can offer something in return.

[RogerSC]

That's what I looked at too at cpap.com and the ends are different but I am wondering if one end slides into the long hose and one end goes over the mask outlet thing.
Since someone here already thinks they have a Featherweight stashed away I am waiting to see what they say about it working with the DreamWear before I go spending any more money.

Me, too *smile*.