newbie here with a question re dreamstation

[Kurezu]

Good day to all of you. just bought my first cpap machine (Philips Respironics Dreamstation auto cpap) and joined the forum yesterday. research was done before purchasing the machine and one of my many resources is this forum. so thank you all for the assistance. now i have a query hope one of you can enlighten me.

Prior using the unit last night i tried the check mask fit feature of the dreamstation. however after the 40 seconds therapy test it showed that i have a poor fit (red x mark). i am sure that the mask fits and no air leakages are found in the sides of the mask. the only air coming out is the air that jet out of the vent holes found in front of the mask. if i cover up the vent holes during testing i always get the green check. however if not covered i get the x mark.

now the question is does that mean that i need to cover the vent during therapy to receive the required pressure? ive read that the vent is used to vent out co2 and it should not be covered up. another question, if the vent is not covered do i still get the therapy needed?

btw im using the aspen full face mask.

[Wulfman...]

Good day to all of you. just bought my first cpap machine (Philips Respironics Dreamstation auto cpap) and joined the forum yesterday. research was done before purchasing the machine and one of my many resources is this forum. so thank you all for the assistance. now i have a query hope one of you can enlighten me.

Prior using the unit last night i tried the check mask fit feature of the dreamstation. however after the 40 seconds therapy test it showed that i have a poor fit (red x mark). i am sure that the mask fits and no air leakages are found in the sides of the mask. the only air coming out is the air that jet out of the vent holes found in front of the mask. if i cover up the vent holes during testing i always get the green check. however if not covered i get the x mark.

now the question is does that mean that i need to cover the vent during therapy to receive the required pressure? ive read that the vent is used to vent out co2 and it should not be covered up. another question, if the vent is not covered do i still get the therapy needed?

btw im using the aspen full face mask.

Categorically.........NO and YES.

I'm not familiar with that machine (they're really new) or mask, but you don't want to be covering up any of the vent holes. They're there to vent CO2......and should be considered in the numbers the machine records.

I don't know why you're not getting the "mask fit" approval from the machine.


Den

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[chunkyfrog]

Perhaps the mask resistance setting is not for your mask.

[Pugsy]

Something is wrong somewhere if the only time the machine okays the mask fit is with the vent blocked.
I don't know where...but I don't think that it is related to the Mask Resistance setting in this situation.
Mask Resistance on Respironics machines doesn't really have anything to do with leak calculations like the mask choice on the ResMed do.

You absolutely don't want to block the vent though.

If no leak is felt anywhere around where the mask touches your skin then look at all the connections to make sure they are all tight.

Are you male? If so, do you by chance have a beard or facial hair?

[Kurezu]

Something is wrong somewhere if the only time the machine okays the mask fit is with the vent blocked.
I don't know where...but I don't think that it is related to the Mask Resistance setting in this situation.
Mask Resistance on Respironics machines doesn't really have anything to do with leak calculations like the mask choice on the ResMed do.

You absolutely don't want to block the vent though.

If no leak is felt anywhere around where the mask touches your skin then look at all the connections to make sure they are all tight.

Are you male? If so, do you by chance have a beard or facial hair?

thanks for the immediate reply. yes im male, no facial hair. no leak around the mask either. the only air escaping the mask is thru the vent. checked the hose connecting the humidifier and mask all tight and secured.

could it be caused by a busted mask? called up my supplier and she said that despite the negative result in the check mask fit feature im still receiving the proper pressure for therapy. she said that the machine would automatically stop if im not receiving the required pressure. can i trust her on this?

[archangle]

I'm not familiar with the Aspen, but FFM's Full Face Masks have both an anti-asphyxia valve and a exhaust vent. If the anti-asphyxia valve was working improperly, you would get the symptoms you see.

The anti-asphyxia valve probably has a little flapper valve that opens or closes a hole to the outside of the mask. Air should only be coming out of the little screen section with small holes, not the single big hole.

[Wulfman...]

Something is wrong somewhere if the only time the machine okays the mask fit is with the vent blocked.
I don't know where...but I don't think that it is related to the Mask Resistance setting in this situation.
Mask Resistance on Respironics machines doesn't really have anything to do with leak calculations like the mask choice on the ResMed do.

You absolutely don't want to block the vent though.

If no leak is felt anywhere around where the mask touches your skin then look at all the connections to make sure they are all tight.

Are you male? If so, do you by chance have a beard or facial hair?

thanks for the immediate reply. yes im male, no facial hair. no leak around the mask either. the only air escaping the mask is thru the vent. checked the hose connecting the humidifier and mask all tight and secured.

could it be caused by a busted mask? called up my supplier and she said that despite the negative result in the check mask fit feature im still receiving the proper pressure for therapy. she said that the machine would automatically stop if im not receiving the required pressure. can i trust her on this?

Uhhhhhhh..........NO!
For the most part, the vast majority of machines will increase the volume of air on leakage to try to maintain the last pressure setting (with pressure ranges using an APAP) and if fixed pressure is used, it will do the same trying to maintain the fixed pressure.


Den

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[Pugsy]

could it be caused by a busted mask? called up my supplier and she said that despite the negative result in the check mask fit feature im still receiving the proper pressure for therapy. she said that the machine would automatically stop if im not receiving the required pressure. can i trust her on this?

I wouldn't trust that statement for one second. So I second what Wulfman says...No.
The only time the machine will shut off on its own is when 1....the Auto Off feature is turned on and 2....the leak is so big that the machine doesn't sense your breathing on the other end. For that to happen the leak has to be really big.

Now it wouldn't be impossible for the mask to be defective like a problem with the anti asphxia valve being stuck open so the air would be leaking out the valve and add that in to the normal venting then the leak could then be pushed up into the large leak territory and then when the vent rate is removed by covering the vent holes then that brings the leak down within acceptable numbers.

I am not familiar with the Aspen mask at all. In fact I had to google it to see what it looks like.
I have no idea where the valve is but you might look in your mask paperwork and see if you can find it and check to see if it is open or closed when under pressure.

[Kurezu]

i really dont know if there is a valve or not but the vent has a little rubber flap on it. no other holes are found in the mask except the vent with rubber flap. the picture below is for your reference.



said rubber flap is always open since their is pressure inside the mask.
should the rubber flap be inside or outside???? hmmm
unfortunately i do not have the paperwork for the mask.
when i recieved my unit the mask was already in the carry on bag. i had to call up my supplier to find out the brand of said
mask.

[Pugsy]

Do your mask fit check test and hold the little flap/valve down so that it doesn't fly open under pressure.

I believe these valves should be closed under pressure as they are designed to open up for breathing when the power fails and there is no incoming fresh air from the machine.

[archangle]

i really dont know if there is a valve or not but the vent has a little rubber flap on it. no other holes are found in the mask except the vent with rubber flap. the picture below is for your reference.

said rubber flap is always open since their is pressure inside the mask.
should the rubber flap be inside or outside???? hmmm
unfortunately i do not have the paperwork for the mask.
when i recieved my unit the mask was already in the carry on bag. i had to call up my supplier to find out the brand of said
mask.

Is there a big hole in the mask under that flap? Big enough to let all the air out? I suspect that hole is supposed to be closed off when the mask is pressurized and the exhaust air should come out of the vent with all the little holes.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any kind of useful documentation online about the Aspen mask.

[archangle]

From what little info I can find, that flap has to be on the inside. I couldn't find any useful information from the manufacturer online, but the pictures I can find don't show that flap on the outside.

See of that little rectangular tab it attaches to comes out. Put it back in with the flap inside and see that it seals the big hole when air comes on.

Shame on you Innomed, for not providing any useful documentation online, just some sales literature.

[Wulfman...]

From the image I downloaded last night from their website, there appears to be vent holes in the upper portion of the mask where the C02 would vent. If that's the case, then the "flapper" in the elbow should be shut when the mask is under pressure.
How it gets closed and from which side is something that needs to be explored. That "flapper" should be the anti-asphyxiation valve and would need to be open when there is no air pressure and closed when the air pressure is present.....and should actually shut the valve. It should not be a "manual" open/close operation and should happen as the pressure is either present or not.


Den

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[Kurezu]

Thank you all for the help.as per advice I attached the rubber thing on the mask making sure that the flap is inside the mask and viola... Positive result in mask fit check. Again thank you everyone for the help. I really appreciate the help and effort you guys give for newbies like me. Now doing the therapy for 6 days and I feel the difference on therapy vs off therapy.

[Wulfman...]

Thank you all for the help.as per advice I attached the rubber thing on the mask making sure that the flap is inside the mask and viola... Positive result in mask fit check. Again thank you everyone for the help. I really appreciate the help and effort you guys give for newbies like me. Now doing the therapy for 6 days and I feel the difference on therapy vs off therapy.

Glad to hear you got it figured out.


Den

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