Masks and irritation plus leaking

[jtoney]

I am having such a horrible time with masks that it isn't funny. Currently I am on an Airfit F10 full mask Large. Several things happened, and its been the same with the Quatro mask and other full masks that I have. The Airfit seems to be the one that cooperates the most. I seem to need the mask the be super tight to keep it from leaking. The masks aren't lasting a month, they start breaking down in about 2 weeks or so. I sleep with my mouth open, I can't fall asleep any other way. The mask pushes on my bottom jaw so much that it causes problems. The top of my nose is red from the mask as well. I feel like I need one thats wider but I don't know. I also seem to run out of water in my humidifier each night, its dry like the desert when I wake up. Its on humidity 2 with the temp at around 78 which is warmer than my bedroom. I've noticed that my quality of sleep has fallen and I am waking up during the night. I didn't do that in the beginning unless the mask started leaking.

[Julie]

1 - turn down or off the heater as it's adding to the problem and obviously not helping but drying up the water too soon.

2 - have you made an effort to sleep on your side so your mouth is not as 'open'? Have you tried wearing a soft cervical collar that keeps your head up, jaw closed and airway more open?

3. Have you tried loosening the straps to let the cushion inflate and do it's job? Overtightening, apart from what it's doing to your nose, may even be creating new tiny leaks by distoring the mask. Find the 'right' mask.... and do it lying down as faces change a lot then so fitting needs to take that into account.

4 - Try Padacheek.com 'liners' that'll help block some leaks and keep your nose protected.

[jayrod1980]

The Quattro Air and the AirSense F10 have the same replaceable cushion/mask, just different headgear. I find without the forehead cushion, the F10 puts too much pressure on the nasal bridge. The F20, aside from the awesome magnets, has a much improved mask design. Since the design of both rely on the "wings" to hold the top of the mask to the face, the F20 has a much better cushion for the nasal bridge. The only problem with the F20 is that the headgear upper straps are more restrictive if you have giant melon head like I do. I was able to loosen it to the bare minimum to lessen the pressure on the bridge. The beauty of the design of the diaphragm is that CPAP pressure pushes the cushion to the face, lessening the need for strap tightness. I've found that the best way to wear the mask is to keep it as loose as you can without losing seal while rolling over.

Also, having the correct size is important. The Simplus Mask didn't work for me because they gave me a medium. I don't know your insurance situation, but the DHM Tricare gave me has samples they use for sleep studies. It's in their best interest to find the best fit for you. I've been able to get mine to let me try out a bunch. After about 45 days and 5 masks I think I've found my "long term" mask. After this they just take in the dough from 3 month replacements.

[jtoney]

I have the F20 not the F10....sorry, I didn't look before I spoke.

[jtoney]

I had insurance until January, now I am on medicaid and reliant on them to get me what is needed. My current provider isn't in network and can't do an authorization so I get to see a new doctor out of town who probably will disagree with everything. Hard part here is that even though I have a diagnosis from a physician, medicaid doesn't accept it. So I can't get supplies or anything unless I pay full price out of pocket until I see their approved physician. Ok rant over.

I don't want to sleep on my side, its causing pain in my shoulder. I also seem to have made TMJ symptoms worse since getting on CPAP. I can't find a physician who can help that either (but I'll avoid that rant for now). I'm finding the leak is occurring at the bottom of my nose on both sides. I sleep with a ramp so I'm going to try mask fit tonight and see if I can get it to seal without tightening it so much.

[palerider]

anything unless I pay full price out of pocket until I see their approved physician.

ebay, amazon, I've never paid 'full price'.

[jtoney]

So I tried the mask fit program and I got the mask fitting good and loose; however, all bets were off for the ramp. During ramp the mask was way too loose. This is so frustrating. Then the leak was at the top of the nose on either side right into my eyes. I can feel it vibrating so that wakes me up.

[palerider]

So I tried the mask fit program and I got the mask fitting good and loose; however, all bets were off for the ramp. During ramp the mask was way too loose. This is so frustrating. Then the leak was at the top of the nose on either side right into my eyes. I can feel it vibrating so that wakes me up.

turn off ramp, get mask liners.

[robysue]

I I also seem to run out of water in my humidifier each night, its dry like the desert when I wake up. Its on humidity 2 with the temp at around 78 which is warmer than my bedroom.

Turn the humidity setting up more. Consider turning the temperature down some. Also, look at your leak data in SleepyHead, or at least on the machine's LCD. If you have a lot of excess leaks going on, that can also cause problems with the water in the tank being used up too soon.

I've noticed that my quality of sleep has fallen and I am waking up during the night.

How often are you waking up? How difficult is it to get back to sleep?

So I tried the mask fit program and I got the mask fitting good and loose; however, all bets were off for the ramp. During ramp the mask was way too loose. This is so frustrating. Then the leak was at the top of the nose on either side right into my eyes. I can feel it vibrating so that wakes me up.

What is your pressure setting? What is the starting ramp pressure set to? And what does your leak data look like?

I don't want to sleep on my side, its causing pain in my shoulder.

Before you started CPAP what was your favorite sleeping position?

I also seem to have made TMJ symptoms worse since getting on CPAP.

Do you have a TMJ night guard of any sort? If so, does it help?

[Okie bipap]

If you would like to try making your own mask liner, I made mine from an old, well-used tee shirt using a pattern I found at this web site:
http://montfordhouse.com/cpap/diy-cotton-mask-liner.pdf

For some reason, this will never copy as a link. Copy and paste onto your browser. The liner will fit medium and small sized masks, and can be enlarged to fit large masks.

[jtoney]

My pressure settings are:

AHI 1.95 but the average is 2.3
EPAP 11.00 cmH2O
IPAP 12.00 cmH2O


Before I got the machine I noticed my quality of sleep diminishing rapidly so I couldn't tell you my favorite position. Most likely on the side though in the last few months before machine I rolled over on my stomach. Now when I wake up I go back pretty quickly unless something triggers me awake fully. I don't get up for the bathroom at all though, before the machine it was once an hour.

I do sleep with a guard on my top teeth, it was created by my dentist a few years ago. If I dont use this, its horrible the next day. But my issue never fully goes away.

Last night I turned the ramp off and it was horrible. Everytime I moved I sprung a leak. This only really started being bad in the last couple of weeks. I replaced the mask silicon piece as well with no success. I've had 3 different masks and they all have leaked. As for the humidity, even when the leak wasn't showing on the machine, I was using water fully in the reservoir and finding my mouth very dry the next day. I had to pull the mask almost as tight as I could to keep the mask from vibrating and leaking.