What can I do until time for a new mask?

[Spot123]

Hi
I have been having more and more trouble with leaks for the past month, which cause me to wake up with dry mouth and/or dry eyes. I have 3 masks at the moment -- F10, F30 in small and medium, Dreamwear FFM in medium (I had a small too but ruined the holes). I can't go back to DME for another one until April. So I need to figure out how to make these work for me until then. Will try nasal or pillow next. With all masks, I find that when the pressure gets to 12-14 range, it starts causing massive leaks and the mask literally lifts from my face somewhere. If I tighten to prevent this, I noticed the air goes up into the back of my eyes. I can feel the pressure under my closed eyelids. My only recourse is to turn the unit off and then back on to reset pressure down low. I've rigged a piece of medical tape across the bridge of my nose to form a baffle under my eyes to keep any air from the leaks into my eyes. Works ok for now but some nights I rip off in my sleep.

I have concluded that the F30 is not really designed for my shape nose (I have an older post about that). There is a huge gap between the tip of my nose and the silicon. It gets smaller strapped in but never completely goes away. After I found I had better luck with a medium in the Dreamwear, I convinced the DME to send me a medium F30 to try out. I had a couple good nights with it but then blotto. I also noticed I end up with dry mouth because it opens up when I use the F30 at higher pressures but this happens less of often with the Dreamwear.

I have had a few nights where I found the "sweet spot" and got the air holes lines up with my nostrils. I can tell because the noise goes to almost nothing and it feels like I have nothing on. But that has been so rare since December.

Attaching some Sleepyhead plots. Looking for anything I can try. I did get a liner from Padacheek for the Dreamwear. Used it for the first time last night -- it worked great in that (1) the leaks didn't make as much noise and (2) it buffered the air so the leaks didn't wake me up as usual *but* I was pretty sure it was very leaky. I feel like I couldn't get a good seal with the fabric and sometimes it shifted so it blocked the airhole. Got a little worried about that.

[Spot123]

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[jim22]

Your insurance won't cover it, but you could purchase a mask on your own, check cpap.com. for a complete mask, you may need a copy of your prescription, but you can also buy the mask as parts and assemble it yourself.
Jim

[babydinosnoreless]

Is it the small frame or the small cushion you need for the dreamwear? I have a backup small frame I could send to you but my cushion is medium. I too am struggling to find a leak free solution.

[zonker]

Hi
I have been having more and more trouble with leaks for the past month, which cause me to wake up with dry mouth and/or dry eyes.

you may want to search you tube for any mask fitting videos particular to you masks.

good luck!

[Spot123]

Thanks all for the suggestions. I do wash them each day. I may try forgoing my "nighttime lotion routine" to see if that helps. I have watched some videos on mask fitting both from the manufacturers and others on youtube.

I understand about loose fitting but there has to be a limit on how loose, no? As in, if it's too loose, the mask floats up at higher pressure. I will keep trying but what I really don't understand is how it all seemed to work better when I first started therapy and worse now.

I'm willing to buy off-insurance but don't want to throw money away either. Can anyone post a photo of nasal pillows in small and medium? With a coin or something to compare for scale? Would appreciate that. Thanks.

I did watch with interest the recent reviews of the Bleep system.

[poppi2]

..... Can anyone post a photo of nasal pillows in small and medium? With a coin or something to compare for scale? Would appreciate that. Thanks....

Most of the masks have an online fitting guide. Typically a .pdf file that you can print in full size, sometimes with the outline of a coin.

[Pugsy]

Give me a little bit and I will try to get some pictures for you.

Check back later this evening...I got some other stuff to do first.

[Janknitz]

First, you can order any mask you wish from our hosts at CPAP.COM. You can purchase "return insurance" on most masks and try them out to see if they will work. You will have to upload a copy of your prescription. It's not covered by insurance, but may be worth the out of pocket costs to find the right mask. You can also purchase mask parts on Ebay and Amazon (and complete masks on Amazon as well--without a prescription).

Secondly, most of the masks you are using are air cushion masks. The reason we talk about loose fit is that the air cushion cannot do its job when it's mashed up against your face from tension that is too tight. So there has to be room for the cushion to fully inflate.

Your machine has a "mask fit" feature. What this does is put the pressure up to your set maximum, so you can adjust the mask to work at full pressure. Here's how, once you've engaged that setting:

1. Lie down in bed.
2. Put the mask on your face with the straps very loose. Turn on the machine, it WILL leak.
3. Now tighten the straps just enough to stop the leaking. Always start with lower straps first, you want the cushion to fully inflate around your nose and hug it with as little pressure as possible so that it doesn't cause sores. This also minimizes leaks into your eyes. If you have to have more pressure from the straps, pressure around the lower part of your face is better, because there's a lot more padding.
4. Move into your normal sleeping position--if you move around a lot then try each side. Make very minute adjustments to stop any leaks that occur when you lie in different positions. Small corrections, trying not to mash the mask to your face.

You might need to tighten up the mask a little at low pressures, but remember that you want that cushion to be fully inflated to match the contours of your face and not "blow" when the pressure reaches your maximum.

Sometimes a mask liner will help, depending on the design of your mask. You can look at liners at Padacheek.com, made beautifully by one of our members, Karen. CPAP.COM also has mask liners for sale.

Whatever your nightly face cream is, be aware it may be affecting the integrity of the material the cushions on your mask are made of. Clean skin is the best contact for mask to face.

Are you certain you need a full face mask? They are leaky almost no matter what because there's so much surface area that has to seal. Nasal cushions and nasal pillows are MUCH easier to get a good seal. It's worth working on whatever issues you have that require a full face mask to be able to use a mask with a smaller footprint. A lot of us thought we were obligate mouth breathers because we opened our mouths out of air hunger when we had apnea. I was very surprised to find I can easily use a nasal mask with CPAP.

[LSAT]

My pressure range is 12/20..I use FF masks and have never had a problem with the mask lifting off my face. My leaks are virtually ..zero.

[Spot123]

Thanks jankitz. I just tried using the mask fit. Let's see what happens tonight. But any pressure higher than 12 feels like my eyeballs are going to pop out.

Anyone use nasal mask? I see lots of people using pillows but not a lot with just nasal mask. Would nasal masks have similar leak problems?

[babydinosnoreless]

Thanks jankitz. I just tried using the mask fit. Let's see what happens tonight. But any pressure higher than 12 feels like my eyeballs are going to pop out.

Anyone use nasal mask? I see lots of people using pillows but not a lot with just nasal mask. Would nasal masks have similar leak problems?

I use a nasal mask, the N20. Yes I have similar leak problems. It is fine till I fall into a deep sleep then bury my face in the pillow. It worked well until I bumped my min pressure to 11 and since then it has been leaking quit a bit despite me putting a new cushion on it.

[Spot123]

To close this topic up, after seeing some posts from Okie pap offering parts of a Phillips Dreamwear mask system, I realized some parts are interchangeble. So I purchased nasal pillows and headgear off-insurance. These work with the frame I already had from the face mask. Much fewer leaks. Slept 5+ hours without waking for 3 nights now.

[palerider]

To close this topic up, after seeing some posts from Okie pap offering parts of a Phillips Dreamwear mask system, I realized some parts are interchangeble. So I purchased nasal pillows and headgear off-insurance. These work with the frame I already had from the face mask. Much fewer leaks. Slept 5+ hours without waking for 3 nights now.

Just to emphasize this... your mask comes apart, all those parts can be bought separately.

My first mask, a Mirage Quattro, the elbow that the hose connected to kept breaking, rather than get a new mask, I just bought a replacement elbow on eBay. MUCH cheaper! By the third elbow, they'd gotten smart and redesigned it.. that one never broke.