Mask Help

[michgol]

I had a septoplasty and am able to use a nasal mask as opposed to a full face Very happy overall.

One of the masks that is overall working best for me is the Resmed P10 nasal pillow mask. I have had it for a week and I love the very little stuff on my face. However, I have a bit of a pillow sizing question as I am between medium and large I would like help on.

When I try the medium it is not as comfortable and I feel a bit like I am not getting enough air. I would have thought that with the pressure from the CPAP that it would be forced through and that the smaller nasal opening would not matter however during the ramp in particular with that cushion I feel like I cannot get enough air in.

With the large it feels great when I carefully put it on and can get a seal. However, if I am not super careful the outer layer gets caught on my nose and folds over on itself and leaks. If I am careful it will stay sealed well till I accidently bump the hose, which seems to happen once a night, and the seal gets broken. After that it will not reseal well and wakes me up.

Is the need to be super careful putting it on something I will get used to with the large, or a sign that I really need the medium?

Note I also have a dream wear nasal cushion mask. However, I really like the tube in front as opposed to coming down the sides of my face.

My machine is a resmed air sense 10 autoset. My settings are 7-12 with ramp that starts at 5.

[Jlfinkels]

Congrats on the successful surgery!

Start here for advice from the lanky lefty on fitting a P10 properly. https://youtu.be/_J4YDKszEpA

I use the P10 with large pillows, but I’ve got a pretty big honker and it just works for me. The video should hopefully give you something to work with going forward.

[GrumpyHere]

When I try the medium it is not as comfortable and I feel a bit like I am not getting enough air. I would have thought that with the pressure from the CPAP that it would be forced through and that the smaller nasal opening would not matter however during the ramp in particular with that cushion I feel like I cannot get enough air in.

With the large it feels great when I carefully put it on and can get a seal. However, if I am not super careful the outer layer gets caught on my nose and folds over on itself and leaks. If I am careful it will stay sealed well till I accidently bump the hose, which seems to happen once a night, and the seal gets broken. After that it will not reseal well and wakes me up.

Lots of people feel they cannot get enough air at low pressure regardless of the mask. The common recommendation is raising the minimum pressure to 6 or 7.

So try raising the ramp from 5 to 6. Or turning ramp off altogether.

If you have a spare medium and don't mind DIY experimentation you could try enlarging the opening.

Regarding the seal breaking with the large pillow:

i was wondering if you had tried lansinoh lanolin cream? it won't harm the mask. the lanolin helps to sooth the skin and it's even slightly tacky so it can help somewhat in keeping the mask in place.

you can find it in the infant care aisle of grocery or drug store. it's used by nursing mothers to sooth sore nipples from breast feeding.

There is also a report of NozeSeal being successful in keeping pillows in place.

I tried out NozeSeal last night. It worked with my dreamwear nasal pillows. It was a little clumsy to get the pillow through the hole. They really stayed in place during my left to right side tossing/sleeping. I think I might try it with the medium pillow because it seemed slightly pinched but not too horrible. Of course, I don’t want to pay so much for them and will attempt the DIY suggestion.

[michgol]

Thanks for the thoughts.

I have tried some lotions. The one I have is an aloe based cream that I find makes all of the nasal pillows fit and feel a bit better.

That said the problem I am having with the large is that the silicone is folding over as unless I am extremely careful it catches on my nose.

I am going to try to raise the min pressure on the ramp or turning off ramp. I had tried to turn off ramp before and that was very bad for me in general. However, now that my surgery is done no ramp may be good for me.