robysue1 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 18, 2024 11:55 am
Movieman wrote: ↑Thu Oct 17, 2024 8:05 pm
Now with that said, my buddy told me that he can use any mask and he feels no difference in pressure or his nasal breathing. If I use the under the nose mask, I can immediately tell the pressure feels greater in my nostrils. It's also harder for me to breathe through my nasal passages, but doable at first.
Most of our noses have not read any physics texts about how you maintain air pressure in a semi-closed system. And as a result, how we
perceive the air being blown into the semi-closed pressurized system comprising the CPAP machine's blower unit, the hose, the mask, our nose (and mouth if using a FFM), and our upper airway often does not correspond to what a physics text would tell us is going on.
And when it comes to how our noses and mouths
perceive what's happening with how our CPAP is maintaining the pressure, our
subjective perception is far more important than what the physics books say is happening.
And this definitely affects the choice of mask for any individual CPAPer: Some people (and you are one of them) perceive any air flow directly into the nose that is not strictly from their own breathing as irritating. Other people don't. Some people (I'm one of them) perceive air flow on the
outside of the nose as both irritating and too cold (if the tube is unheated) or too hot (if the tube is heated). Other people don't.
Forget about pillows or nasal masks, as I feel like I'm suffocating in them immediately. I feel nothing of the sort with an over the nose FFM. Now, add in APAP and say I have an apnea in under the nose mask and my pressure kicks up, I will awaken with burning nostrils after using the mask a few days. Then it takes a couple of weeks after switching masks for my nostrils to feel better. I hoped a heated tube would help, but it didn't.
Again, the facts are: Your nose didn't read a physics text book on how pressure is maintained in a semi-closed system and what your nose is (subjectively) feeling is far more important than what physics says about maintaining pressure in semi-closed systems.
In other words:
Your nose turns out to be irritated when air (needed to maintain the pressure in the semi-closed system) is blown directly into your nose rather than into a mask that externally covers both your nose and mouth. The physics of what's actually happening in that semi-closed system is totally irrelevant:
Your nose knows it gets irritated. And
your nose takes a substantial time to heal. And
your nose is the nose that has to be reasonably happy in order for
you to keep using your CPAP night after night.
Now, it's a shame that a heated hose didn't help persuade your nose that it could deal with the way a nasal pillows mask or a nasal mask feels to your nose. But your nose is
your nose, and you can't really change how it reacts to what it perceives is going on when you put your mask on and go to sleep with the machine each night.
Do I get these symptoms because of a deviated septum or nasal valve issues, or a combination of them both? who knows. I've gotten feedback from people with deviated septum who can use any mask without issues while others suffer like me.
As I said before, it's not just folks with physical problems (like a deviated septum) that sometimes can't tolerate a nasal pillows mask or a nasal cradle mask. Some people's noses just don't like all the air being blown into the semi-closed pressurized system to go directly into the nostrils. Other people's noses don't mind that happening, but may object to having their whole tip being in the breeze because the whole tip is covered by a mask.
. It's frustrating because my nose bridge gets irritated especially in the winter with over then nose FFM, which is why I wanted to use the hybrid mask at least some of the time.
So perhaps the answer is to try to find a way to protect the nose bridge from becoming irritated. Have you ever considered using a mask liner designed for your full face mask? That might help protect the bridge of your nose.
Padacheek sells a mask liner for both the Resmed F20 and F40 full face masks. Here are the links:
Padacheek mask liner for F40
Padacheek mask liner that fits Resmed AirFit F10, AirFit F20, and Air Touch F20 masks
