First Night Not Great

RoseY · Post by **RoseY** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 8:25 am

Well my Remstar M Series Auto arrived yesterday. I spent the evening getting it set up and trying to fit my comfortlite 2. I have the simple cushion and the direct seals. Tried both, but had some leaks from both if I didn't stay on my back. I normally sleep on my side, so this didn't make it easy. The simple cushion seemed to be a little better, so I decided to try that for my first night.

Getting to sleep seemed to take forever and when I did sleep it wasn't for long. I kept waking up and having to try and stop mask leaks. Around 3 AM I finally took the mask off and went to sleep.

Here is some data from my first night:
Hours of use 4.4
90% pressure 10.5 (machine is set with a min of 8 and a max of 11)
Leaks 40.6 (Guess I really need to work on this, but part of it is from me lifting the mask away from my face to try and stop small leaks)
AHI 3.3

I'm not giving up, but I need to find a way to stop the leaks. I'll spend some time today trying to get a better fit on the mask. I am determined to make this work.

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 8:49 am

Hi Rose,

Your first night experience was pretty typical for most people -- dealing with mask leaks, especially when we turn to other sleep positions. Can make for a very frustrating, sleepless night. It will get better after you work on tweaks for your mask.

Here's a link to some topics about the ComfortLite 2. You may find a "fix" to make it stay put better. Me, I use a homemade strap around the front of the nasal pillows or the simple cushion.

LINKS to Respironics ComfortLite 2 nasal pillows mask topics
viewtopic.php?t=8066

Also, if you haven't done this already, you might want to rig a way to hang the main air hose overhead. Can help to keep the weight of the air hose from tugging on any mask:

LINKS to Hose hangers and methods of managing the air hose
viewtopic.php?t=10640

RoseY · Post by **RoseY** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 8:55 am

Thanks Rested Gal.

I'll check out the links. One thing I did change this morning is the ramp. They had it set to start at 4 and I think that is too low so I changed it to start at 6. At 4 I just didn't seem to be getting enough air.

Slinky · Post by **Slinky** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 8:56 am

Well, don't get discouraged. VERY few of us have a good first night w/PAP and mask! I'm glad to see you are determined to make this work. You will. It just takes patience (which "ain't" easy to muster at times!).

A little hint w/the CL2 nasal cushion: just shifting the headgear a LITTLE to the right or left can often stop a leak. Also, boy, how to explain this one ... just scrunching your upper lip a little can often stop a leak, assuming these leaks are at the cheek area and not the eye area.

And I'm not sure that this makes any sense but it "seems" like the more we use that same nasal cushion the more it seems to become compatible w/our face.

On the other hand, I've donned my darn CL2 nasal cushion and had it fit well w/no leaks the first 1/2 of the night, gotten up to go to the bathroom, donned the darn thing again only to have to play w/it and leaks the rest of the night OR VICE VERSA! I have NO explanation for that at all except maybe Murphy playing tricks.

Its taken probably close to or around 2 months before I could successfully actually sleep on my sideS w/o leaks w/this CL2 nasal cushion. (But then I can be a slow learner too).

Frankly, I've learned not to pay too much attention to my leak rate stats. These machines do compensate rather well for minor mask leaks. Some of my best mornings as far as how rested I feel have been w/somewhat high leak rates and low AIs. Surprisingly, even a relatively high HI hasn't been all that much of a problem if my AI is good.

Not to discourage you: as I said I can be a slow learner but it was 30+ days before I FINALLY felt better w/xPAP than BEFORE starting xPAP. Things got WORSE before they got better those first 30+ days! If I wasn't such a bull-headed old broad I'd have tossed that xPAP out the window during those first 30+ days w/absolutely NO regrets!!! None whatsoever. I got so tired and irritable I hated the whole world and everyone in it including myself and almost welcomed an excuse to start a fight w/anyone and everyone (especially my DME provider who DESERVED it!).

Basically, just starting out, don't let the minor leaks around you cheek area bother you so much. Definitely do NOT tolerate leaks around your eyes, and, of course, a large leak you are going to want to adjust your mask, but those minor leaks .... live w/them for awhile. You'll learn to get rid of them too in time. If the slight sliding of the headgear to one side or the other, or the lip scrunching doesn't work and the leak is minor, forget it for now.

At least this is what worked for me. And for some reason I don't get them much anymore finally.

oldgearhead · Post by **oldgearhead** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 9:04 am

I'm not sure if there is a better mask, for side sleeping, than the
ComfortLite 2 (aka: CL2). I've found the first thing to fail, at 6 months,
is the headgear.

Take a look at some of the fixes for the angle adjustment, be sure
to use the largest nasal pillows, that will fit, and last but not least,
use some kind if ointment to avoid a sore nose.

Slinky · Post by **Slinky** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 9:08 am

Yeah! I forgot to mention all those neat areas of adjustment of the CL2 fit in addition to the headgear!

I had to set those blue thingies at the top out past the slots allowed in the clear plastic and I had to turn the screw knob about 1/2 down for the tube length. And SLIGHTLY adjust the angle the nasal cushion fit on its the elbow.

RestedGal and OldGearHead are a LOT more EXPERIENCED xPAP users than I am. I've only got somewhat more than 4 months on xPAP. These two REALLY know their stuff and are a blessing to this forum!

RoseY · Post by **RoseY** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 9:09 am

Slinky wrote: A little hint w/the CL2 nasal cushion: just shifting the headgear a LITTLE to the right or left can often stop a leak. Also, boy, how to explain this one ... just scrunching your upper lip a little can often stop a leak, assuming these leaks are at the cheek area and not the eye area.

Thanks for the hints. I'm pretty sure I understand what you mean by scrunching the upper lip. You are probably right that I shouldn't worry about the small leaks right now. The more I tried to fix the small leaks the more large leaks I ended up with. I do have to be careful that I don't get air leaking into my eyes since I have a problem with dry eyes to start with.