Just got my Swift Nasal Pillows.
Is it normal operation for a stream of air to be blowing out the vent at all times? It's like blowing air through a straw. If I'm facing my wife, it's blowing right on her.
Other than that I love it.
Timo
Swift Nasal Pillows Exhaust?
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wading thru the muck!
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- Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 11:42 am
Yes this is normal. This is what clears the exhaled CO2 out of the chamber. Unfortunately with the Swift you will have to face away from your wife.
Sincerely,
wading thru the muck of the sleep study/DME/Insurance money pit!
wading thru the muck of the sleep study/DME/Insurance money pit!
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UKnowWhatInSeattle
- Posts: 148
- Joined: Tue Nov 16, 2004 7:20 pm
- Location: Seattle, Merica, Earth...
If she can self-hypnotize and think of a gentle breeze while sleeping on a beach in Tahiti...
It can also be handy for those middle-of-the-night visits from the cat who wants a not-well-defined "something". It is an effective anti-cat weapon.
Seriously, it is an adjustment you might need to make to use the mask that works best. I think the masks are pretty carefully calibrated so they exhaust the CO2 optimally. The Breeze has a more concentrated flow. Sort of more of a hurricane than a "breeze". It makes for an even more potent anti-cat weapon.
It can also be handy for those middle-of-the-night visits from the cat who wants a not-well-defined "something". It is an effective anti-cat weapon.
Seriously, it is an adjustment you might need to make to use the mask that works best. I think the masks are pretty carefully calibrated so they exhaust the CO2 optimally. The Breeze has a more concentrated flow. Sort of more of a hurricane than a "breeze". It makes for an even more potent anti-cat weapon.
I had the same problem. My wife sleeps to the right of me, and I just happen to like sleeping on my right side.
I took a 3' long piece of aluminum flat bar, and hung it off the head board.
I hung a pillow case off of that and hold it in place with a couple of clothes pins.
It keeps the air from blowing on her face all night.
When the bed is made in the morning, it's rather easy to remove and put aside until bedtime.
As an added bonus, the bar created a center line, so now I know when when my wife is hogging the bed when she crosses over the line...she can't dispute "The Line".
Regards
I took a 3' long piece of aluminum flat bar, and hung it off the head board.
I hung a pillow case off of that and hold it in place with a couple of clothes pins.
It keeps the air from blowing on her face all night.
When the bed is made in the morning, it's rather easy to remove and put aside until bedtime.
As an added bonus, the bar created a center line, so now I know when when my wife is hogging the bed when she crosses over the line...she can't dispute "The Line".
Regards
Trying is the first step towards failure.
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wading thru the muck!
- Posts: 2799
- Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 11:42 am
Hugh Jass wrote:As an added bonus, the bar created a center line, so now I know when when my wife is hogging the bed when she crosses over the line...she can't dispute "The Line".
Hugh! you should be glad when your wife makes it over to your side of the bed
Sincerely,
wading thru the muck of the sleep study/DME/Insurance money pit!
wading thru the muck of the sleep study/DME/Insurance money pit!
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Janelle
I've found the vent direction for the Swift is about 45 degrees downward, not directly out straight like the Breeze. My husband hated the Breeze, says the Swift doesn't bother him at all. Try turning up the heat on the humidifier so the air isn't so cold blowing on her. Maybe that will help. But if you don't have one you might want to get a hose cover or the heated hose. Hose cover works just as well, IMO, and is a whole lot cheaper.
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rested gal
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- Location: Tennessee
I'm a dyed-in-the-wool side sleeper, turning often from side to side.
The width of the Swift's "diffused" exhaust hits the bedcovers too easily for me...get's noisier when it hits things.
Breeze's exhaust is fine for me, but I can understand why it bothers a bed partner. It does shoot out quite a distance.
Aura's exhaust is be far the best design, imho. It exhausts in a single line straight up. Doesn't hit anything. I can even pull the cover almost completely over my head while side sleeping and the exhaust doesn't even hit it. Amazing.
The width of the Swift's "diffused" exhaust hits the bedcovers too easily for me...get's noisier when it hits things.
Breeze's exhaust is fine for me, but I can understand why it bothers a bed partner. It does shoot out quite a distance.
Aura's exhaust is be far the best design, imho. It exhausts in a single line straight up. Doesn't hit anything. I can even pull the cover almost completely over my head while side sleeping and the exhaust doesn't even hit it. Amazing.
Swift versus new "aura"
My new ''aura'' is enroute. I hope that it does a better job than the breeze comfort wise. I tried wearing br. several times, and the hard pc coming down the forehead face/was too much for me. No comfort. I never even got to the nasal pillow, or wore it to sleep at all. It's brand new in the box, sitting on a shelf, I'd sure be glad to sell it to someone in need...
So I'm still on the swift, and yes, the exhalation windy does feel strong, and when you turn on your side, you can feel it across to the other pillow. Guess no system is perfect.........that we sure know eh?
So I'm still on the swift, and yes, the exhalation windy does feel strong, and when you turn on your side, you can feel it across to the other pillow. Guess no system is perfect.........that we sure know eh?
rested gal wrote:I'm a dyed-in-the-wool side sleeper, turning often from side to side.
The width of the Swift's "diffused" exhaust hits the bedcovers too easily for me...get's noisier when it hits things.
Breeze's exhaust is fine for me, but I can understand why it bothers a bed partner. It does shoot out quite a distance.
Aura's exhaust is be far the best design, imho. It exhausts in a single line straight up. Doesn't hit anything. I can even pull the cover almost completely over my head while side sleeping and the exhaust doesn't even hit it. Amazing.
I've tried the Swift for the last two nights and have found the exhaust air to be a huge improvement over what I have been using, an ADAM Circuit nasal pillows. It is much less annoying and I can put the blankets much closer to my head than before. My AHI hasn't improved unfortunately. But otherwise I like it and it is comfortable. I think it would be better without the hard plastic buckles on the headgear. In that regard, the ADAM is more comfortable. They use velcro and it is much softer. But I would definitely recommend the Swift.
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Janelle
I'm sure others will correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the type of mask you use has anything to do with your AHI, that is dependant on the pressure settings of the machine you are using. Sometimes, if you are using an APAP, setting the lower pressure higher or lower can affect your AHI as does setting the upper pressure higher or lower.
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rested gal
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- Joined: Thu Sep 09, 2004 10:14 pm
- Location: Tennessee
Janelle, you're right about how pressure settings can affect the AHI. I'm far too untechie to begin to explain the complex details of how masks and autopaps work together, or to correct anything. I used to think what you said - that the type of mask isn't going to change what an autopap reports. But according to people far techier than I am, it seems they can. As I understand it, an autopap can only report what it senses as wave shapes. Some masks, especially those with narrow diameter tubes like the short connector narrow hose on the Breeze, the Swift, the Aura, the NasalAire II, the ComforLite, etc., can result in wave shapes that can confuse (for want of a better word) some autopaps into misreading some patients' breathing.
In other words, if the autopap is seeing wave shapes that are not giving a true picture of what's happening in the patient's breathing, the machine will not interpret correctly what's happening. Whatever it "thinks" it's detecting is what will appear in the data, right or wrong, and consequently will be presented as the AHI figure the next morning.
As SWS explained it to me recently:
"The bottom line is that since wave shape is used toward differentiation, there's ample opportunity for misinterpretation. Flow volume detection is not at risk, but wave shape is. That puts apnea misdetection in a much lower risk category than hypopnea detection, which can be misdifferentiated as a basic flow limitation. That skews the HI."
As I understand it (and I may not have understood clearly) ... if something like a narrow diameter connector hose changes the shape of a waveform enough to make an autopap think it's seeing a just a little flow limitation instead of the hypopnea that's really getting well underway, the machine is not going to report (or effectively treat) as many hypopneas as it should. In the data results, if it has marked fewer hypopneas than it should, the AHI will not be a correct indication of what really was happening with that patient's breathing during the night. The "H" part of the equation won't be right...consquently the "AHI" won't be right.
The machine's detection is probably not going to have a problem with a full blown apnea, but could have a problem with the subtler differences between a limited flow and a real hypopnea.
Detection being "a little off" might not make any appreciable difference to the treatment most people get when they mix or match masks and machines. However, being even just "a little off" could make a very big difference to some. Being a "lot off" could really affect some patients' treatment to the point of being almost completely ineffective.
Quite a few people (me included) do get essentially the same "feeling" of good results when they mix and match autopaps and masks. There's a caution, though, even in going by "how we feel". If a person is so sleep deprived that they aren't really a good judge of how they feel in the first place, they may not be a good judge of whether they are getting better or worse treatment with a mask that was not recommended for use with a particular autopap.
Some are so used to feeling terrible, that even a little bit of improvement would indicate to them that the treatment is working, when in fact it still wasn't working anywhere near like it should, or could, with a mask designed to work well with that autopap. Others do get good treatment, or "good enough" treatment mixing a narrow diameter hose mask with autopaps even though a particular mask's manufacturer does not recommend using it with an autopap.
When you really think about it, there's got to be a good reason when mask manufacturers themselves are willing to "not recommend" that their own mask be used with their own autopap. Back when only one or two were making narrow diameter tube masks at all, one could say, "Well, they just don't want you to buy a Breeze or a NasalAire since they didn't manufacture that mask - they want to keep you buying their own masks." But now that all the major manufacturers have come out with their own narrow diameter hose masks, it's more obvious that there is a technical reason for the warning.
I don't heed the warnings myself, and I do "feel" that I get good enough treatment. But, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'd get more accurate treatment with a mask designed specifically to work well with a particular autopap. Or maybe the discomfort of the mask would cause enough sleep disruptions that I'm better off with a more comfortable mask that is not recommended for my autopap and may be confusing the machine a little, but is still allowing the machine to provide "good enough" treatment for me. And there we are, back to a subjective opinion about treatment that I may or may not be a good judge of.
At any rate, comparing what AHI one gets with one mask, another mask, and another, may be a meaningless exercise. The AHI number any autopap comes up with depends a great deal on what kind of wave shape the mask and the patient's breathing are letting the machine see.
As far as I know, one narrow diameter tube interface (the Breeze) is recommended for use with a particular autopap (the 420E). It's my understanding that those two were designed to work together. Perhaps other narrow diameter tubes work about the same with the 420E, but I don't know.
In other words, if the autopap is seeing wave shapes that are not giving a true picture of what's happening in the patient's breathing, the machine will not interpret correctly what's happening. Whatever it "thinks" it's detecting is what will appear in the data, right or wrong, and consequently will be presented as the AHI figure the next morning.
As SWS explained it to me recently:
"The bottom line is that since wave shape is used toward differentiation, there's ample opportunity for misinterpretation. Flow volume detection is not at risk, but wave shape is. That puts apnea misdetection in a much lower risk category than hypopnea detection, which can be misdifferentiated as a basic flow limitation. That skews the HI."
As I understand it (and I may not have understood clearly) ... if something like a narrow diameter connector hose changes the shape of a waveform enough to make an autopap think it's seeing a just a little flow limitation instead of the hypopnea that's really getting well underway, the machine is not going to report (or effectively treat) as many hypopneas as it should. In the data results, if it has marked fewer hypopneas than it should, the AHI will not be a correct indication of what really was happening with that patient's breathing during the night. The "H" part of the equation won't be right...consquently the "AHI" won't be right.
The machine's detection is probably not going to have a problem with a full blown apnea, but could have a problem with the subtler differences between a limited flow and a real hypopnea.
Detection being "a little off" might not make any appreciable difference to the treatment most people get when they mix or match masks and machines. However, being even just "a little off" could make a very big difference to some. Being a "lot off" could really affect some patients' treatment to the point of being almost completely ineffective.
Quite a few people (me included) do get essentially the same "feeling" of good results when they mix and match autopaps and masks. There's a caution, though, even in going by "how we feel". If a person is so sleep deprived that they aren't really a good judge of how they feel in the first place, they may not be a good judge of whether they are getting better or worse treatment with a mask that was not recommended for use with a particular autopap.
Some are so used to feeling terrible, that even a little bit of improvement would indicate to them that the treatment is working, when in fact it still wasn't working anywhere near like it should, or could, with a mask designed to work well with that autopap. Others do get good treatment, or "good enough" treatment mixing a narrow diameter hose mask with autopaps even though a particular mask's manufacturer does not recommend using it with an autopap.
When you really think about it, there's got to be a good reason when mask manufacturers themselves are willing to "not recommend" that their own mask be used with their own autopap. Back when only one or two were making narrow diameter tube masks at all, one could say, "Well, they just don't want you to buy a Breeze or a NasalAire since they didn't manufacture that mask - they want to keep you buying their own masks." But now that all the major manufacturers have come out with their own narrow diameter hose masks, it's more obvious that there is a technical reason for the warning.
I don't heed the warnings myself, and I do "feel" that I get good enough treatment. But, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'd get more accurate treatment with a mask designed specifically to work well with a particular autopap. Or maybe the discomfort of the mask would cause enough sleep disruptions that I'm better off with a more comfortable mask that is not recommended for my autopap and may be confusing the machine a little, but is still allowing the machine to provide "good enough" treatment for me. And there we are, back to a subjective opinion about treatment that I may or may not be a good judge of.
At any rate, comparing what AHI one gets with one mask, another mask, and another, may be a meaningless exercise. The AHI number any autopap comes up with depends a great deal on what kind of wave shape the mask and the patient's breathing are letting the machine see.
As far as I know, one narrow diameter tube interface (the Breeze) is recommended for use with a particular autopap (the 420E). It's my understanding that those two were designed to work together. Perhaps other narrow diameter tubes work about the same with the 420E, but I don't know.
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Janelle
A narrower diameter hose on the mask would increase the pressure into the mask. Seems this could be a concern if one had several central apneas, not sure how it would affect others. But I would think that the pressure change would be so slight as to be negligible. I noticed that my pressure readings and general AHI were about the same when using the Breeze on the S7 as it was on the 420E, but then they work on different algorithms so who knows.
I noticed when I first got my Swift that the hose diameter was larger than the Breeze, so I would think it would work better with any APAP than a Breeze would, if hose diameter is a consideration in the machine determining real hypopneas.
I noticed when I first got my Swift that the hose diameter was larger than the Breeze, so I would think it would work better with any APAP than a Breeze would, if hose diameter is a consideration in the machine determining real hypopneas.