Nasal Pillows Constantly Leaking

needsleep49 · Post by **needsleep49** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 11:15 am

I am new to your website. I have been reading and have gotten a lot of tips from here for quite a while especially from rested gal and finally decided to join. I have been on cpap for about a year and I have a high pressure of 16. I have been struggling with my nasal pillows constantly leaking on my mirage liberty ff mask. I would have water in the nasal pillows. I have a hose cover and little covers I made for to cover part of the mask and the nasal pillows but it would still leak. I turned my humidifier down, heated the room more, have my hose elevated. I have tried everything. I have lost a lot of sleep. It is just frustrating and I have run out of answers. Could anyone help me or give me some advice?

Gerald · Post by **Gerald** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 11:25 am

Most of your rainout might be coming from exhaled breath.

You have enough room in the full face mask to try an experiment with absorbant material.

You could fabricate a "rope" of Bounty paper towell material....or maybe even some "panty-liner" material....by rolling it up.....and compressing it by tying it up with thread...or string....anything to make it smaller.

Put that inside your mask....and it just might soak up enough water so that it wouldn't p---s you off in the middle of the night.

Gerald

needsleep49 · Post by **needsleep49** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 3:59 pm

Thanks Gerald. I will definately try that tonight. I will try anything at this point.

Babette · Post by **Babette** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 7:32 pm

Honey, it sounds to me like you need to try ANOTHER MASK. Have you tried any other masks? Yes, I'm gonna recommend you try the NAII.

But try SOMETHING. This mask doesn't sound like your answer.

Good luck!!!!!
Babette

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 8:46 pm

Babette wrote:Yes, I'm gonna recommend you try the NAII.

The Liberty she's using is a Full Face mask. She may need a FF mask (which the NAII is not.)

needsleep49 wrote:I have been struggling with my nasal pillows constantly leaking on my mirage liberty ff mask.

needsleep49 · Post by **needsleep49** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 9:25 pm

Hi, Rested Gal,

I have read a lot of your past posts and I think you have really good ideas and good advice for people. I just want to commend you for that along with other people's posts that I have read. I used your idea about your tights (pantyhose) strap that you tie around the mask. That has really helped me and saved a lot of sleep and frustration. I just wanted to let you know that.

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 9:31 pm

needsleep49 wrote:Hi, Rested Gal,

I have read a lot of your past posts and I think you have really good ideas and good advice for people. I just want to commend you for that along with other people's posts that I have read. I used your idea about your tights (pantyhose) strap that you tie around the mask. That has really helped me and saved a lot of sleep and frustration. I just wanted to let you know that.

Thanks, needsleep. Glad that helped you. It's saved me a lot of sleep and frustration, too!

Babette · Post by **Babette** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 9:44 pm

Thought of something. You're not using any Ayr Gel, are you? Ayr Gel (or any other form of lubricant on my nose) makes me leak really bad.

Also, have you tried the larger version of the pillows? Often it seems that the larger pillows are counter-intuitive, but they often will help with a leakage issue.

Cheers,
B.

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 10:29 pm

Good suggestions, Babette!

needsleep, the kind of fix that MaryB used for her Hybrid mask (using a rubber band to change the angle of the nasal pillows part) might not be workable with the Liberty, but in case it gives you any ideas:

viewtopic.php?t=13882

Pictures of her fix are on page 2 of that topic.

jsmythe · Post by **jsmythe** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 7:55 am

[quote="needsleep49"]I am new to your website. I have been reading and have gotten a lot of tips from here for quite a while especially from rested gal and finally decided to join. I have been on cpap for about a year and I have a high pressure of 16. I have been struggling with my nasal pillows constantly leaking on my mirage liberty ff mask. I would have water in the nasal pillows. I have a hose cover and little covers I made for to cover part of the mask and the nasal pillows but it would still leak. I turned my humidifier down, heated the room more, have my hose elevated. I have tried everything. I have lost a lot of sleep. It is just frustrating and I have run out of answers. Could anyone help me or give me some advice?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 8:59 am

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions! Rested Gal, I like MaryB's idea with the rubberband between the posts and angling the nasal pillows. I think that will work on my liberty mask. I will try it tonight. Babette, I don't use AyrGel at all. I will try the larger pillows. Jsmythe, I think the condensation is from my mouth being open in my full face mask and then I will get this condensation in my nasal pillows too. But it has not been as cold at night in my room so I don't understand.

needsleep49 · Post by **needsleep49** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 9:02 am

Sorry that was me replying above. Forgot to log in.

jmaziarz · Post by **jmaziarz** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 8:25 pm

I've been using the Resmed Liberty for about 3-weeks and it has been great. I do find that the nasal pillows leak quite a bit though. My fix is to put a 4-5" piece of sports tape (cheaper than medical tape and stickier) over both pillows and the lower part of my nose. With the tape I find that the pillows stay in place all night and the leaks are gone.

What a great source of information this forum is. I'm so glad I found it! This is my first post of what I hope to be many more.

~Jer

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 8:51 pm

Welcome to the message board, Jer! And thanks for the good suggestion for a quick fix with tape.

Hope you keep posting...it's things exactly like what you mentioned that could help no-telling-how-many people out there who are reading, reading, reading, trying to find a way to make their masks work!

Any chance you could post a picture of how you tape the Liberty's pillows?

jmaziarz · Post by **jmaziarz** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 9:24 pm

Here are three pictures. Notice how the tape covers my entire nostril. I have found that leaving any part of my nostril un-taped allows tiny leaks to form.

Nasal Pillows Constantly Leaking

Nasal Pillows Constantly Leaking

Re: Nasal Pillows Constantly Leaking