3 nights with a new full face mask - Questions

[elader]

So after spending an hour with a very nice and patient person at the Apria DME in western Maryland, I walked out with a quattro FF mask. I was having a terrible time with the comfortgel nasal mask. She pointed out to me what should have been apparent - the cheeks on the right side of my face and left side arent equal depth from my nose. Thus, leakage from one side and pain from the other.

I must have tried every damn mask they had. The quattro ff mask felt the most 'correct' on my face. Having slept with it for three nights now, it certainly does NOT hurt. It sems to sort of float on it's gaskets, very nice. I actually like how my whole breathing circuit, including my mouth , is pressurized. Not worrying about mouth breathing is kind of nice.

It does have the tendancy, in the same spot as the confort gel, to leak - along the side of my nose. The machine thinks I snore more now. Maybe I am mouth breathing? My AHI is also up. I was hovering about 3.5-5 and now I am 5-7. But I feel OK. Maybe it's because I am on my back more due to the bulk fo the mask. The leak curves are still not great. No large leaks, but no straight line either.

All in all, waking up without pain is a great thing. However, I was hopnig there might be some FF specific knowledge to help me settle down with this thing.

[Gerald]

You may have to go with a nasal mask....and use 2" tape.

It's long been my opinion that we need to keep AHI under 2.5 to be sure that our blood O2 levels are where they're supposed to be.

With uneven facial structure, the nasal mask may be the answer.

I've been using the same mask for about 1-year....and I don't want to change a thing. My AHI average is running about 0.3

Gerald

[Wulfman]

You may need to bump your minimum pressure up a bit.

Den

[elader]

You may have to go with a nasal mask....and use 2" tape.

It's long been my opinion that we need to keep AHI under 2.5 to be sure that our blood O2 levels are where they're supposed to be.

With uneven facial structure, the nasal mask may be the answer.

I've been using the same mask for about 1-year....and I don't want to change a thing. My AHI average is running about 0.3

Gerald

You mean tape my mouth? I tried that and it didnt change my AHI or leak pattern. My leaks were NOT from my mouth. Also, don't you think the AHI is somewhat reflective of the original values you were measured at? I went from 74.5 to 5.

My issue with the comfortgel is PAIN. I did try all their other available masks, none of the nasal masks seemed to work. If I had an AHI of 0.3 and no pain, I wouldn't change a think either.

[elader]

You may need to bump your minimum pressure up a bit.

Den

Hey Den, yeah I was thinking about that. I am worried that then I would be cinching the mask down more and ending up with more leaks and discomfort. I am going to try the silicon earplug thing to try to buildup the low spot on my face/mask to prevent the leakage from that spot, and then let the Auto range out a lttle. Currently I have it tight at 9-12.

[deerhound]

elader, below are two nights in a row after I have been using the quattro for about 3 weeks. Some nights I get a nice leak line and others it's not quite so good. I took me a lot of playing with mask adjustments to find just the right place between too tight and too loose. Funny thing is I don't change the straps from the end of one night to the other and yet it fits differently every night. I still like the quattro and it is the best mask I have found for me so far.
Dale


http://i362.photobucket.com/albums/oo63 ... 1/1213.jpg
http://i362.photobucket.com/albums/oo63 ... 1/1214.jpg

[Wulfman]

You may need to bump your minimum pressure up a bit.

Den

Hey Den, yeah I was thinking about that. I am worried that then I would be cinching the mask down more and ending up with more leaks and discomfort. I am going to try the silicon earplug thing to try to buildup the low spot on my face/mask to prevent the leakage from that spot, and then let the Auto range out a lttle. Currently I have it tight at 9-12.

"All things being equal".......the Quattro (and UMFF) seal better if they're NOT too tight. The seal needs to expand from the air inside the mask to fit the contours of the face.

Den

[elader]

elader, below are two nights in a row after I have been using the quattro for about 3 weeks. Some nights I get a nice leak line and others it's not quite so good. I took me a lot of playing with mask adjustments to find just the right place between too tight and too loose. Funny thing is I don't change the straps from the end of one night to the other and yet it fits differently every night. I still like the quattro and it is the best mask I have found for me so far.
Dale


http://i362.photobucket.com/albums/oo63 ... 1/1213.jpg
http://i362.photobucket.com/albums/oo63 ... 1/1214.jpg

both your leak lines look better than mine have ever looked.

[deerhound]

Those two are both pretty good I was just showing the difference between nights. I have my BiPap set at 18" ipap and 10" epap, and once I found the sweet spot I was able to get pretty good lines. I have the top straps pretty loose and crank down pretty hard on the bottom ones. I start out loose when adjusting the bottom straps and just try to make minute tightening adjustments until the mask stops leaking. then when I roll to the side I normally have to tighten the side toward the pillow just a little more. I try to keep the mask high on my nose. It always seems the bottom strap an the left side of my face is considerably tighter than the one on the right. I have fat round face. I also started the top adjustment full out and then I keep tightening the nob one click at a time until it seals good around my nose. The mask moves a lot like a bellows and seems to pivot from my chin, where it doesn't move much. I have just tried Padacheek's pad for the forehead piece and it is more comfortable now.

Dale

[elader]

Those two are both pretty good I was just showing the difference between nights. I have my BiPap set at 18" ipap and 10" epap, and once I found the sweet spot I was able to get pretty good lines. I have the top straps pretty loose and crank down pretty hard on the bottom ones. I start out loose when adjusting the bottom straps and just try to make minute tightening adjustments until the mask stops leaking. then when I roll to the side I normally have to tighten the side toward the pillow just a little more. I try to keep the mask high on my nose. It always seems the bottom strap an the left side of my face is considerably tighter than the one on the right. I have fat round face. I also started the top adjustment full out and then I keep tightening the nob one click at a time until it seals good around my nose. The mask moves a lot like a bellows and seems to pivot from my chin, where it doesn't move much. I have just tried Padacheek's pad for the forehead piece and it is more comfortable now.

Dale

Well, it's a journey, and I don't mind that. As long as there isn't pain, I am happy to keep whacking away at it.

[dorourke]

elader
You should post the leakage line, I have had the same problems. But I would like to visually see the improvement.

Best regards

[Pineapple]

elader,

I have the same problem you do - my right cheek bone sticks out farther than my left. Try running a RG strap (basically a strap made out of thights) across the mask at the same level as your cheeks - on a 431 it is running right between the intake hose and the exhaust ports. I found the gental pressure of the RG strap helps the mask resist the urge to move around and pop leaks.

[Billy6]

I'd give it some more time. I have the same mask and found that it needs break-in time before you get the perfect fit. Also, with that mask, if you play around with it too much trying to cure the leak, just undo the bottom-right clip and re-fit it to your face and the leaks go away (at least in my case)

[john_dozer]

I have the same problem.

The difficult for me comes from the left and right sight being of unequal depths, but my forehead is relatively square. Because the forehead piece and mask won't twist at all in that direction, the forehead piece tries to keep the mask square creating a leak on the side of my face that is deeper.

I am going at two solutions.

1) The first solution was to get a mask that doesn't use a forehead piece. But I also need a FFM. So that leaves the Liberty, the Hybrid, the Zzz-mask, and Hans Rudolph 7600. Another possiblity is the Flexifit 432. It has a forehead piece more or less makes a small single point contact and will allow the mask to pivot (I think)

I tried the Zzz-mask. The thing seals well for me and very comfortable. But at my pressure (11), it whistles and is unusable.

I currently have the Liberty. I hate nasal pillows, but so far this is the only mask that seals for me at all. And I have to have it tight because the mouthpiece doesn't have enough curve for my face allowing leaks on sides. But other FFM give me leak problems, tight or loose. So I have to live with it for now.

I'm tempted to try the Hans Rudolph or Hybrid, but I've gone through so many masks I'm giving that a break.

2) The next solution is to figure how to modify the forehead piece on say an Ultra. I need to make my own cushion that will allow me to customize it for my face. I was thinking of getting some high density foam, cut it to shape, replace the mask cushion with the foam. Lash it to the forehead piece and slip one of those strap covers over that.

[daveuk]

You could maybe try a small pad of folded tissue or cloth under one side of the forehead pad. That should tilt the mask to one side to fit your face better.