Activa and Aura after one week. Aura tricks of the trade?

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 5:54 am

O,

Which pillows are you using? I think our instiincts are to use the larges first since we figure they'll cover the most area and can't hurt our nares since they're made so soft and pliable. However, I do better with the mediums and have switched permanently to them. I used the larges in the beginning but don't anymore.

Also, the strap across the nosepiece might be a better idea to keep the pillows in place if they are leaking somewhat. This way you'll position them correctly at first and the strap/pantyhose won't let them move out of place.

I'm so sorry your night was not as expected, but it can take a little tweaking. It is worth it, though, when you get it right.

ProfessorSleep · Post by **ProfessorSleep** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 7:58 am

Last night the *&(#$@ nasal pillow on the Aura just wouldn't stay put for anything. Believing in being prepared, I had my pantyhose tight leg within reach. Tried it in a couple of locations and it made a world of difference. What a great suggestion and a wonderful option for any mask. Seems like every time I fall really asleep whatever interface I am wearing will shift and leak. If I stay awake and keep readjusting everything, no problem. It almost makes me wonder if I'm being punished for sleeping!

BP · Post by BP » Wed Oct 05, 2005 8:53 am

I'm quickly coming to the conclusion that for the majority of people, you must have a lower strap to get a good seal all night long with the Aura. You don't have to use pantyhose, any soft strechy material will work. It's a shame we have to do this, the manufacturer should have noticed this in testing, but the comfort of the Aura is worth the effort imho. I don't even try to get a good seal without the lower strap, but with it I have very few leaks.

-BP

seamaiden · Post by **seamaiden** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 10:31 am

I was lucky in that Aura worked near perfectly for me out of the box. Ozij described "the nasal seal was pulling my nose up too much." When I had some of this in shifting, I took a twisty tie from a bread bag and used it to pull the two tubes more closely together. It worked perfectly to stabilize and keep the pillows in place. No other straps needed. I haven't broken a seal since. I think location of lock box is key but this tweak worked for me. Perhaps those reluctant to try panty hose straps will consider stabilizing with a twisty tie: wire covered by paper. Very manly.

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 2:42 am

I'm actually using the mediums - haven't touched the large yet.
Used the neckerchief last night from the beginning, and it was OK - woke up a few time, and had to fiddle with it, but I agree with BP - the comfort is worth it.

O.

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 5:12 am

ozij wrote:but I agree with BP - the comfort is worth it.

Keep repeating those words over and over again, like a mantra.

By the way, do you use software? If so, have you noticed any improvement since using the Aura in your data? I did and still do.

You will soon get it to work better. I have faith.

Born Tired · Post by **Born Tired** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 5:45 am

I keep reading all I can about the Aura. Am hoping to get one soon. Maybe I'll know all the tricks and be totally prepared for any problems after reading all your great tweaking ideas.
Esther

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 8:06 am

BP wrote:

I'm quickly coming to the conclusion that for the majority of people, you must have a lower strap to get a good seal all night long with the Aura. You don't have to use pantyhose, any soft strechy material will work. It's a shame we have to do this, the manufacturer should have noticed this in testing, but the comfort of the Aura is worth the effort imho.

Hi BP,

I think you're absolutely right about most people needing an add-on strap somewhere to stabilize the Aura perfectly.

As for manufacturers noticing things in testing...it would sure be interesting to see exactly what kind of testing goes on every step of the way with all these mask designers/manufacturers.

I think they (the designers) come up with a good concept many times, but I wonder if the prototype is tried out in an early enough stage of development in REAL conditions with enough REAL cpap users to give the designer better insights to make it right.

One of the designers of the original Breeze was a designer of the Aura interface. My hunch is that there was such determination to have those be interfaces with NO STRAPS touching the face anywhere, that's what drove the entire design. A worthy objective, to be sure. Both interfaces can work for some people with nothing added.

But as you say, BP (and ProfessorSleep, too) many, many people do find that many interfaces are apt to shift just enough to leak if used "as is."

A lot of message board readers had been adding a stretchy headband to the Breeze for years to make it stay put.

It took several years before the makers of the Breeze finally noticed that, or believed it could help, or accepted it, or decided to spend a bit of extra money to make it better, and finally added optional stabilizing straps with a new place in front for attachment to the "improved" Breeze that came out a year or so ago.

When designers are convinced that their "baby" is perfect already, and the designers are also determined that there will be NO straps along the side of the face ANYWHERE...well.... that's when REAL users of these interfaces have to start cutting up pantyhose tights and other stretchy material stuff! LOL!!

If a design is not tested on a bunch of experienced cpap users BEFORE the design gets so far along and so much money has already been sunk in "this design" that there's no going back to rework it, I can see why so many interfaces hit the market with flaws that could have been remedied.

Marketing fluff about how many hundreds of users they test the stuff on (I'm thinking of the Comfort Curve hype here) is meaningless if what was tested was a finished or almost finished product...and what the company was really after was a few glowing testimonials to quote.

Breeze - stabilizing longer side straps added years later.

Comfort Curve - redesign of headgear within a couple of months of product release.

Oracle - tongue "guide" removed, flaps made more adjustable, nose plugs provided -- a year or more after product release.

Many interfaces are still being re-worked by cpap users themselves in bedroom labs all over the country! Netting in the cylinder to dampen noise from the Swift and toe bandages to get rid of the Swoosh mark; stretchy straps for the Aura; moleskin and other stuff to pad pressure points on just about any nasal mask with "comfort" in its name. Pantyliner thins instead of the Comfort Curve's thick silicone cheek slabs. LOL!!

It's a darn good thing there are message boards for users of these extensively tested pieces of medical equipment called masks.

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 8:38 am

Very good post, Rested Gal. I enjoyed it. Thank you.

One comment, if I may. I found the main problem with the Breeze, and its main difference from the Aura, was that even with stabilizing straps put on it, the headgear, FOR ME, was still too heavy, which made it wobble too much on my head, never staying put. I did your suggestion when I was trying to get it right for me with the stretch headband, but I had the problem that in order to get a seal that was leakless for me, I had to really make those pillows/plenum in such a position that it pulled up and scrunched my nose so that my nares AND my nose were in pain. If you remember, I had eventually bleeding blisters around the nares. Not pretty or comfortable for me.

With the Aura, though, I find it so lightweight yet stable. I have been using the pantyhose leg lately just as an added security measure (piece of mind) since it's comfortable and you don't even know it's there, but guarantees a better performance leak-wise.

Thanks for all your help with getting these masks to work. You always come up with something that works for most situations...and I say "most" because we all know how I ended up when trying to use the Breeze. Other than that, you probably have a perfect track record!

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 11:30 am

rested gal wrote:Many interfaces are still being re-worked by cpap users themselves in bedroom labs all over the country

LOL, rested gal, that sounds like the beginning of a horror movie.

Narrator: "In bedroom labs all over the country (may I sugges "world"?) cpap users, betrayed by the medico industrial complex are reworking their interfaces and sharing their results with like minded people."

The screen is dark, you here weird whooshing noises, and the camera pans to a bedroom window, showing a person with a "thing" on her face, tossing an turning, rather like a fish on the end of the line. The camera focuses on the closet where you see a skull and cross bones, and the word "DEAD". (appropriate music).

Another window. Again the word "DEAD". Now the light flickers on, the person takes the thing off her face and opens the ....DEAD MASK DRAWER.
Scratches her head, goes to the closet and stares at long row of stockings. And then at a hook on the ceiling. Is she going to hang herself?

NO!

Etc..

By the way, it would be wonderful to be a fly on the wall on some of those purported mask testing sessions. Do you think the testers get to sleep in those masks? Lie down and tumble? How do they chose them?
O.

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 12:21 pm

O,

That was a real LOL-er! I could just picture what you were saying. Only for some weird reason, I was picturing Rested Gal as the star of the movie. Guess if we had your photo, I would have pictured you.

I was just hoping you would have filled us in on how things are going with your Aura. Since you said nothing, I'm not optimistic because if it was working like it should, you would probably be gushing all over this thread, as I was. Keep us updated, please.

ProfessorSleep · Post by **ProfessorSleep** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 12:33 pm

Sleepless on LI wrote:
Thanks for all your help with getting these masks to work. You always come up with something that works for most situations...and I say "most" because we all know how I ended up when trying to use the Breeze. Other than that, you probably have a perfect track record!

Ditto for me on that, RG. The pantyhose tight leg thingy is just brilliant. Not only does it keep the Aura stable and leak free, can barely be felt when applied, is washable and disinfectable, is soft and comfy, ... etc., but I gained a whole bunch of drawer space by cutting up those things I never want to wear again anyway! Truly a wonderful add-on for any mask. Thanks, RG! You and Lori saved my Aura!

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 12:36 pm

Beth,

I guess this means you're having luck with the Aura now? I am so happy for you!

mikemoran · Post by **mikemoran** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 12:57 pm

Don't get me wrong I love the idea of the Aura but found a problem that is keeping me from having a love affair with it. On the pillows themselves there seems to be a ridge where the pillow comes together. Its very slight but seems to be enough to be causing me alot of irritation. Slight movement causes it to rub.

The other issue I found is the pillows barely fit. I mean after putting the head gear on where it stays and the lock box is in the right position the pillows just reach my nostrils. This is with the top adjustment fully back and the pillows at the hgihest position. It works but does make for a fragile seal.

So tonight I am going to try a drastic solution to tame this beast. I found the Breeze pillows actually fit over the medium Aura pillows. They do a leak a little in this configuration so I am sealing them at the bottom with silicone seal. this fix does two things: gets rid of my ridge problem and raises the heighth of the pillows so I have some adjustment room.

Will let you know how it goes. And yes sometimes I do serious posts too LOL

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 1:21 pm

Mike,

Before you take such drastic measures, how about trying to bend the wire as much as possible to curve them under your nose and then put the pantyhose security strap or something other than that (you macho men) to hold it in place? It works really well that way.

Did you know, by the way, that the further up you have the adjustment, the lower down the nosepiece goes? It works in reverse, if I'm remember correctly. When you slide it down, then the nosepiece gets raised higher. And if you just move it one tooth at a time, you can make each side at a different angle. I just discovered that and it helps to make it more individually-appropriate that way.

Another suggestion is, you can slide the lockbox forward a bit to make the pillows fit better. But did you know there are two sliding adjustments? I cannot believe, judging from your photo, that you can't get those pillows under your nose with room to spare. Something doesn't seem right. And I"d hate to see you ruin a perfectly good Aura by doing this experiment to it if you can just fix it with a bit of normal tweaking.

You can also either separate or bring together the nasal piece with the wire at the point just below where you place the nosepiece onto the headgear. Seamaiden place a twister tie there to hold them closer together for an out-of-the box fit.

In any event, I wish you luck. I just seriously can't believe you can't adjust this to get it under your nose.