Swift FX Headgear issues

[dos coyotes]

I've been on cpap for about a month now and thru some experimenting have found I get the best results with the Swift FX nasal pillows (vs full face or a nasal mask that I use as an alternative). BUT - I'm a side sleeper and I find that the lower strap on the head gear (not the silicone one that goes over the head), the one that goes around the back of the head slides up overnight and ends up near the top of my headm loosening the mask and contributing to leaks.

If I tighten the strap, the mask becomes uncomfortable. Any ideas? Is the strap worn out? (got it lightly used).

[Pugsy]

No the strap isn't worn out...it just wants to slide up rather easily for some people.
Do you have much hair? If you do you can stick a little bit of velcro on that back strap with the hook side out so that it will grab your hair and help keep it from sliding up.
When I used the Swift FX sometimes it would slide up on me but didn't happen often so I never bothered with the velcro but several forum members use the velcro.
If you don't have much hair....well that makes things a little difficult.

That back strap sliding up....is probably one of the "cons" for the Swift FX.
The Swift LT is more stable (but then theirs a lot more stuff on your head and face) as is the Aloha which is like the Swift LT but better than the LT IMHO.

For me the back strap sliding up wasn't enough of a problem for me to want to do anything about it.

[Tino2You]

Mine slides up on me too. Not all the time. Mostly when I am restless. I recently got the Bella Loops and while they are fantastically comfy and have no head gear to speak of, I am getting leaks that I will need to straighten out. Pearls of wisdom Pugsy?
-tino

[Pugsy]

I recently got the Bella Loops and while they are fantastically comfy and have no head gear to speak of, I am getting leaks that I will need to straighten out. Pearls of wisdom Pugsy?

Main thing...wait till you are flat in bed to fine tune the adjustments for the Bella Loops. The weight of the hose pulls on the Loops and proper fit can't be accomplished with that weight tugging on it. If you are sitting up in the bed that hose will cause some tension on the loops.. Make tiny one notch adjustments on the loops once you get it "close". It took me a week of fine tuning to get a minimal to zero leak line with the Loops. Patience with the Bella Loops is crucial and once you get the fit just right...don't touch it. Also make sure that whatever tension you have on one side is the exact same on the other side.
They have to be perfectly centered.

[dos coyotes]

Even with the Big 60 now just two months and two days away, the one thing I do have is plenty of hair. The velcro trick sounds interesting. Since it seems a common occurrence I guess I won't worry about it too much. It's a minor inconvenience.

[Pugsy]

Yeah, it's a minor inconvenience. I don't know of any mask out there that doesn't have some sort of minor inconvenience for someone somewhere. We get a nice lightweight headgear with the Swift FX so that we don't have our head in a vise of straps...so we have straps that like to crawl. There's always something.
I have tried a lot of different nasal pillow masks since I started therapy. Each one had some strong pluses and each one had a couple of negatives. A couple had more negatives than positives.
I have this thing about having the least amount of "stuff" on my head and face so I was willing to accept a little crawling on that back strap because everything else was near perfect.
Now with the new Tap Pap mask I have even less "stuff" on my head and face...so I traded headgear for a mouth guard.
There's always something with any mask out there and each of us have our own little buttons that a particular mask will trigger positively or negatively. You have to decide what the most important features are for you.

If the crawling back strap is too annoying for someone then I would suggest the Aloha and maybe one to try. It's made a lot like the Swift LT but has less stuff on the face especially the side cheek things. It's a very stable mask and the straps don't crawl much at all. The Pilairo is a super little mask and it sort of grew on me but that one size fits all strap is not going to work for a lot of people especially men who typically have larger heads. I don't have a large head and the Pilairo strap was too small for me if I wore the strap where the pictures show.

[cosmo]

I wonder if a chin strap might help keep it in place? I like the Swift LT because its more secure and doesn't move around.

[Pugsy]

I wonder if a chin strap might help keep it in place?

Not really with the way the back strap on the Swift FX is. No place to really secure the back strap unless someone wants to wrap something around the head horizontally. Now maybe something like a do rag or skull cap over the straps might work.

The velcro thing is probably the least intrusive and the back strap only needs a little encouragement to stay in place for most people. For many it never moves so it isn't something that happens to everyone in the whole world who uses the FX but it isn't exactly a rare problem either.

[dos coyotes]

I was reading your review of the tappap Pugsy and I'd love to try that --- BUT, with no insurance and no prescrip (yet) it's not offered in an "assembly kit" so I'm stuck for now. (Wonder if my brother in law can get one for me thru his insurance and I just pay him for it?)

I'm like you, I'm after minimum headgear.

I don't know why they call anything "One size fits all"! It doesn't!! The ball cap industry finally went to "one size fits most." I'm sure the Pilairo strap would not fit me -- my hat size is 7-3/4, and I have a Mirage Activa LT as a backup and I bought it with the "standard" size headgear instead of the "Large." My bad! I have to use the lower strap attached to the mask clips at the very limit of their length. Anything less and the mask is too tight and left (again my bad) a big swollen red welt on my face after the first night's test that took days to clear up even after switching back to the Swift FX. So no "one size fits all" for me!

[Chilimon]

I also have the Swift FX and one night last week I woke up with air blowing in my face. I was sleeping on my side and the back velcro strap was on top of my head while the other strap was on my forehead, if you are good, you can get a visual of that and imagine what my face looked like when I woke up.

That's the only time I had trouble though. Tuesday I go to see my DME, I'm going to see what other kind of masks they offer but it may be hard to beat this one. My biggest issue is getting the setting on my humidifier set just right.

[chunkyfrog]

I put TWO pieces of hook-side velcro to the inside back of the back strap,and it hangs on to my hair pretty good.
For a less hirsute cranium, something rubbery might do better.

[Papit]

I put TWO pieces of hook-side velcro to the inside back of the back strap,and it hangs on to my hair pretty good. . .

DITTO. It immediately stopped the rear head strap from sliding up. (I use the Swift FX.)
V-E-L-C-R-O. Inexpensive and widely available in stores.

[KylaManhattan]

I use the Swift FX for Her.

You've been using yours for about a month, and say it was a lightly-used item. My DME replaces mine every 4-5 months because the fabric strap does stretch a bit over time. Perhaps yours is close to its cumulative limit (from you and the previous owner).

Also, FWIW, I have taken to wearing the fabric strap much lower on the back of my head than is diagrammed in the brochure, which -- if memory serves -- shows it about midway down the back of the skull. I need to pull mine down almost to the nape of the neck to keep it from riding up.

The advice about waiting to adjust it until you are in your sleeping position is critical. Good luck!

[PreemieNrsTiffy]

I use the Swift FX for her and the neoprene strap used to migrate down to the nape of my neck because that's where my original chin strap would go pulling the Swift FX with it (and dislodging my nasal pillows). The problem seems to have been solved by using the PapCap which doesn't slide around for me. The neoprene strap from the Swift FX stays in place when it's up against the cotton cap.

[Rannie]

If you're female (or a guy with hair that is somewhat long in the back), you might solve the back strap sliding issue the way I did:
I put my hair out *over* the strap in the back (in the space between the back strap and the plastic top strap) instead of wearing it with the strap on top of the hair like the instructional pictures.

Then the strap can't slide up, since it's held by your hair where the hair/scalp starts on the back of your neck.

Easiest way for me to do it is either to put hair in a loose pony tail temporarily to make it easy to put mask on with the hair between the two straps, then remove the hair tie once it's on.

Alternatively, I put the contraption on loosely (pillows not in place), stretch back strap out and reach under it from above, grabbing all my hair and pulling it up and over the lower strap.

I also used this method when using a full face mask, because I found it uncomfortable (and hot) to have my long hair held down on my neck all night. Added benefit was that my hair looked better, it wasn't so weirdly flattened in morning, since it wasn't compressed by a strap all night.