Matching brand of mask to machine - worth it?

[chunkyfrog]

I am a total mask slut.
I am embarrassingly fickle, but what's good for my face takes precedence over most other matters.
I am so grateful I am not a match for the Swift FX Nano, because of the coding mess.

[BrianinTN]

My experience mirrors that of both of you. I have not been happy with Respironics masks (which makes my doc's suggestion of matching up the xPAP and mask manufacturer problematic), and I too like the Swift LT night and day better than the Swift FX. I'll have to look into the P10.

[The Latinist]

So my doctor called yesterday and said that she'd heard at a recent sleep conference that this can matter. She cited the proper measurement of leak, and I can see there being something to that...

If a (sleep) doctor told me something like that, I'd be looking for a new one.

I have to disagree with you, here. What BrianinTN said makes sense, especially for those with machines like the ResMed S9 which report only net leaks, rather than total leaks. The


It is easy to set mask type on the S9 from the patient setup menu, but as far as I can tell they all assume that you are using a ResMed mask. ResMed seems to have designed most of their masks in the same category (pillows, nasal, FF, etc) to have a very similar leak profile. But it might be that for another manufacturer the leak profiles would not match ResMed's.

Indeed, the other day I compared a poster's Breeze pillows to the ResMed P10. In looking at the Breeze's flow rate information, I saw that your mask vents significantly less than any ResMed Mask. (note: I estimated the P10 numbers based on the graph of the leak profile from the P10 user guide)

Code: Select all

Pr    Br    P10   Diff

5     16     23     7

8     21     29     8

10    23     33    10

12    25     37    12

15    28     42    14     

18    31     47    16

20    32     49    17

As you can see, if you use the S9's "pillows" setting with Breeze nasal pillows, the machine is likely to significantly understate your leaks (by the amount in the "Diff" column above). If you had a leak of 10 L/min at 10 cmH2O pressure, the S9 would report a leak of "0 L/min."

Of course it is more important that one has a mask that is comfortable and ensures compliance than that the leak numbers be right. But, all else being equal (as I recognize it rarely is), I don't think it is unreasonable to suggest matching a ResMed mask to a ResMed machine.

[palerider]

So my doctor called yesterday and said that she'd heard at a recent sleep conference that this can matter. She cited the proper measurement of leak, and I can see there being something to that...

If a (sleep) doctor told me something like that, I'd be looking for a new one.

I have to disagree with you, here. What BrianinTN said makes sense, especially for those with machines like the ResMed S9 which report only net leaks, rather than total leaks.
It is easy to set mask type on the S9 from the patient setup menu, but as far as I can tell they all assume that you are using a ResMed mask. ResMed seems to have designed most of their masks in the same category (pillows, nasal, FF, etc) to have a very similar leak profile. But it might be that for another manufacturer the leak profiles would not match ResMed's.
Of course it is more important that one has a mask that is comfortable and ensures compliance than that the leak numbers be right. But, all else being equal (as I recognize it rarely is), I don't think it is unreasonable to suggest matching a ResMed mask to a ResMed machine.

I have to disagree with your disagreement, here.

the resmed S9 units compute the mask leak numbers when you turn them on. you can watch the display as you take your first breaths, the leak number starts out bouncing around and after a few breaths it settles down to zero. at first, every time you breath it jumps around, then the machine figures out the baseline for the mask and the leak number settles down to zero.

mind you, I've only watched this on a vpap auto and a vpap adapt. I haven't dug out my spare elite to check, but I see no reason that it would be any different.

[archangle]

So my doctor called yesterday and said that she'd heard at a recent sleep conference that this can matter. She cited the proper measurement of leak, and I can see there being something to that.

Gee, I wonder who funded that study? Could it perhaps have been funded by a CPAP machine manufacturer?

If we could just get the lowlifes at ResMed to stop reporting only "intentional" leak, it wouldn't be much of a problem.

[BrianinTN]

So my doctor called yesterday and said that she'd heard at a recent sleep conference that this can matter. She cited the proper measurement of leak, and I can see there being something to that.

Gee, I wonder who funded that study? Could it perhaps have been funded by a CPAP machine manufacturer?

If we could just get the lowlifes at ResMed to stop reporting only "intentional" leak, it wouldn't be much of a problem.

Honestly, I'm with you. The reason for my posting is, long story short, that I've had 6 PSGs now—including this being my 2nd ASV titration. I was hoping they would find an explanation for why I continue to feel exhausted and actually worse on xPAP. The doc said that nothing else showed up (e.g., PLMs) and basically, "Well, maybe if we match the mask and unit manufacturer, that will improve things." I am not eager to kick the can down the road a couple months on what strikes me as a Hail Mary, but before I sent my doc an "I'm not OK with this" email, I thought I'd ask here to see if there might be anything to that theory.

Obviously, I'm incredibly frustrated.