Nasal Aire blowouts

I have raved about how much I like the Nasal Aire, but last night was very difficult because it blew out several times. I have been using it without the headband for weeks with very little trouble. I may have to try the headband tonight. The kind soul known here as WillSucceed is also sending me a mask that I will try (my motivation for asking was noise, but now I suddenly have another *sigh*).

Anyway, there are a few things that changed in the last day or two that might contribute, so I was looking for feedback from others as to whether they have had similar experiences from any of these:

First suspect is the humdidifer. I nudged it up from 2 to 3 (it's the Respironics heated model that mates up with the REMStar). Could that be keeping my nostrils moister and "slicker"?

Another possiblity is that I slept really hard last night. We had a lot of thunder the previous night and I was up calming kids a lot after having stayed up late, so I was really tired. This may have translated into needing higher pressures (I am on APAP at 8-14) for longer.

Finally a real long shot, but a change worth mentioning. My eyes are inflamed (I am B27+ and get inflamation of all sorts; this is probably unrelated to OSA or xPAP) and yesterday I had to start a course of steroid eye drops.

Hi Zees,

I use this interface also, and have never had what you describe happen. I have used 3 different sizes, though, and would suggest that you may want to go with a bigger size prong.

I started with a small, and it moved around too much and made my nose hurt (bleed) and leaked (noisy!). I next tried the medium, which was an improvement, but lately I have been using the medium plus, which I like best. It is a little hard to get started with, but once the material warms up, it becomes more pliable, so the bigger size doesn't move or leak much. I use the PB420E with heated humidifier, and the humifier is cranked all the way up, so I wouldn't think that is the problem, unless your fit is on the small side. My titrated pressure is 14, and my auto is set for 10-17. My average is generally 10-12, but it does go up to 17 almost every night at least once. I'm not sure what pressure that you run at?

The small has a different hose size, but the medium and medium plus have the same hose, so you can just get the prongs -- check with your provider to see if the hose diameter is different if you use a different size. The prongs are available separately (less expensive) at CPAP.COM.

I will probably keep medium and medium plus on hand for the days that I am congested and my turbs are swollen.

On my auto, you can turn off 1FL1 to control runaway pressure runs -- you probably have something similar on your machine. There has been a thread on the forum -- viewtopic.php?t=1857 -- discussing the IFL1 and it has many interesting links to other, similar discussions. Wader, SWS or rested gal may be able to advise you of the setting if you think that you have runaway pressure.

Feel free to PM me or respond on the board if I can help further -- I check in most evenings, and the PM is linked to alert me via my regular email, so you may get a swifter response with that if you're in a hurry!

I hope that my experiences have helped -- there aren't too many of us on this interface. I must admit that the aura looks interesting, and after the rave reviews, I might scrape together the money to get one.

Good luck & sleep well,

Jane

Hi,

I'm still a relative Newbie, and I am not very knowledgeable on the technology, but I use the Nasal Air, with a Medium Plus prong. (I was mistakenly given a size HUMONGOUS .. well, large, or extra large, but finally got the medium plus. MUCH BETTER). You do need it to be a snug fit though. I'm still struggling a bit, but I feel this is going to work. I occasionally have a "blow out", and since I don't have a heated humidifier (yet), I can't blame that. It does seem to happen if I get overheated and therefore a bit sweaty (our room temp goes up a LOT when we have to close the door to keep the cat out). Or I had a cold for a while and if my nose was a bit drippy, it seemed I had a few blowouts. But the last couple nights have been pretty good, and encouraging. I too have been going without the headband, and use a large cloth covered elastic in the back of my neck instead of the neck piece that came with the setup, because that didn't close down to a small enough size. I do find if I do not have the interface snug enough (but not TOO snug), I also have an occasional blowout. I think it's kind of trial and error to see what works best for you!

By the way, to make along story short ... I ordered a new nasal prong direct from Innomed over the internet. The Customer Service woman was WONDERFUL. I had asked via email if they would sell just one to me, as a private customer, not a DME, and she said SURE .. and it was half the price of what I had seen it elsewhere. SO you might consider that. I don't know if they do it normally, but I had told her how much trouble I was having even getting my DME to return my phone calls for over a week. Maybe she took pitty on me. But it might be worth it to try, if you do want to get a different size prong.

Meanwhile, I too might end up considering that Aura IF my nose continues to be sore. I am still having problems with that, which I think started when I had a bad cold and sore nose from blowing, and then I iritated it with the Nasal Prongs. It has never quite cleared up.

Well, at any rate, GOOD LUCK !

Pat

I used the headband last night. It really isn't that bad; not nearly as much of a pain as most masks I looked at. It does the trick. It forces a bend up in front of the temples that makes it much harder to pop free without adding any pressure against the nose. But I used to be able to put it on in about 10 seconds and now it is closer to 25.

I use the Nasal Aire II also, and never thought about not using all the straps.
You must be a back sleeper.
I am a side sleeper, and a roller. I have a bigger problem with the hose winding around my neck a couple of time and it finally wakes me up. I am going to get the ten foot hose which will probably make me look like the Michelin Man by morning. I use the small prong and get a nice fit.
I do notice that when I put a lot of pressure on the hose by winding up in it, it irratates my nose, and I switch to a different type of mask. A second mask at bedside is very handy as it allows me to quickly change and go back to sleep. I use the NA II most of the time.
Good Luck,

I sleep on my back and sometimes on my side, but I don't toss and turn, so I can get away without all the straps (or at least I did for a while). I use medium plus prongs and they fit pretty snug.

It's the humidifier! I had moved the machine from room to room and forgot to turn the humidifer back on before using it (seems to lose that setting when unplugged). No blowouts. Remembered to turn it on last night and woke up with it blown out again - even with the headband on. I had been a little slack on adjusting it.