Liberty Mirage and being stuffed up in nose

Yesterday, my doctor let me try the Mirage Liberty as I was having facial sores and leak problems with the Quattro. The liberty mask went on my fave okay and felt very comfortable. However, I noticed that I just could not breath through them when the CPAP was turned on. After one hour, I decided the "not being able to breathe and I am going to suffocate feeling" that I should take them off. As soon as I did that I noticed that both my nostrils were totally stuffed up. Could not breath through any of them clearly. Being that I have to go to work early next morning, I tried to find a quick solution to making me breath better. Tried flushing my sinuses with some saline from a neti pot. Even without the CPAP, I have had nasal stuffiness due to allergies.

To be able to get the sleep I need, I decided not to wear the Liberty and try to sleep with CPAP. Did manage to breath, without any CPAP, on my left side. I am believing that the Liberty may not work for me due to allergies and stuffed up nasal passages which is not the fault of the Liberty design. The Liberty is a fine product and fits nicely. Did anyone else have issues with nasal stuffiness and not being able to breath through the Liberty? I am thinking that I might go back Monday and try the Fisher Paykel full face or even maybe give CPAP up and try to see an ENT for other solutions.

Try lowering your humidifier setting as it can cause, or worsen congestion in some people.

Julie wrote:Try lowering your humidifier setting as it can cause, or worsen congestion in some people.

I will give that a try tonight. I had the humidifier set for 2.5 and will try it on 1.5 tonight. Also, my doctor did give me veramyst which I have not tried yet. This morning, I did squirt some of that up my nose to help me breath. It is really becoming a pain to get used to CPAP. The masks play a major part in this treatment. I will also try wathcing TV with the liberty attached to see if I can get my mind over the suffocation feeling. Need a solution to CPAP as it is making think about quitting. I have mild OSA with a AHI of 5.85.

fsmitty wrote:

Julie wrote:; It is really becoming a pain to get used to CPAP. The masks play a major part in this treatment. I will also try wathcing TV with the liberty attached to see if I can get my mind over the suffocation feeling. Need a solution to CPAP as it is making think about quitting. I have mild OSA with a AHI of 5.85.

Consider adjusting your ramping to start a bit higher. I suspect that may contribute to find it difficult to breathe when you start. Also, consider Ayr nasal gel, or a saline spray for the nares. And correction, its not "becoming a pain". It is a pain, but many of us, myself included share in the pain with you.

GaryG wrote:

fsmitty wrote:

Julie wrote:; It is really becoming a pain to get used to CPAP. The masks play a major part in this treatment. I will also try wathcing TV with the liberty attached to see if I can get my mind over the suffocation feeling. Need a solution to CPAP as it is making think about quitting. I have mild OSA with a AHI of 5.85.

Consider adjusting your ramping to start a bit higher. I suspect that may contribute to find it difficult to breathe when you start. Also, consider Ayr nasal gel, or a saline spray for the nares. And correction, its not "becoming a pain". It is a pain, but many of us, myself included share in the pain with you.

Not too sure how to change the ramp on the fisher paykel hc234. It only appears to have a ramp button that defaults to a pressure of 2. There are some up/down buttons but all they will do is change the humidity settings. Last night, I did not use the ramp button as that would cause it to be very hard to breath. When I turn on my CPAP it defaults to tha max pressure set by my doctor which is 9. To use the ramp, I have to press the ramp button which I don't use.

I have just flushed my sinuses with a neti pot and started using the Veramyst the doctor gave me a trial for. I did by some Ayr gel but have not tried it yet. I might put on a little bit and give the Liberty a second try tonight. If it does not work by Monday then I will return it for my next option which is the Fisher Paykel full face they showed me as another solution. It is a pain to not get the sleep I need but hopefully I will find the correct combination of masks etc.

Thanks

Well, I am now sitting in front of the computer with my CPAP machine connected to the Liberty mask. I have heard suggestions that you should try to used to the mask for 30 minutes in front of the TV. Luckily the Liberty allows me to wear my glasses or I wouldn't be able to see what I am typing. It is taking some time to get used to feeling of the air going up/down the nose.

My pressure is set for max 9 and I don't have the ramp turned on. One question I have is with this mask it feel hard to breath out. I guess it is because I am exhaling against the pressure. My CPAP delivers a constant 9. My question is would another CPAP type like C-Flex or B-Flex help in making it feel better to exhale. My understanding is that these types lower the pressure when you exhale. My doctor has said that I can order any type of machine. Being a newbie I am rather confused what type of flex to get.

At 9... you shouldn't need a Bi-Level (which has Bi-FLEX)

Go for either a CFLEX, AFLEX or EPR

If you can order anything... go for a AFLEX machine as it allows you to pick whether you want AFLEX, CFLEX or nothing... plus you can pick auto or CPAP. Lots of choices in order to make sure that you're the most comfortable.

My 2nd night with the Mirage Liberty went a little bit better. Didn't manage to keep it on all night as after about 4 hours the leak/noise from one of my nostrils became too loud. It appeared my right nostril was leaking when I breath out. This would go away if I put slight pressure on the outer part of the nose plug. I got up and tried re-adjusting the straps but could not prevent this issue. Can this be caused by the plugs not being the right size. I noticed that some people recommend putting Ayr around the plug to help it seal. Will that prevent this tyope of leak. I am thinking that when I breath out through my nose that it is putting too much downward pressure on the plug cause it too leak. I wonder if one of those CPAP machines that reduces pressure during exhalation would prevent this or not.

My nose didn't get stuffed up at all last night. This might be due to me flushing my sinuses with the neti pot and using Veramyst. Also I did sit in front of the computer for 30 minutes with the mask connected to the CPAP. This might have helped my brain to get used to the initial feeling of suffocation. This mask is really comfortable and I really like the ease of moving around and that I don't have anything on my forehead or bridge nose. The Quattro destroyed my bridge which has no started to heal,

Any advice on fixing the nose leak would be appreciated as I would hate to have to go back to full face.

Also, just noticed that in the bag they have give some extra nose plugs of varying sizes. They have given me a bag of small and large. I guess that means that I must be wearing the medium size. I guess I will try them all to see which ones stop the leaking.

Thanks

Try the next larger size of pillow and see if that stops the leak. They wanted me to use a medium...it leaked, so I went up to the large pillow...no leak.

Muse-Inc wrote:Try the next larger size of pillow and see if that stops the leak. They wanted me to use a medium...it leaked, so I went up to the large pillow...no leak.

Thanks for the advice about trying the larger size. I had just noticed a few days ago that they had given me small, medium and large plugs. Initially, I went to bed with the medium ones that they had attached. The Liberty was making a lot of noise which I thought was due to its design. Well, after about 1 hour of not being able to put up with the wind noise, I got up and installed the larger plugs. What a difference these ones have made. This wind noise went away and plus I got a good seal for the rest of the night. The only problem I had was not being able to actually fall asleep this was even after taking an over the counter sleep pill. Despite this I will be trying the larger plugs tonight. I really want to Liberty to work as it feels a lot better than he Quattro FFM which had a lot of leaks and left red sores on my nose bridge.

Another quick question. I have noticed that I have a slight headache in the sinus area. Is it normal for nasal pillows to give you a sinus headache?

Thanks