Hybrid FFM: life ain't too bad here!

Well, I abandoned the nasal pillows on Tuesday after giving up on ever being able to tape my mouth shut. My wife jokes about me being a quiet person during the day only because I can't keep it shut at night. Ain't love grand? Sheez...

Anyway, got the Innomed Hybrid on Tuesday. Spent the afternoon trying different combination of of sizes before settling on the large mouthpiece and nasal pillows. It's not difficult getting it on or off contrary to some of the reviews I read at CPAP.COM. The tricky part, if you will, is getting the straps adjusted. But I found that my experience adjusting the Opus made this pretty easy; I understood what each adjustment could do.

THe first night results were only marginally better than the Opus. This was probably due to some fit and comfort issues. I really had to spend some time during the night making some minor adjustments. The second night was better with even less leakage.

The past 3 nights have been outstanding as far as leakage goes; the lowest numbers I've seen since I started. My AHI and HI are also both down. I still have some minor corrections to make. My right nasal pillow keeps popping out.

Suggestion: when you adjust the lower straps, make sure you do it for the most likely head position during sleeping. I adjusted it in the mirror as the direction said, but I sleep in a feotal position with my head slightly tucked down. This is a LOT different that looking head on into a mirror. I finally figured that out this morning, and I"ll try the straps a bit tighter tonight.

Also, I noticed the alingment of the nasal pillows as the they come (with a plastic connection piece) don't align with my nostrils. I cut the connecting piece yesterday and made sure they were aligned with my nostrils last night. BIG IMPROVEMENT!!! One of the things that bothered me with the Opus was the pressure I felt on the inside of my nostrils at the tip. It was the alignment of the Opus pillows that put just a little pressure on the nostrils. No more now!

So there IS life after nasal pillows on a FFM. I didn't absolutely freak out the first night. IN fact, I'm sleeping even better now. After decades, it's kind of freaky staying in bed all night. I almost feel... guilty.

I reommend the Innomend Hybrid if you're a mouth breather afraid of going to a full face mask. The adjustment was difficult.

karl9000 wrote:... So there IS life after nasal pillows on a FFM. I didn't absolutely freak out the first night. IN fact, I'm sleeping even better now. After decades, it's kind of freaky staying in bed all night. I almost feel... guilty. ...

Congratulations, karl9000.
Way to go. Looks like you've found a 'go-to' mask.