What a night..

Wow, what a night. Stayed up fairly late and went to sleep at about 3am (was out having a fire with friends) I tried using my resmed quattro full face mask after getting some mouth leaks on my nasal mask.. what a nightmare. The quattro is such a piece of junk, it would not set on my face well without leaking and if it did set on properly it would begin to leak very soon after. So I fought with it from 3-5am with little bits of sleep in between. Eventually the leaking was too much so I switched back to my Respironics easylife nasal mask. Then THAT mask started leaking!! Arghhhh.. I took it apart to clean it yesterday and for some reason when I put it back together I had a small leak on the top right side (unbeknownst to me until switching last night) So I had leaks all night long..probably mask and mouth leaks.. slept from 3am til 12:44pm , and feel like I got 2 hours of sleep last night. My eyes are so droopy and heavy and I have absolutely no energy.

Amazing to see the difference though in regards to how tired I am. I've used it 4 nights with the first 3 yielding fairly good results... but last night, wow! No good. I took apart the nasal mask and re-seated it and it seems (and I pray) that it's back to normal. This whole leaking thing is going to make me hesitant of wanting to clean the mask if this continues to happen.

So for now, I will stick with nasal masks and talk to my therapist about a chin strap to keep my mouth shut. Unless he has other face masks I will keep with what is working better. Damn leaks and mouth leaks!! Seems like lots of people aren't too fond of the mirage quattro ? Last night sucked pretty bad.. hoping for better sleep tonight.

OCDP wrote:Seems like lots of people aren't too fond of the mirage quattro ? Last night sucked pretty bad.. hoping for better sleep tonight.

Well, I have a Quattro and I have no complaints. In fact I think it's a terrific mask. I normally run all night with zero leaks. I wash the mask every day and wash my face before going to bed. I think it's important to have the correct size with the Quattro. It comes in four sizes. Maybe that's the problem. That said, some masks just don't work for some people and there's no point struggling with a mask that won't seal when there are others available that will. I can't wear a nasal mask because of mouth blowouts. I discovered that soon enough after using my Swift for a couple of months going through the chin-strap and taping drill all to no avail. The Quattro just went on and worked.

Best of luck to you.

I'd say that only a few are lucky enough to just put on a mask and have it work. Usually takes fiddling and a number of trials of fine adjustments (never to be done at 3AM). By the way..how sober were you?

Just a few thoughts: If you did pretty well with the Quattro for a few nights, then don't give up on it just yet. I'm amazed that it works well for me, as I could not get it right for a couple of weeks in the beginning.

When you reassemble the cushion and frame onto the mask after washing & drying, be sure to press the parts together all along the edges--not just the 3 places where the notches will audibly click in.

Watch the video for the UltraMirage FFM, and carefully (during the day) try the strap adjustments in the order they suggest.

I find that there is a really delicate balance to be found between the nose bridge adjustment and the tightness of the lower straps (ie: when I tighten the bridge, it slightly pulls out the lower edge of the mask, allowing leaks at my chin.

Never crank down the mask so that the hard plastic is against your face, as you'll have more leaks and a mess of serious marks on your face in the morning. Allow the cushion to float at medium level. This is counter-intuitive, but true.

Try not washing your cushion for a week. Some of us have found this to be more effective for sealing the mask.

Sorry to be so long-winded. Good luck!!

Funny enough I was completely sober, just insanely tired by the time I got to bed. The Quattro is a backup mask given to me. I have been using the easylife nasal mask and will continue to as it is very comforatable, I just need to control my mouth leaks and I hope this can be fixed by a chin strap.. if not I will inquire more about the taping method.

The quattro was fitted in his office and it seemed good, no leaks etc, but last night it was just leak galore. I can't complain too much as this is only my 5th night on the machine.. can't expect too much, however, I can't help but think if I didn't have mouth leaks I would be perfect right now. I have no other issues really... I fixed the small leak on the nasal mask so that's good as well.

I'll keep on keepin' on and get my mouth leaks sorted out.. if they don't go away then obviously I'll need to look into some full face mask options. And you could very well be right, the quattro might be too big... but I doubt it as my sleep therapist fitted me for it?

Anyways, wish me luck tonight... I did my nasal rinse and what not so I hope I can get away from some mouth leaking.

I went from using an Adam Circuit nasal pillow mask to Quattro three weeks ago. I got the Quattro because I am a mouth breather and I wanted a mask to use when I have a cold.The ResMed mask is comfortable but I can't get it to quit leaking. My AHI has risen from 2.5 with the Adam Circuit to 4.5 with the Quattro. I'm about to give up on the Quattro since I can't figure out how to stop the leaking.

My Leak Data
Quattro Full Face Mask Median:16 95th %: 51.8 MAX: 142.8
Adam Circuit Nasal Pillow Median: 0 95th %: 9.6 MAX: 20.4

Can anybody here please interpret this leak data? Is my Quattro leak data ridiculously high? What about my Adam data? Any help would be appreciated since I don't understand leak data.

Well I used the full face mask again last night with somewhat better results. Leaking is the big problem for me and this mask. The night starts out fine as I fall asleep, it's actually really good and the mask is nice and secure, good seal, etc. But as the night goes on I get small leaks at the top left and right corners where it blows into my eyes. I will once again try re-adjusting tonight. I woke up several times throughout the night adjusting the mask.

I woke up this morning EXTREMELY tired, which was odd because there weren't any major leaks, just small ones which I believe I corrected as soon as they happened. So I am a little confused by this?

I don't want to use the nasal mask as the mouth leaks continue to happen and I don't have a chin strap. I figure if I am a mouth breather I might as well use a mask that lets me do that.

Any more suggestions with the Quattro? It was fitted for me by my sleep therapist so I don't think the size of the mask is the issue. Maybe I need it tight.. which I'll try tonight. Face marks aren't a concern (right now) so long as I can sleep throughout the night with the mask on with no leaks. It seems like a good mask too so I hope I can make it work, I just need some more patience and persistance.

Also I forgot to mention, another thing that woke me up was itching inside my nose... I would have to take the mask away from my face constantly to do this. I think my nose hairs need a trimming I'm pretty sure it was the air blowing in and out tickling the hairs causing an itch. That sure is a pain in the butt... can't tell you how many times last night I went to go rub my nose only to hit the hard plastic mask. This also kept me awake! I'll do a trimming tonight and hopefully that will help

This chin strap from amazon works for me:

search for: chin strap SP-CHADJ