Newbie question

Hi, I'm pretty new - just had my third night on CPAP. I have a remstar Pro C-flex + and I'm still working on finding the right mask. I'm a side-sleeping, mouth-breathing, hard-to-fit kind of girl.
The first two nights I was on a quattro, but it would leak like crazy when my jaw slacked at night and really hurt the top of my nose. So yesterday I went back to the DME, who told me to try a FP731, since it has that nice chin rest. I asked if I should bring in my CPAP to fit the mask, and she said no - not good advice.

Anyhoo, I'm between a small and a medium, so she set me up with the small cushion, which felt fine with no air running through it. Turned on my CPAP last night and once the air got into the seals, it no longer fit - wouldn't seal and no way was my chin going to fit inside the mask. So I put in the medium insert, and that seems to seel okay. But it rests REALLY close to my eyeballs - didn't leak during the night, but I woke up today with very gunky eyes. The other problem is, I didn't feel like I was getting enough air last night. Could this be just because I'm just getting used to the CPAP (set at 9)? I didn't ramp last night, but had to the first two nights. When I was half asleep during the night and thinking I couldn't breathe, I kept thinking of all the air coming out of the nonrebreathing vents at the bottom of the elbow and convincing myself the air was all leaving that (with the Quattro the only air I noticed leaving was from the vents over the nose).

I guess I'm asking if I should keep trying to get used to this new mask or go back to try another model. I'm not getting the best of help from the DME so I thought I'd ask you folk for suggestions.
Thanks.

I may be reading this wrong, but she tried fitting you for a new mask without the pressure? If that's the case, I'd run screaming for a new DME.

L

Tired Linda wrote:I may be reading this wrong, but she tried fitting you for a new mask without the pressure? If that's the case, I'd run screaming for a new DME.

L

I asked if I should bring in my CPAP and she told me not to.... If I return the latest mask I will definitely bring the machine along.

Tired Linda is pointing out that the person working with you at the DME for mask fitting has NO idea what she is doing. Blind leading the blind. The air cushion on a CPAP mask must be inflated to get it fit properly. You can't do that unless the machine is on, ideally at your maximum pressure.

Ask for someone else there to help you with the fitting. Take your machine, your pillow, and lie down on the floor there if you have to in order to determine if the mask you try will work with you in your normal sleeping position.

If your nose is sore, you may want to try nasal pillows. The one caveat is you cannot mouth breath with a nasal mask or a nasal pillow mask but you may be surprised to find that you CAN sleep with your mouth closed when your pressure is optimalized and your nose is clear (CPAP can help clear your nose).

I'm hoping that my eye gunk is just fall allergies kicking in. I talked to the DME therapist (the one I "worked" with yesterday is no better/worse than her partner who sold me the Quattro after I told her it leaked a lot during my titration and who told me to "go home and play with the straps"- silly me thought the whole point of having clip fasteners is so that I wouldn't have to adjust the straps after SHE got it to fit right). Therapist told me that I should keep trying this mask over the weekend and I told her that I will bring my machine with me if I show up at her door on Tuesday.

I do notice that I'm breathing a lot through my nose since starting CPAP. When I meet with the respiratory specialist in a couple of weeks for my full report/follow-up to going on the machine, I'm going to ask him for a new script that will let me try a nasal mask or pillows. I'm thinking that if I alternate between the two masks now and then it might help avoid pressure marks and soreness.

Now I'm off to attach a headboard to my bed to rig up a way to suspend my hose so my 70 pound lab doesn't flop down on it again like he did when he jumped in bed with me this morning. Who knows, maybe my husband will even move back in (left years ago because I kept beating him up in my sleep ).

Bons wrote:I'm going to ask him for a new script that will let me try a nasal mask or pillows. I'm thinking that if I alternate between the two masks now and then it might help avoid pressure marks and soreness.

Ask for a prescription just for "CPAP mask", or "mask of patient's preference". I made the mistake of asking for a new prescription because I wanted to try the Hybrid, and the doctor wrote it specifically for the Hybrid. So now I've got to get another one to be able to try other masks.
And by the way the Hybrid may be something you want to look into though it's unlikely your local DME will have it. It's a full-face but doesn't impact the bridge of the nose. Very light-weight and covering mouth along with nasal pillows.