regular mask vs. aura nasal

Hi everyone:

Just wondering - I've only been on the CPAP for 3 weeks, and notice a big difference already. My question is whether I should try a nasal mask, or stick with the ComfortClassic that he DME sold me. I find the mask still leaves marks on my face even after 3 wks of adjustment, altho otherwise it seems pretty effective. Is it harder to exhale with the nasal type apparatus?
I find this is an issue for me even at 7cm. I'm going for a titration study on Monday night. Maybe I should wait for results before switching? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks,

Steve

I know what you meant by having trouble exhaling against a pressure of 7. It'll get much better with time - it's a little like weight lifting, your muscles have to get used to it.

Terminlogy: The Aura, Breeze, ComfortLite 2 and Swift are nasal pillows masks. Plain nasal is what you 're using now.

I used the Breeze, usually prefer the Aura nowadays - and their comfort, compared to the nasals I tried out at the begining is great.

O.

Steve~

I find that your post hits "home" for me. Ironically I started out with CC nasal mask the night of my split study and the sleep tech gave it to me the next day when I left. That was the end of Dec '05. A week later I was given ResMed cpap with swift pillows and for a month only used the swift, and put the CC in a drawer as a "back-up" mask. From that point, in early Feb I traded my cpap for an Auto and was having trouble with the Swift, because I always slept on my side I found the barrels would shift away from my nose if they hit the pillow, plus I was mouth breathing a lot, so I switched to a FF mask. That worked great but despite the data I was tracking and getting great numbers I still after 2 months was not feeling rested. By complete accident, I ended up trying my Comfort Classic because my FF mask broke and while I was waiting for my new FF mask to be delivered I pulled it out of my drawer and started using it again. I can't explain why I am starting to feel better, and of course this is probably silly rationale, its almost like by having the nasal mask on its a more "direct" blast of air to my nostrils than the FF mask. Plus even though I was reluctant to do this in the past, I have been mouth taping for two weeks. I cannot explain the difference this has made! I am starting to feel REALLY good now. It has been 6 months I have been on cpap and I am starting to feel good.

Long and short of it, nasal pillows do work for a large majority of people but I have small slitted nares not round ones and the pillows no matter what size I tried always hurt me. My philosophy about the Comfort Classic, is that it isn't fancy and a little more bulky than the nasal pillows, but IMHO if it isn't broken, I don't fix it!! Kind of ironic that I ended up with the mask that I started out with in the first place!

Suzy