Anyone else or am I imagining things?

All,

I had a few questions this morning as I'm trying different masks. I'll put them in individual posts.

Do any of the rest of you feel that different masks have noticable (not subtle) differences in how breathing feels? It seems that every time I'm trying masks I notice a difference. I'm trying 2 really new and well thought out nasal masks. One feels to me to be much easier to inhale, while the other seems a bit more constricted. This is true even with diffuser removed.

What makes me think that I'm nuts is the much smaller one (in mask volume) seems less constricted. I know reading here that many nasasl pillow users report this with different size pillows. What would the mechanism be that makes it feel this way in masks? I felt this when trying ffm's as well.

Thanks for the thoughts.

Best,

Mike

Macpage wrote:All,

I had a few questions this morning as I'm trying different masks. I'll put them in individual posts.

Do any of the rest of you feel that different masks have noticable (not subtle) differences in how breathing feels? It seems that every time I'm trying masks I notice a difference. I'm trying 2 really new and well thought out nasal masks. One feels to me to be much easier to inhale, while the other seems a bit more constricted. This is true even with diffuser removed.

What makes me think that I'm nuts is the much smaller one (in mask volume) seems less constricted. I know reading here that many nasasl pillow users report this with different size pillows. What would the mechanism be that makes it feel this way in masks? I felt this when trying ffm's as well.

Thanks for the thoughts.

Best,

Mike

Hi Mike - I don't think you're imagining things.. I have had similar experiences with different size nasal masks. My thinking before trying a nasal mask was that it would feel easy to breathe because of the air simply filling the mask. First try was with an FX Nano, Standard. It seemed to take just a bit more effort to breathe and felt too small, so I got a Wide. The bigger size felt worse.. like I could not breathe well at all.

Not sure why this is occurring.. only thing I can think of is maybe the air flow doesn't feel 'directed' enough toward nostrils with different size masks? It makes sense to me that air would flow differently with different designed masks, even though the air pressure is the same. But maybe one of our 'tech specialists' here can give us a better explanation

SleepyEyes21 wrote:Hi Mike - I don't think you're imagining things.. I have had similar experiences with different size nasal masks. My thinking before trying a nasal mask was that it would feel easy to breathe because of the air simply filling the mask. First try was with an FX Nano, Standard. It seemed to take just a bit more effort to breathe and felt too small, so I got a Wide. The bigger size felt worse.. like I could not breathe well at all.

Not sure why this is occurring.. only thing I can think of is maybe the air flow doesn't feel 'directed' enough toward nostrils with different size masks? It makes sense to me that air would flow differently with different designed masks, even though the air pressure is the same. But maybe one of our 'tech specialists' here can give us a better explanation

Glad I'm not the only one. It's certainly puzzling at least with mask size. I've been trying the really small Wisp, and the inhale feels very normal to me. However, with the much larger Eson (with no diffuser), the inhale feels a bit more restricted. It even feels a bit more restricted than my F10 ffm. Thus, I've got both a smaller and a larger volume mask feeling less restricted. Thus, I'd love to know what part of the design other than volume might cause this. I too hope some can shed some light. It's wild that air flow characteristics alone could cause such distinctive characterisitics in feel. I'm certainly sure that others feel the exact opposite of what I just described with the same masks. It seems to always be that way with xPap, especially with masks.

Best,

Mike

are you trying them with the cpap connected and running ... or just the mask

grayghost4 wrote:are you trying them with the cpap connected and running ... or just the mask

I always fit them and try for at least 15 minutes at my starting pressure. I know it does take some time to adjust to each. I will always try at least one night with a model if at all possible. You never know when something suprises you.

They certainly feel different without pressure. I wouldn't want to wear any mask without the machine for very long! Bathroom break is about as far as I will go.

Best,

Mike

Macpage wrote:

grayghost4 wrote:are you trying them with the cpap connected and running ... or just the mask

I always fit them and try for at least 15 minutes at my starting pressure.

fwiw, best to fit at normal, or max pressure, not starting.

Another possibility: nasal cushion masks need to contact the nose, somewhere below the bridge-
--but the exact location is different with each mask, and different sizes of the same model.
Some of our noses stop up with the slightest pressure in just the right (wrong) place.
--To avoid this pressure-triggered congestion, our selection of a mask must also consider this annoying phenomenon.
Maybe the mask "fits", but if the nose doesn't like it, you gotta keep looking.

palerider wrote:

Macpage wrote:

grayghost4 wrote:are you trying them with the cpap connected and running ... or just the mask

I always fit them and try for at least 15 minutes at my starting pressure.

fwiw, best to fit at normal, or max pressure, not starting.

Good point. I know the fit test blasts you with some good pressure, but you don't get a really long time. I guess you don't want to fall in love with a mask and have it betray you at 3:00 am when you hit max.

Best,

Mike

chunkyfrog wrote:Another possibility: nasal cushion masks need to contact the nose, somewhere below the bridge-
--but the exact location is different with each mask, and different sizes of the same model.
Some of our noses stop up with the slightest pressure in just the right (wrong) place.
--To avoid this pressure-triggered congestion, our selection of a mask must also consider this annoying phenomenon.
Maybe the mask "fits", but if the nose doesn't like it, you gotta keep looking.

Another good point. I can really tell this once I start the machine. Too small or the wrong hit with the nasal mask, and it feels just like rolling in hay for a whole day!

Funny, the one just feels restricted in use even though it feels great otherwise and doesn't seem to cause any congestion, It's nothing I can't live with just makes it a little harder to get to sleep and these days every minute matters.

Best,

Mike