Can anyone help me chose a mask??

Hello everyone. I am new to CPAP therapy. I am a retired US citizen living in Panama. I have no access to CPAP help here. I have never had a sleep test and have no access to a sleep center. I am quite sure that my nighttime sleep breathing problems could be classified as UARS. I have read Dr. Park's book "Sleep Interrupted" and have also been in contact with him. I believe that my severe insomnia, nighttime LPR and other issues are because of UARS. My husband is a retired physician and agrees with me. I think the reason I have this is because of a congenital defect in my jaw causing a under developed jaw and large overbite. I just received a ResMed S9 Autoset that I am very happy with. However, my choice of mask, the Sleepweaver ANEW was a disaster. (I cannot get masks fitted here, have no choice than to just buy them and hope for the best). I could not use this mask at all. Because of my receded chin, the mask would not fit in the chin area - no seal - air totally goes out the bottom of the mask. It appears that this mask needs someone with a strong jaw. So I need help finding the right mask so I can even begin to use the machine. Here is the info I can give you:

1. I prefer a full mask because at times my nose gets stuffy and I cannot tolerate anti-histamines.
2. My lower jaw is significantly receded. Not sure any full mask will fit without massive leakage.
3. Question: Do you think a nasal mask would work with only slight nasal congestion?
Can I use my nasal dilators with a pillow mask?
4. I have a small face
5. I considered a oral mask, but have some missing bottom teeth and may grind.

I just don't if I should buy a nasal pillow mask or try another full mask. The Sleepweaver was totally the wrong choice.
Any help would be greatly appreciated

PEF wrote: Because of my receded chin, the mask would not fit in the chin area - no seal - air totally goes out the bottom of the mask. It appears that this mask needs someone with a strong jaw. So I need help finding the right mask so I can even begin to use the machine. Here is the info I can give you:

1. I prefer a full mask because at times my nose gets stuffy and I cannot tolerate anti-histamines.
2. My lower jaw is significantly receded. Not sure any full mask will fit without massive leakage.
3. Question: Do you think a nasal mask would work with only slight nasal congestion?
Can I use my nasal dilators with a pillow mask?
4. I have a small face
5. I considered a oral mask, but have some missing bottom teeth and may grind.

I just don't if I should buy a nasal pillow mask or try another full mask. The Sleepweaver was totally the wrong choice.
Any help would be greatly appreciated

At least you have great machine and hopefully it is what you need.

If someone else has a receding jaw they may know what fits well.

I would suggest calling CPAP.com and asking about mask that can be worn with receding jaw and seeing which ones can be worn with the nasal dilators.

At cpap.com I saw colored dilator prongs for a mask and now I cannot find the right mask.

I was going to suggest the Hybrid by Innomed, until I saw the nasal dilators. It has nasal prongs so I do not know how that would work. I love this one, and is the one that made me compliant. I do not know how receded your jaw is, I was playing with mine and I can tilt the mask part to fit the mouth/chin area.

Would you need the nasal dilators if you have air going into your nose with nasal prongs?

This simple nasal mask may be an issue with your congestion, The https://www.cpap.com/productpage/wisp-n ... ck-pr.html was given to someone for a two week titration and it did not leak, found it hot so did not buy that one for regular use and went with a nasal pillow type. It did leak when hose went over head and tried larger cloth frame so not sure what the issue was. Smaller size frame was plastic. Nasal pillow size did not change when these two changes were made.

To use a nasal mask you need to keep your mouth closed. People have taped including myself. I knew I clenched my teeth during the day, but with the nasal masks even with taping I ended up with TMJ and needed a mouth guard made.



What part of the Sleepweaver ANEW was the disaster? Just asking because I saw that they have the Elan which is a nasal mask.

You may want to check out this thread started by someone else with a receding chin trying to find a good full face mask. Apparently she had luck finally with a Quattro FX full face mask combined with a chinstrap called the PAPcap.

Also, yes, a nasal mask WILL work with just slight congestion. Many people use their nasal and/or nasal pillow masks even through head colds and the like, a bit of nasal congestion won't be an issue. I first started with a full face mask then switched to a nasal pillow mask, and lemme tell ya, the difference was like night and day to me. I love the nasal pillow mask - no more fiddling all night trying to fix small leaks!

If you'd like to try a nasal pillow mask, I'd highly recommend the ResMed Airfit P10, which is a popular choice.

I have been thrilled with using the Nuance Pro Gel Pillows Mask. Before I started cpap therapy, I had quite a bit of nasal congestion. i supposed it was due to allergies, but since I started with Cpap, it's amazing how little I have now. Since my cpap machine provides me moisture, I think that is helping me not have the congestion. I couldn't be more pleased with my progress.

I tried a full mask for 5 minutes, but it hurt my nose. I also have an overbite due to veneers on my upper teeth.

I hope you find something that works for you.

PEF wrote:my choice of mask, the Sleepweaver ANEW was a disaster

Although some people love this mask, it is not a very popular mask and gets many poor reviews - https://www.cpap.com/productpage/sleepw ... eviews-tab

So don't let that mask discourage you. IMO, it was not the best choice for someone starting out. I would go with one of the more popular masks that receives better reviews.

PEF wrote:My lower jaw is significantly receded. Not sure any full mask will fit without massive leakage.

Underdeveloped and receding mandibles are very common among sleep apnea patients. There are plenty of masks that work well for these people. Again, don't get discouraged. Take a can-do attitude and you will succeed.

PEF wrote: I considered a oral mask, but have some missing bottom teeth and may grind.

This would have been a very bad choice for a newbie. It is not a popular mask and has huge drawbacks. Again, some people do successfully use the mask, but they are a tiny minority.

PEF wrote:Do you think a nasal mask would work with only slight nasal congestion?

There is no way for anyone here to know. Everyone is different. The key question is going to be whether your mouth will stay shut while sleeping with a nasal mask. There is no way to know this at this point.

You should make a guess as to whether you can use a nasal interface or need a full face mask (FFM) and start in that direction. If you are a known "mouth breather", then you may as well start with a FFM. If uncertain, you might want to start with a nasal interface because they are lighter weight and have a smaller footprint.

You could start reviewing some of the different style masks here - https://www.cpap.com/cpap-masks.php

Once you decide which style mask you want to try, pick one that has many reviews and that receives a lot of stars. Then run it by forum members.

For every mask that is made, you will find some people that use it and give rave testimonials. But when starting out as a newbie, you definitely should go with a more popular mask that gets good reviews, and you should ignore the people who rave about a mask that is not so popular.

It's also a good idea to register and fill out your equipment profile under the User Control Panel. Otherwise, it is going to be hard to track your progress in the forum.

Good luck,

Can you mostly breathe through your nose during the day or is the nasal congestion so bad that you just have to mouth breathe?
If you can't comfortably breathe through your nose only...then you need a full face mask but if you mainly breathe through your nose there is a good chance that you could be successful with a nasal interface mask.
I thought I was a mouth breather at night only but come to find out it was just habit from gasping for air due to the apnea events. I didn't do well with full face masks due to the lower straps and my neck but I was able to break the (mouth opening at night) habit for the most part. I might still do it on a rare occasion but it doesn't last long and doesn't go far into large leak territory when it rarely happens.
Your machine will tell you with the leak data/graphs if the leaks are bad enough to impact your therapy but you need the software to see it.

If you want to try a nasal interface mask I might have one you can just have for the cost of postage.
Get with me privately if you want to talk about it. Just send a PM.

Given the same problem as yours, only one full face mask worked for me.
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/pr-com ... -mask.html
This is the only gel FF mask I have tried, but several others are made now.

WOW!! Thanks everyone for all the great advice. This is a really supportive community.I will try to answer you all one by one.

Keep Smiling - Great suggestions. To answer your questions:
1. I may not need the dilators with a pillow mask. Dr Park suggested I use them if I can find and use a full mask. I guess I just need to experiment.
2. Recently I asked my husband to notice if he sees my mouth open while I sleep. So far he says my mouth is always closed, so I may not have a problem. During the time he has been checking, I have not had hardly any stuffy nose.
3. I considered Sleepweaver ANEW a disaster for me because it just did not fit the shape of my face. The bottom of the mask, which was supposed to hug my chin did not even cover my chin - just hung down, causing massive bottom leaks. When I held the bottom very tight with my hands, it worked and seemed comfortable, until I took my hands away. In other words, I do not have enough chin to hold the mask. It also seems that this mask does not seal well at all. I looked up reviews on it and about 2/3 people who tried it reported massive leaking. I should have checked out the reviews first.But I think that if it fits someone's face, it would be a great mask. Very well made.

I also want to comment about my nasal congestion issue. For many years, I was diagnosed with allergy rhinitis. Now after talking to Dr. Park and having done a lot of research and experimentation, I really think most of my respiratory issues (other than obvious colds) have to do with a form of acid reflex called LPR. I always observed a connection between eating and reflux and sleeping and reflux. I think this reflux issue is part of the whole UARS issue. Dr. Park says that, when someone with UARS gets tested in a sleep lab, a catheter is placed in their esophagus to detect a buildup of pressure in the chest and esophagus. A breathing obstruction will cause their brain to respond by building up pressure in the chest (especially the esophagus) to get the breath. When this happens, the pressure increase creates an air vacuum that sucks stomach contents into the esophagus and throat. Medical professionals have known for some time that there is a connection between sleep breathing problems and reflux. Dr. Park thinks that the sleep breathing problem may actually be the cause of any nasal congestion I wake up with in the morning. When I go to bed, I am rarely congested, even when I wake up later. But toward morning, starting around 4 or 5 am, when I am in REM sleep, that is when the trouble starts. Then I can wake up with sore throat, nasal congestion or mild asthma symptoms. Very weird. Likewise, my reflux does not seem to be related to my stomach. So my theory is that it is the sleep breathing problem causing the nasal congestion. This is why I am so excited about CPAP therapy potentially helping a really big problem I have had most of my life. I am hoping that successful CPAP therapy can reduce or eliminate my uncomfortable respiratory symptoms. However, if the nasal congestion is there at the start, it may be hard for the CPAP to work. I just need to experiment.

SleepyCarey - Thanks so much for the link. The Papcap might just work for me - even perhaps with the Sleepweaver. It would be a lot of gear, but I may be able to manage it. I am thinking this might be good for therapy during the day when I nap and use something lighter at night. And yes, the Airfit P10 is at the top of my list for a nasal pillow mast.

SunnyBeBe - Thanks for the input. I had looked at the Nuance Pro Gel and thought it looked like a very comfortable mask.I am so happy to hear that CPAP therapy has improved your nasal congestion. I believe that CPAP therapy can help with all types of unexplained respiratory issues. I am really hoping it can help with my unexplained, intermittent nasal congestion, sore throat and mild asthma symptoms.

Chicago Granny - I am so relieved that you think I can successfully find a suitable mask. I have no intention of giving up! I agree with you about the oral mask. Not for someone new!

Pugsy, Yes, I can mostly breathe through my nose. I have some nasal congestion within 1 to 2 hours after eating a meal, then it usually goes away. I don't eat within 3 or 4 hours of going to bed, so I generally am not congested then. But often something happens toward morning during my REM sleep which I have described above. My hope is that a night of successful CPAP therapy can prevent my morning issues, including morning headaches. During the day, I am not normally congested. I will message you when I figure out how to do it.

Chunky frog - So you had the same problem as mine. Can you tell me if this masks fits tightly enough in the chin area?

PEF wrote:I really think most of my respiratory issues (other than obvious colds) have to do with a form of acid reflex called LPR. I always observed a connection between eating and reflux and sleeping and reflux. I think this reflux issue is part of the whole UARS issue. Dr. Park says that, when someone with UARS gets tested in a sleep lab, a catheter is placed in their esophagus to detect a buildup of pressure in the chest and esophagus. A breathing obstruction will cause their brain to respond by building up pressure in the chest (especially the esophagus) to get the breath. When this happens, the pressure increase creates an air vacuum that sucks stomach contents into the esophagus and throat.

Absolutely. Gramps had developed a pretty bad case of reflux. After he started using CPAP, it quickly went away.

PEF wrote: I may not need the dilators with a pillow mask.

You also may not need them with a FFM. In the same way that CPAP splints your airway open, the pressure tends to inflate the nostrils. When I get a little congestion, as soon as I put on my mask the congestion becomes less or not at all. I breathe better at night that during the day! A reversal from pre-CPAP!

That is right, Chicago Granny - it certainly makes sense that, with CPAP, the air in my nostrils will tend to keep my nostrils open, replacing the need for the dilators. I suppose it is a good thing I have been sleeping with large nasal dilators for 2 years now and hardly notice them because this may make it much easier to get used to nasal pillows.