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HI everyone --

I wanted to give you my continuing saga.

I've completed 5 nights on auto cpap with C-flex. Here's what's different for me:

- My throat is a lot less swollen. Somehow the gasping for air distended my throat a lot more than I thought.

- When I wake up, I have brief (1/2 hour upon waking) periods of actually feeling refreshed. I used to feel as if I'd just fought a war.

-The dark black circles under my eyes are fading. Mine are now dark black half-circles.

- I used to go through this elaborate effort to try to tire myself to go to sleep. I'd stay up until 1 - 2 am, reading, watching TV, all in the hopes that when I hit the pillow I'd fall asleep. I find I'm able to go to sleep at a normal hour like 10 or 11 pm and fall asleep pretty quickly. This despite my still uncomfortable mask (Activa -- which is just too big, even with adjusting). My new nasal masks come today.

Ordinary tasks, like getting up to answer the phone, still require "mustering" my energy. But I believe I'm making up for years of deficit and need to be patient.

So I sign myself -- "happy to be a hose-head" -- Be good to yourselves, all...

HI all

Every day I wake up brighter, eyes clearer, and life is good! Soon I will be positively chipper!

My last post I was going in to the whole wrangle on fine-tuning which mask I like.

(I'm using the remstar auto cpap with c-flex, with a c-flex level setting of 2, humidifier on 4).

I have very small features and a narrow head (which I trust does not mean I am narrow minded!) I did a small, highly unscientific "mini-study" and tried 4 masks over several nights, reviewing the data each night as to best results. I tried the Resmed Activa (standard), the Resmed Ultra mirage (standard), the Respironics comfortgel (petite), and the Resmed Mirage Swift nasal pillows (the smallest size -- it comes with 3 options). The first 3 masks cover the nose, the last mask uses nasal pillows.

I was surprised to find the Resmed Ultra- mirage to be the best for me. The Activa is too large. I didn't have problems with leakage on the Activa, it has a great seal. The main symptom is that it went over my teeth on my particular face, so I felt as if I were wearing braces when I woke up. I felt I would be in for an expensive dental bill after too long.

The Mirage Swift nasal pillows hurt my nostrils (even though I used the smallest pillows of the 3 choices), and to me, was very noisy compared to the other masks. I felt I'd get used to the noise if my nose didn't hurt, but again was concerned about the impact on my nose if I experienced pain after a couple of nights.

The comfortgel, even though I ordered the right size (it fit my face fine), just never really sealed. The slightest turn and it would be leaking!

So, I went back to the Ultra Mirage. Originally this hurt my face, too, but it is a smaller mask than the Activa, so hits between my teeth and my nose. I found that some of the undue pressure was caused by the hose dragging the floor, so I rigged up the hook with scrunchie our Rested Gal friend invented and this really helped.

My final, final tweak was -- believe it not -- taping the top of my mask to my head!! I found that the headgear didn't work well for my head because my head is narrow and small. When I tossed and turned through the night, the soft headgear would move up on the back of my head, creating pressure on the very bottom part of the front mask that would make my face (between my nose and mouth) sore.

Just a couple small pieces of tape on the top of the mask, near the bridge of my nose (maybe about 2 inches tape on my face, tops), solved the problem. The tape at the top acts as kind of a lever, holding the bottom part of the mask in place, so the mask stays up even as I am loosening the soft headgear through my tossing and turning. It held through the night, and I slept better than ever!

How weird is that!

Another aside -- the apap data showed that with the Ultra Mirage, my average pressure was higher (an average of 12, where others hovered at 11) than the others. I surmise that it is because the machine can read my breath and therefore anticipate and avoid apneas more effectively, since it is a better fit. The AHI indexes for all masks read less than five, so all were essentially effective. But my snore index was much lower, as were the relative leaks, on the Mirage. Interesting!



Cheers and good sleep all --

Hopeful,

Try the Swift with bigger pillows. The bigger ones will gently rest against the outside of your nose. With the pressure on, shift the headgear down to the point that they still seal but you can hardly feel them. This is what I do.

Hopeful, so happy to hear that you've got a mask that is suiting you well. And that you've creatively worked out ways to make it even more comfy for you! As for my "inventing" the hanging scrunchie, I can't take credit for thinking that up at all! I read about that trick well over a year ago on another message board.

For that matter, the picture I retouched about where I put the Breeze straps lower represents a tip I'd read a long time ago from a poster who was using a stretchy headband much the same way to steady her older model Breeze. An old tip that worked for me.

I really can't think of a single hint I've ever mentioned that was "original" to me. All I've been doing has been passing along tips that other creative people came up with first!

Hopeful,

When I first tried the Activa, I too thought it was too big. The bottom of it would cover my top lip and I thought that wasn't very comfortable.

I actually called Resmed and they told me that I was wearing it incorrectly.

The mask is meant to be worn very loose. She told me to lay in bed with it on and have a hand mirror. Turn your machine on and pull the mask out until it inflates, you can tell if it inflating using the mirror. It will not touch your upper lip when it is inflated and sealing correctly. It ends up that the forehead straps are slightly loose and the bottom straps are looser yet.

Honestly, I was set on the Mirage Ultra and thought the Activa was crap. I actually got another Activa because it didn't seem like the first one I had wanted to inflate like it should.

Try this and see if it makes a difference.

Let us know.

Thanks for your interest and responses on this!

I do indeed keep the Activa very, very loose -- almost ridiculously so. I essentially use the pressure itself to keep the mask on, as is documented here so well.

The size of my particular face is such that, even without the headgear to keep it on and relying completely on pressure to keep it on, the mask definitely touches the top of my teeth (not the end of my nose).

I recall that Rested Gal said that she uses the shallow Activa. Perhaps that is the difference in comfort for small faces? It is clear, at least to me, that the pressure comes from the air itself, not the headgear, for my poor tiny head.

My experience is that the Activa has a great seal, is very comfortable initially, but hits me right at the top of the teeth no matter how loosely worn. When I wake up, I really feel the pressure on my teeth. Over several days, my teeth become very tender.

Remember -- I do have an unusually narrow / small face. I can sometimes wear children's eye glasses!

So -- to each his own! I think faces, and therefore mask comfort, are very individual!

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Rested Gal -- you need to learn to take a compliment -- "too much information!" I'm going to try a loose headband, and also some of that pink "breathable" tape that is used for setting hair instead of regular tape. "Necessity is the mother of invention!" Perhaps we should all market a line of fashionable headbands / tape / scrunchies and hooks just for the readers of this forum! Our motto can be, "I slept with CPAP and my spouse doesn't mind!"

And thanks for the idea on the Swift, Wading, I will definitely give that a try!

Best wishes --