Bleep/DreamPort nasal mask review thread

[Muse-Inc]

...Sea Breeze...

Wow, shades of my past! Family used this all the time for everything skin related. Thanks for posting, will go hunting for it.

[katestyles]

I'm also interested to see how this copes with high pressure. I hit 19+ most nights at some point, and currently, I am being woken when the nasal interface turns in to a fire hose of air.

[palerider]

I'm also interested to see how this copes with high pressure. I hit 19+ most nights at some point, and currently, I am being woken when the nasal interface turns in to a fire hose of air.

That's only because it's leaking, and trying to pressurize the entire room.

The instant you get the mask to seal, the machine quiets back down to normal operation.

[babybear]

Hi Pugsy
First, I want to say thank you for all of your time giving valuable advice to myself and others and for giving us a review of the Bleep Dreamport. My question is, I see it advertised on a few sites for preorder at $109.00 for 16 nights making the price for a month at $218.00. I'm a bit confused as I saw a post that it would be around 60.00 a month or so. Am i missing something? Thanks .

[Pugsy]

Hi Pugsy
First, I want to say thank you for all of your time giving valuable advice to myself and others and for giving us a review of the Bleep Dreamport. My question is, I see it advertised on a few sites for preorder at $109.00 for 16 nights making the price for a month at $218.00. I'm a bit confused as I saw a post that it would be around 60.00 a month or so. Am i missing something? Thanks .

The initial complete mask package comes with 32 port or 16 nights worth...essentially 2 weeks.

I haven't seen the price for just a box of 16 night's worth of ports though. It's going to be a pricey investment for self pay people...no way around that. I had heard about $2 a night but that was a long time ago and just an estimate as we really had no idea what retailers would be charging for just the ports.

Once a person has the short hose frame thing...all they need is the ports and with common sense care that part of the mask assembly will last a long long time...but the nightly cost of the ports sucks if insurance isn't helping out.

[katestyles]

I'm also interested to see how this copes with high pressure. I hit 19+ most nights at some point, and currently, I am being woken when the nasal interface turns in to a fire hose of air.

That's only because it's leaking, and trying to pressurize the entire room.

The instant you get the mask to seal, the machine quiets back down to normal operation.

Even more reason to be interested in the ability of the nasal interface to deal with leaking.

I hit 19+ last night with no leak.

[babybear]

Thanks Pugsy! That makes alot more sense.

[palerider]

Pugsy here....
I moved Palerider's review to the main page....post number 3 on page 1 of this thread. So if you haven't seen it....go read it if it interests you.
I wanted to keep the first 4 reviews that I knew would be coming right at the top of page one because as time goes by this thread will likely get fairly large and 3 months from now someone new looking for reviews on the Bleep might not want to sort through a dozen pages or more to read what people might have said.

There is one more review coming that I know about....from a woman this time...so 2 men and 2 women.
She didn't get her product as soon as the guys did so we are giving her a little more time to figure out the ins and outs and compose her thoughts.

[palerider]

I'm also interested to see how this copes with high pressure. I hit 19+ most nights at some point, and currently, I am being woken when the nasal interface turns in to a fire hose of air.

That's only because it's leaking, and trying to pressurize the entire room.

The instant you get the mask to seal, the machine quiets back down to normal operation.

Even more reason to be interested in the ability of the nasal interface to deal with leaking.

I hit 19+ last night with no leak.

I hit that on IPAP too, and the Bleep is working for me... As long as I get my nose nice and clean, it doesn't bother me throughout the night.

[palerider]

After all this, I actually do have a question. You said the venting was quiet. Does it blow air across your face, specifically your eyes? Thanks!

I think that this has been covered well, but I wanted to chime in.

The air blows straight down the hose... but even that bothered me, so I rigged up a temporary diffuser, and now it doesn't blow anywhere.

If you don't get the tapes on properly, then it is possible for a *little* air to make it up past them and be felt on your eyes, but it's a very slight amount, and that's only if you don't get the tape on right.

[palerider]

I've used the word "DreamPort" a lot in this review, you may have gotten tired of seeing it. It's because I really feel like calling it a mask is doing it a disservice. It isn't a mask at all - it's the anti-mask. Something all together new.

Maybe it should be an "Air Delivery Device" instead of a mask

Yes! Something like that. I spent awhile trying to come up with alternative names. Best I could do was "leak free human to cpap interface"

How 'bout the 'Bleepin nose hose!'

I'm gonna get in trouble, I just know it.

[palerider]

Do you see any issues using this mask with a higher PS on bi-level?

I'm on 18/12+ so, ps of 6, and it's working fine for me.

[Pugsy]

Some one made the comment that my review sounded like a commercial and made a point to mention the baseball reference.
Well....that reference was made because way back when I first started trying the Bleep that's what I was saying after my very first night with my emails back to Stuart. They were titled ....1st night Home run.....2nd night Home run...3rd night Home run and so on as I discussed how my nights went. My composition skills suck...everyone here knows that. Ask me a question and I can easily come up with a short novel explaining something but sit me down in front of a blank sheet of paper and ask me to say something from scratch with no questions to answer and my brain turns to jello and ceases to function. Composing isn't something I do easily and it takes me a lot of time and brain power.

So if anyone feels my baseball comment was corny or sounded off or commercialized....get over it. It's just me trying to start something on a blank sheet of paper....and I am a big baseball fan. It is how I talk and did talk in my very first email to Stuart when I was describing my experience with this mask. It's my review of my experiences and my thoughts....that is what reviews are.

It's not my job to turn a full face mask user...who is totally happy with their mask (or any other mask for that matter) into a nasal mask user trying the Bleep. If someone is totally happy with their mask, whatever it is, then more power to you. I won't be throwing any stones or snide remarks at you for doing so. I am happy you are happy. What I fail to understand is why you can't be happy for me doing the same and finding a mask that I am really happy with. Why do you want to rain on my happiness parade? I certainly won't be going out of my way to rain on your happiness.

[Pugsy]

Last night I decided to experiment with a different skin prep besides an alcohol swab after washing my face.

I had some skin toner on hand...specifically Neutrogenia Pore Refining toner. I know it has alcohol in it but that's about it because the fine print was tiny and I couldn't find my glasses and way too late to look it up on the internet and wouldn't have mattered anyway because I was going to use it come hell or high water.
I wanted to see how well it kept the adhesive from coming loose. Worked perfectly..
Used a small dab on wash cloth to wipe off the nostril area and the small area on the side of my nostrils where the adhesive goes.

You women worried about alcohol or whatever prep....you don't have to do it anywhere on the face or nose that you won't be putting the adhesive strip on. My face isn't super oily and like most women I have some areas that are actually quite dry and some areas a bit oily.
Typical T zone oiliness really. I can almost make it through the night without the adhesive failing with just a cleanser and water cleaning but my nose it just a little bit oily and about 2/3 through the night the adhesive will start to fail. When it fails you will get leaks and air up over the nose and cheeks and into the eye area.

You can still use your usual moisturizing cream if you wish. Just apply it after you stick the ports on and avoid just the area where the ports are placed. That's what I do.
Remember one of the reasons I like this mask is because I don't like what headgear straps do to my skin...my skin is important to me so I still take care of it the best I can. The area that the adhesive actually is going to touch is really the only area you can't add much to.
It's a tiny area.

[Pugsy]

Palerider mentioned the wake ups during the night to fiddle with the P10 when changing positions in bed.
I have always said that one of the weak areas in regards to the P10 is the very thing that makes it so nice to use....that headgear because it's about as next to nothing headgear we can have. Remember those things we always have to give up...stability is one of them when you go with masks that don't have much of a footprint on the face.

That back strap on the P10...it doesn't always stay down where it is supposed to stay...it tends to ride up the back of the head and when that happens eventually the nasal pillows can dislodge out of the nostrils.
Not a deal breaker for me as it didn't necessarily happen every night multiple times unless it was time for shrink the headgear or new headgear but some people find it a constant nightly problem.

We turn over in bed and sometimes the P10 just will shift position a bit because the straps end up moving a bit. It wakes us up...we fiddle with it and then go back to sleep. Not the end of the world but it's still a fact and it's still a wake up (even if very brief).
I get a double whammy with the wake ups...I get the P10 fiddly wakes ups and I get the pain wake ups....it's really nice to eliminate at least one culprit in the wake up department. There is a pleasant bonus to me when using the Bleep...no more fiddling with the mask in the middle of the night wake ups AND no more dents or bags under my eyes. Double bonus.
I am a VERY active sleeper meaning I move around a lot in bed because of the back issues. I simply can't stay in any one position very long so I have to change position. More moving around equals more chance for the P10 straps to move around for me.
I made the choice a long time ago that even with that weakness in the P10 that it still was preferred by myself back when I first tried it because of my number one personal want....less on my face and head. There's pros and cons to every single mask out there....we just have to decide if the pros outweighs the cons.

Now I get to make another choice with a mask....I get to choose a mask that simply won't move at all and won't leak as long as I follow the directions and it really fits my number one criteria....less on my face and head....to perfection because there simply is no headgear at all with the Bleep. No brainer for me anyway.

As always...huge YMMV sticker with any mask out there because your preferences might not be my preferences.
You always have to weigh the pros and cons with any mask out there.