Mask fit

Hi, I'm new to using a CPAP, just 3 nights in. The first two nights, I used the mask that the sleep lab sent home with me. They had only given me full face mask options, because I snore. Reading a little bit here, I see that that was nonsense, and I should have been able to try a nasal pillow. Anyway, we had settled on an AirTouch F20, which is reasonably comfortable, but it presses against my nasal passages a little bit, sometimes closing them off. When I got home with the machine later, I pulled out this mask and found the fit guide... looks like I should be a size L, and they gave me size M. That explains that issue. When I went to the DME and picked up my machine, the lady there suggested trying a nasal pillow, even though I already had the full face mask. So I took home a Rio II. I tried that last night. I definitely would much prefer to wear a nasal pillow, but I did have some issues last night with this particular one. I tried on the size M pillow, and it seemed to fit my nostrils ok. Did a fit test on the machine and adjusted the headgear to fit properly. No issues there. But when I went to sleep, I had some noise issues that my husband noticed. He said I was leaking several times. I know what he's talking about, as I sometimes was trying to figure out if there was air leaking or if it was just the exhale port holes. Turned out to be those port holes. But it was blowing a LOT of air through them, and it seemed excessive (compared to what comes out of the full face mask). It was just constant air coming out in a stream, and if I got my hand in front of it, it would be noisy. I don't seem to have snored at all (yay!), so I think a nasal pillow might work ok if I can work out the fit issues or find a different mask that fits better. I didn't sleep as well in this mask as I did the full face mask, though it was easier to get to sleep in the first place, having less stuff on my face.

My MyAir score was 100 this morning, and it said I had 6L/min seal leaks, compared to 1-2L/min with the full face mask. I did set the machine to nasal mask before wearing the new one last night, and I never noticed any leaking around my nostrils. It's just all that air going straight out those ports that was annoying. It felt like less air going through my nostrils than through those ports. Is that normal with the Rio II? And if so, do other nasal pillow masks have that issue?

Also, I installed OSCAR, but my laptop said it couldn't read the card and that it needed to be formatted. I said no to that. But OSCAR can't pull in the data, since that drive won't show up as an option. My card reader is an SDXC reader, so it should be able to handle this SDHC card. I was hoping to look at that data to see if I could figure out the source of the leaking (even though it is well within normal parameters).

Bump

crazyfrog wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 12, 2023 2:20 pm

Turned out to be those port holes. But it was blowing a LOT of air through them, and it seemed excessive (compared to what comes out of the full face mask). It was just constant air coming out in a stream, and if I got my hand in front of it,

All CPAP masks let air out - and the higher the pressure, the more air comes out.

crazyfrog wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 12, 2023 2:20 pm

It's just all that air going straight out those ports that was annoying. It felt like less air going through my nostrils than through those ports. Is that normal with the Rio II?And if so, do other nasal pillow masks have that issue?

I don't know the Rio II, but I can tell you with certainty that other nasal pillows masks do not necessarily have that issue. I use the ResMed P10 nasal pillows mask (have had more than one by now) - and it's practically silent. ResMed, maker of the Air Touch F20 which you found so silent, has developed masks that dispense the pressurized air very quietly. I suppose there are other quiet masks by other companies - hopefully others will chime in with their own experience.
Bottom line: if you can use nasal pillows masks, you don't have to accept a noisy one.
Should you need a full face mask - not all of them touch the bridge of you nose at all. Some of them, described as "hybrid" masks, cover your mouth and have a cradle beneath your nose - I find that type easier to use than those that go over your nose. My first "hybrid" mask was terribly noisy - again, a company issue, and not a "type of mask" issue.

Thanks for the info ozij! An update: I tried the Rio II for a few more nights while my husband was out of town, so the air wasn't blowing directly on him (it's like a jet stream straight out the front). One night it worked great, but then the next couple nights my mouth came open a few times, causing air leakage and waking me up. So I went back to the full face mask. I called my DME, and they're sending me a size large AirTouch. The medium is just a tad small, and according to the size chart in the box, I should be a large.

At the sleep center, I had tried a hybrid mask, but I don't know what brand it was. It leaked horribly, so it was an immediate no-go. I do wish I knew which one it was, so I could know which ones I haven't tried.

Also an update on the SD card/OSCAR issue I was having.... It turns out that my SD card was bad. The machine wasn't writing data to it. My computer was able to read it one time, but then stopped being able to read it in that same session. I tried formatting it, and my computer couldn't do it. There was always an error. So my husband gave me a microSD card with an SD card adapter that he had laying around, and I formatted that. Stuck it in the machine, and it immediately wrote to the card! Woohoo! So I now have data in OSCAR.

Overall, my newbie CPAP experience is going well. I'm getting good sleep. I'm not waking up 1-2 times to pee like I used to. I'm not snoring, so my husband is getting better sleep. I even took a nap the other day without the CPAP, and my daughter came in to wake me up and said I wasn't snoring. Normally I would snore every time I fall asleep. I wasn't really planning that nap, so that's why I didn't use the machine. I had had 2 6-hour sleep nights in a row rather than my usual 8-8.5, hence the need for the nap. That wasn't CPAP related though.

Thanks to this forum for all the great info!

crazyfrog wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 22, 2023 9:23 am

Overall, my newbie CPAP experience is going well. I'm getting good sleep.

And thank you for updating us.
I hope the bigger sized F20 works for you.

Call the lab, and ASK them what mask they used on you.
Not recording what mask they used would be irresponsible.

warning!

this thread is being over run by frogs!

run for your life!!!

Calm down, we are not venemous, at least not I.
(Except when extremely riled, that is.)

chunkyfrog wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 24, 2023 11:41 pm

Calm down, we are not venemous, at least not I.
(Except when extremely riled, that is.)

i always try to take care not to rile the women folk. y'all can be vicious!