CPAPtalk.com

oldtimer47, congrats...you earned one of these!



Your fix for the Swift LT pillows has been added here:

LINKS to Lab Rat Trophy awards
viewtopic.php?t=15104

I agree--taking some of the spring out of the pillow is very helpful, makes it much easier to adjust in the night. I used a small hair elastic on each pillow, doubled up, and it worked perfectly! Particularly, I used Scunci brand, the ones called "no damage", they are black and come in a pack of lots, all the same. They are the smaller size of the two black "no damage" options. I got mine at cvs. I think these are the ones, but it's hard to tell:
http://www.cvs.com/CVSApp/cvs/gateway/d ... tiveCat=65

Anyway, they work perfectly, are very cheap, and no assembly required!

I found today, messing around with the mask, that it seems more stable when I tighten up the top straps and loosen the bottom ones accordingly, so it perches higher on my head/face. I haven't had a great night so far, but I'm not giving up yet, either.[/img]

It's still going well so far. I've had a couple of nights with higher leaks than I'd like but then I tried skipping the chinstrap and just using the tape+pantyhose tights strap. Big mistake ... I really did find out how much the chinstrap helps even though it's not perfect.

So now with Swift LT (large pillows), Tiara Topaz chin strap, 2" J&J hurt-free tape covered with a panty-hose tights strap + an additional pantyy-hose tights strap to stabilize, I'm sleeping well and not leaking too much. It still looks strange!

Mindy

Amazing News - 4th night with 'o-ring' modification had a leak of 0.0 yes ZERO and an AHI of 0.6 - I have never had numbers this low in the 5 years I have been on therapy. I'm off to buy some 'proper' silicone rubber o-rings !!!!

oldtimer47 wrote:Amazing News - 4th night with 'o-ring' modification had a leak of 0.0 yes ZERO and an AHI of 0.6 - I have never had numbers this low in the 5 years I have been on therapy. I'm off to buy some 'proper' silicone rubber o-rings !!!!

Wow! I think I need to try some of those!

Mindy

The small pillows worked out really well for me. The only problem now is that the small pillows have a slight whistle noise when I exhale sometimes, like the "whistlers" you sometimes get in your nose. I wonder is CPAP.COM will send me a replacement for the pillows?

I get the same small whistle on exhale. Do you really think it's a flaw, or just a mismatch between anatomy and pillow shape? Mine is on the left only....

Restricting the movement of the nasal pillows with various type of o rings is actually defeating the purpose of the design.

You need that movement to allow the nasal piece to flex and stay hugging to the contour of your nose as the rest of the mask shifting in, out and around.

From my experience, after stiffening up their masks with various add-ons, most people will come to realize that flexibility is really what promotes sealing, not force or stiffness.

Interesting perspective. I don't use add-ons until I find them necessary and then try the minimalist approach. I like the Swift LT better than the Swift II but I still need a soft, not tight, extra strap running under the pillows assembly and tied at the top back of my head. The results show in a big difference in leak rates and patterns. I tried it "straight" for the first 3 nights.

Mindy

Anonymous wrote:Restricting the movement of the nasal pillows with various type of o rings is actually defeating the purpose of the design.

You need that movement to allow the nasal piece to flex and stay hugging to the contour of your nose as the rest of the mask shifting in, out and around.

From my experience, after stiffening up their masks with various add-ons, most people will come to realize that flexibility is really what promotes sealing, not force or stiffness.

Yes ... I agree completely with regard to the nasal pillows. Headgear on the other hand does need to be very stable.

[quote="Anonymous"]Restricting the movement of the nasal pillows with various type of o rings is actually defeating the purpose of the design.

You need that movement to allow the nasal piece to flex and stay hugging to the contour of your nose as the rest of the mask shifting in, out and around.

From my experience, after stiffening up their masks with various add-ons, most people will come to realize that flexibility is really what promotes sealing, not force or stiffness.

Hmmm I'm not sure. I know it doesn't happen with the Large pillows. Those cause too much pressure on my upper lip though.

svh wrote:I get the same small whistle on exhale. Do you really think it's a flaw, or just a mismatch between anatomy and pillow shape? Mine is on the left only....

Au contrary, I'm not affiliate with any mask manufacturers and I wouldn't mind to pick on them when they thought they can make a quick buck with a stupid mask design.

Case in point, Swift II is built like a Cadilac, but it's a stupid design with its choice of routing the tubing on your cheek which precludes side sleeping. In fact, frankly, while I'm at it, all side tubing designs by any manufacturer is a stupid design.

It pains me to see all the modification and add ons we have to perform to our masks to make it work right. Why punish ourselves and not the manufacturers for bad design? It's really a red flag if you have to modify your mask to make it work right.

We can only force the manufacturers to create better masks if we stop putting up and rewarding bad mask designs by paying for the masks and then taking up the task of fixing up a bad product ourselves.

I got the Swift LT last week Tuesday, and I really want it to work, but I'm not sold on it yet. I had been alternating between my broken/taped-together Comfortgel (because the tab broke at the bottom) and my original Swift. There seems to be less pressure on my sinuses with the Swift LT, than the original Swift, but the nasal pillows need to be positioned just perfectly or I feel like I'm not getting any air. Woke up one night gasping because one side had moved. And the headgear rides up very easily, so it's hard to keep the pillows in that perfect position all night. Tightening the headgear didn't work because it pressed the pillows to my nose too hard and caused the 'can't breathe' feeling again. I haven't slept good since I got it, but I keep trying. Clamping the hose to the top bracket helped some, but it's still not all I hoped for.

I've been using the Swift LT for about a week now. I like it better than the Swift II I was using. It's a little quieter. A little more comfortable. Much better for side sleeping. Stays in place better.

The only iritating thing at first was that when it did get out of place it was harder to get the pillows back into place while under pressure. I spent 5 minutes one morning with a mirror moving the pillows out of place & repositioning them so I could see what I was doing. After that, it's been easy to reposition them in the middle of the night if I need to. But, as I said, the Swift LT *does* stay in place better than the Swift II did for me.

Big thumbs up for the Swift LT from me.

Dan