FULL FACE MASK FOR SIDE SLEEPERS

robynphunt wrote:Thank you all very much for your replies, I have found them very helpful.

I am sure I have a mask that is too big and as with Joan the top of the head gear is off the top of my head as well which I guess doesnt help the fitting. Joan would you please let me know how you get on with your new headgear.

Being a woman I dont need to shave very often before bed but thanks for the advice about that,WW. I will however make sure I wash any moisturiser off before bed as this may be part of my problem. I do wipe the mask over every day and wash once a week.

What is the "Teflon tape fix", Den? and where did you buy a water based pillow.

Quinda I do use a contour pillow but have found I have to get into really awkward positions with the mask on which makes my neck really sore which kind of negates the advantages of the contour. Do you mean that you cut out part of the pillow yourself or that you can get comfortable with the pillow as it comes? I dont quite understand what the extra strap is attached to at both ends, will you clarify for me.

Thanks again
Robyn

If you were to do a forum Search (above) on the word Teflon, you'd find many, many posts about it. Here's one, complete with pictures provided by another forum member.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=33452

Here's the website for the pillow I use. We bought ours a number of years before I started CPAP therapy, but it has helped me with this therapy because the water keeps the pillow more stable and the mask isn't pushed out of place (as much) as a "regular" pillow does. Last summer, I did an experiment and switched back to a regular bed pillow to see what would happen. I only made it for about a night and a half before I switched back to my Chiroflow......I couldn't keep my mask in place and it was leaking badly.

http://www.chiroflow.com/en/index.html

If you do a Google search, there are quite a few places to purchase them. But, like I said, we've had ours for quite some time and had purchased them from a local chiropractor's office.


Den

I used the medium Quattro and decided it was too big cause I kept having problems with it slipping up a bit and resting on my eyes.

So I went to a small and it was too small and bothered the corners of my mouth.

And it also tended to slip up.

The show that divided strap with the top part sorta on top of your head and the other part behind.

I discovered that if I pulled the whole shebang down past the bulge on the back of my head and just let the bottom of that divided strap hand there, that it helped tremendously to keep the thing from sliding up.

It makes sense to me if you figure what the force vector is when the strap is over the top of your head ( sorta ). The strap is pulling the mask into your face and also exerting some upward force which causes it to slip up.

Since moving the strap(s) below the bulge on the back of my head it is 1000% better.

It still will slip up a bit from pressure from the pillow when side sleeping.

But it hardly ever gets to resting on my eyes.

Then I went back to the medium size and now that fits very well since I learned how to position the strap ( for me with my strangely shaped head ).

But you might try pulling the strap down behind your head instead of how the directions show.

quattro large, side sleeper, lots of strategic pillow arranging.