3rd night using Mirage Liberty

Well, I am now on my 3rd night with the Mirage Liberty mask/nasal pillows. This morning, I woke up feeling very rested. This is the same feeling that I had when I woke up after having surgery about 6 weeks ago. It feels like that I have slept for a month. My mind is very clear and not at all groggy. Last night, I slept about 5 hours with Liberty and had no issues with any major leakages.

I would recommend anyone having issues with full face mask to give the Liberty a try. This mask/nasal pillow has also eliminated the sore nose bridge and forehead which full face mask will cause. Since I wear glasses it was a pain to have the Quattro destroy the bridge of my nose. The full face masks, that I tried last week, gave me a claustrophobic feeling and made it hard to sleep on the side without leaks. The Liberty appears to be much better for anyone who sleeps no your side or moves around a lot. The only negative thing about the Liberty is the recommendation for daily cleaning. The previous mask, Quattro, only needed weekly cleaning. Is it okay to skip a daily cleaning and do it every other day? I am worried that daily cleaning will wear the plugs out quickly.

At the weekend, I did venture into the baby section of Walmart to purchase some nipple cream. Luckily, it was early enough in the day so there were not many women in that aisle. Have not tried using that cream yet as my nose has not been sore yet. I did notice some slight redness around my right nostril but it is not sore and my nasal passages do not feel dried out. I believe the trick is to adjust the humidifier to around a setting of 2. Also to prevent nasal dryness, I have started using a Neti pot which flushes out all the muck from my sinuses about two hours before going to bed. This has also help prevent my nasal congestion which is a pain when using nasal pillows. Last Friday night, I didn't flush my sinuses and went to bed stuffed up. Well, this caused major problems since I couldn't breath through the nasal pillows.

When I first tried the Liberty, the DME installed medium size plugs. These caused major leak problems which I initially thought was the mask design. However, another person on this board, recommended trying the larger plugs. Well, I can say that made the difference as the leaks are almost nil.

I didnt mind the liberty so much. I used it for three months until last week. The first few time I wore it, I would knowck out a nose piece and air would shot straight at my eyeball. That sucked... actually blew...LOL. I didnt like the small 9" hose.... it seems to get hard after awhile and you will seem to fight with it, atleast I did.

Couple of cleaning/performance tips:
Get some gentle unscented baby wipes and clean the external seal and the external nose pieces daily. Then clean the internal seal every 2-3 days. Clean internal nose pieces as required with a q-tip. This will help keep a seal. Soak them in a mild detergent about once every 2-3 weeks. Clean the headgear once a month by soaking it in mild detergent for about 20 mins.

Eric_M wrote:Get some gentle unscented baby wipes and clean the external seal and the external nose pieces daily. Then clean the internal seal every 2-3 days. Clean internal nose pieces as required with a q-tip. This will help keep a seal. Soak them in a mild detergent about once every 2-3 weeks. Clean the headgear once a month by soaking it in mild detergent for about 20 mins.

Thanks for the advice.

I recently Recieved the Mirage Liberty FF Mask but haven't tried it yet. I am Currently using the Swift II and the Swift LT Nasal Pillows but nights are getting Cooler now and the Nasal Congestion is Back so I will probably try the Liberty tonight. I have been waking rested with the Swift II other than the Congestion. I will see how it goes tonight.