Newbie overwhelmed by OPUS nasal pillow avalanche!

FIrst off - it's so great to have a site like this. It's so touching to read your posts and supports of one another. I feel lucky to have found you.
Okay- so I have avoided using my CPAP for over 5 months now/ always getting too fed up with the masks. Finally got thru the past two nights with my respironics comfort classic mask - and slept beautifully but awoke with the dryest eyes ever that I just cant bear to use it again unless I can figure out how to get the port of the mask to face downwards (but have read that this then causes blanket issues! is there ever any non complicated solution with this stuff?!!!) Also woke up with tons of water in the hose and mask (I guess i have to insulate the hose. But I also have a ceiling fan and an Aranizer (air purifier) running in my room too. Dont know if those will also cause problems with condensation in general.

So- tonight I will try once again to use my Fisher and Paykel Opus 360 Nasal Pillows. But I am dreading it. Last time - I survived about 3 minutes because the avalanche of air being blown up my nose was so unbearable.

First - it was the noise (was it not sealed well enough? does it make less noise when better sealed)? How do you know when its sealed? how far do you push it up your nose?

Second- the dryness from the air blowing was causing a burning sensation / drying sensation in my throat which I couldnt take. Can anyone recommend anything that will REALLY help to adjust to this or minimize the burning and drying? I used AYR nasal spray before bed and the lined my nostrils with Lansinoh. These seemed to do nothing...

Third- My humidifier is set on 2 and my pressure is 5. There is a CFLEX feature but I dont know what this is b/c the DME guy said "DONT TOUCH THIS BUTTON!! ignore it! " (he was kind of controlling!) so would this have anything to do with these issues?
I would be grateful for any input from OPUS 360 users/ from the rest of you regarding what to expect the first few days of adjusting to nasal pillows (ie will I be able to go to work? or will my nose be so red I should wait til the weekend to use it? )and any and all creams and lotions and remedies that would help my nose not die in the process! (have searched posts put havent found much on this. Maybe I looked under the wrong topics)
Thanks in advance-
Organic Girl (why is my organic eating not making this apnea issue go away!!!)

Wow, those DME's are something else! First of all, your pressure of 5 is low enough so that I think most of us here would really have problems breathing easily, and if you can bump it by just 1-2 numbers, you might actually get some relief from OSA. BTW, c-flex is a 'relief' feature for people who have trouble exhaling against high pressure, but yours is so low I can't imagine that you'd need it, though it IS meant to be used anytime YOU feel the need! As far as the masks go, and your dryness in the a.m., I think you might unknowingly be breathing with an open mouth at night, causing the 'good' air to blow out rather than down, wasting the point of using Cpap. Which is why full face masks were invented ! They let you breathe however you do when sleeping, but keep the Cpap air in and allow it to do its job. The blowing air you're having may be due to leaks around the mask (particularly in the eye area, drying them out) which can occur from either badly fitted masks or overtightening, which can create more leaks than it solves, or else the vented CO2 air is not aimed well for you and another mask should be tried. SO, you have a few things to explore... the low pressure which isn't going to be comfortable to breathe naturally at, the c-flex which could help on exhalation, but only if you feel the need, the possible need of a different mask (full face - just a nasal one with a mouth covering extension, not a face covering thing!) if you're sleeping with your mouth open, and a mask re-think in general because of either leaks around your eyes, and/or badly aimed vents (in other words, the mask doesn't suit you). There are so many masks available now I'm sure you could find something to work better for you and it's really important that you do, of course, because you're not getting treated otherwise.

Are you sure that your cpap pressure is a 5? That is a really low pressure and you really shouldn't feel like your are being blown away. Can you check your sleep report again?

I don't have your mask but if you are having problems with dry eyes our sponsor cpap dot com just started carrying an eye mask for precisely the problem you are having.

Cflex is an exhalation relief feature that can help with the feeling of exhaling against the air pressure. There are three different levels of Cflex. You can enable it yourself by getting into the options menu.

I too an a newbie (4 months) and when I first started I didn't think I could every get used to air being thrust up my nose. I use Cflex and it helps when blowing out air. Have you tried wearing the mask and using the machine at a quiet time during the day, maybe watching tv or reading, to help you get acclimated to the whole setup?

I don't have any experience with the Opus 360 but used the Swift LT for ~9 months. So I'm gonna give you a few suggestions based on that:

The pillows should seal fairly softly. Experiment with different pillow sizes.

Your pressure is very low. So if you're experiencing a burning sensation, you may want to try turning up the humidifier. For example, I run mine at 3.5 and it helps me to breath better.

You need to get a hose cover if you're getting that much rain out. Another more expensive options would be to get a heated hose.

It sounds like you're more partial to nasal masks. You may want to consider trying out ones that seal better so air isn't blowing in your eyes. cpap.com affords you the ability to buy return insurance if a mask is not to your liking. In addition, you can get lightly used masks or new masks at cpapauction.com at great prices. The Resmed Mirage Micro, Activa LT, and SoftGel have a soft and quiet diffusion of the outgoing air. They also seal very well.

Good luck!

Your dry eye problem is likely air leaks upwards drying them out.

Dry month is likely your breathing through your mouth at night.

It's possible that you're breathing through your mouth because you're not getting enough air through your mask (since it's leaking a bunch of it up and out).

For nasal pillows, you don't actually shove them into your nose, but rather have the pillows resting against your nostrils.

Good luck with finding a good, comfortable mask (or nasal pillows). That's the difficult part.

thanks for the good advice above! Just to clarify- the dry eyes were coming from the larger mask (respironics comfort classic) (not the nasal pillow mask). So if the nasal pillows dont work out- I will try to see if there are masks that blow air/ have air ports in other directions. But I did read that the dry eyes can happen from the air going up your nose/ into the tear ducts and may be unrelated to air leaks! So would that mean that ANY mask will cause dry eyes as a side effect? I"ve been reading so many horror stories about people's crusted up / dried out eyes that sound horrible and I dont want to give up my clear vision for a mask? wondering if anyone doesnt have these problems?!

I will try the pillows again tonight and see if the burning gets better. If anyone has product recommendations to decrease the burn / dry nostril feeling- that would be great. Thanks again.

I've always used pillows although never the Opus. They should NOT make any noise at all when sealed properly (the vent makes noise, the pillows do not) and if the air is dry enough that it's irritating your nose that quickly, you need to turn up your humidifier (properly adjusted, you will not be able to feel the stream of air). Do NOT make the mistake of tightening the straps to hold it in place ... instead, get the pillows in place; then adjust the straps so they are not too long but also not tight at all; then if you need to, clip the straps to your hair or the hose to your pajamas or whatever. Do NOT try to use the pressure of the straps to hold the mask on.

With a pressure of 5 you really don't need C-Flex, BUT as someone said, 5 is *really* low. (I mean, my bottom pressure is 8 and that seems low to me sometimes.) You may be opening your mouth because you're not getting enough air from your CPAP.