1st Flat Leak Line!

I just had my first ever flat leak line!

Yep, in the six weeks since I started therapy, I just experienced -- for all practical purposes -- zero leakage. And I owe it all to the Mirage SoftGel... Well, not all... I also double taped my mouth last night. I did that because I realized the night before that even taped, my mouth was leaking through my lips and through the tape. So last night I decided to try doubling-up on the tape and also pulling in my lips, even more than I had been already doing, before putting on the tape. That way, once my muscles relaxed, my lips would be more strongly pressed together as they pushed out towards the tape. It worked! And since I usually have nose-bridge problems with masks that touch there, I used a small band-aid on my bridge and it worked wonderfully. No pain this morning. (Yes, I had ordered the much talked about Comfort Care Pad, but after reading others experiences with it, I decided to not even open the package and ask for a return).

As for the Mirage SoftGel, it's a very nice cushion! I didn't hear or feel a single peep of leakage from it. And it also felt great! Very soft. My SoftGel is a converted Activa LT for which I bought a SoftGel cushion. As far as I know, this is exactly the same as a "real" Mirage SoftGel.

And as a final bit of good news, my AHI last night was very good. Not my best, but pretty close. Hopefully, it'll keep improving as I "perfect" my nightly routine!

-F

That's great! it's so good to know that it's obtainable, isn't it?

I've been have zero leaks with the Mirage SoftGel also.

Good work, falvesjr! Because "work" it is.... to get all the pieces of the treatment puzzle in place -- suitable comfortable mask for you, and control of mouth breathing/mouth air leaks, if not wearing a FF mask. Those are two of the biggest, most important pieces of the puzzle to get right.

Thanks, girls!

As a life-long mouth-breather, I want to wear a FF mask, but I have not found one that seals well... They all seem to blow-out around my cheeks. Thinking about it, what these masks need is a stiffener around the innermost edge of the soft "inflatable" lip that goes against your face. The current design is based on the idea that this thin membrane will get pushed up against your face by the mask's internal pressure, creating a good seal around your face. The problem is that the contact of any one point around the edge of the lip can be very different from a point adjacent to it (as your facial contour changes), and since the material is so soft, it will bend and blow-out, causing a leak, and sometimes, the too familiar "farting" sound we all know and love... If the innermost edge of the lip were stiffened, this now stiff edge would be prevented from twisting, stretching, and bending outwards as much, thus preventing the loss of contact against your face. Ideally, this would be done by the manufacturer, but I can envision a third-party product that does this very thing. If I can find the right material, a way to cut it to the exact dimensions needed by the most popular FF masks, the right adhesive, and make it economically, I might give this a shot...

Falvesjr, that's great news!!! Zero leak lines are totally impressive!!! Now that you've done it, the challenge is doing it again.

Leakage control is #1 on the list. Now you can proceed to getting the AI down, then the HI's.

Gary, funny you should mention AIs and HIs... I've been having very low AIs for a while now, three days in a row last week with zero, and most nights since with only one a night! My HIs, though, are still a little high -- in the 6/hr range. Hopefully they too will come down once I really master the leakage issue. Not bad from someone that came from a sleep study with 114.1 AHI!

I can tell how happy you are, thanks for the great update. BTW, I just love the pic of that little guy! He's adorable.

Awesome news--good for you! And thanks for posting the detail on how it was done.

I am happy about it! I just hope it's the beginning of a trend!

Dori, that little guy is me -- a "few" years ago, but me nonetheless...

C'mon, let's have an updated avatar! If I can do it so can you! Actually, it was my beautiful teenage granddaughters who put it up there and I didn't have the heart to take it down. As a matter of fact when they were here for TD they checked to make sure it was still there. The little devils!

How about that, Dori? This one is from a couple of years ago...

Thanks for the updated photo. Hmmm, not so "adorable" but still very "cute".

You might want to try the PurSleep PapCap chinstrap. I used to mouth tape but i find that the strap on the PapCap stops my jaw from dropping and prevents mouth breathing.

Bob, I have a chinstrap (not the PapCap) but it doesn't stop mouth leaks for me. Sure, it keeps my mouth shut and I don't really breathe through it with the strap on, but when I'm in REM, my mouth will leak all over the place if I don't tape... It'll even leak with tape, if I don't have my lips really prepared to withstand the pressure!