Has anyone ever experienced...

I've had my new nasal pillow mask for about 10 days now. It is a huge improvement over the full fase mask I was given to start with. I didn't feel bothered by it at all and was able to fall asleep and stay asleep for 2 to 3 hour periods (my usual). I haven't yet had the pleasure of waking up refreshed and I still spend the day yawning and feeling as if a nap is in order but I'm hanging on with the hopes that this will come eventually.

Anyway, as I said, the first 9 days the nasal pillows were a perfect fit. No leaks and comfortable. Last night was a different story. No discomfort from the fit but I experienced leaking all night long and was awakened ever 30 to 40 minutes throughout the entire night. Has any else ever experienced this? A perfect fit to start and after a short period of time the leaks started? Are the pillows expanding my nostrils? Gosh, I hope not.

It may be that the headgear has loosened a bit, or the pillows are now broken in and may be more flexible. Are you using Lansinoh cream at all? It not only helps prevent any irritation but it also helps get a better seal. My pillows are softer and more broken in now, after several weeks of use, and I find I have nights without any leaks and others where things shift and I get some leaks. Nature of the beast, I guess.... a light, open interface is bound to shift from time to time and cause leaks, but the lightness and less claustrophobic nature of the pillows makes it worth the hassle from time to time.

I found I had to very systemactic in cleaning my nasal pillows (or now my full face mask). A daily cleaning with Dr. Bonner liquid soad of the mask - create foam on hands and rub on pillows thoroughly and rinse - and of my face (create foam, rub face gently and rinse thouroughly) kept my non-Resmed nasal pillow working fine for a long time.

Try it.
Keep in mind the there have beem reports of Resmed's pillow being planned to wear out at the speed of lightning . And Resmed's response to that issue been far from satisfactory ... start here viewtopic.php?p=482629#p482629 and then follow the link in rested gal's post on that thread:
viewtopic.php?p=482798#p482798

rested gal wrote:

plr66 wrote:Yes. ResMed began producing significantly inferior quality nasal pillows which began hitting the market about a year ago. The early Swift LT pillow lasted me 8-9 months without any leaking issues at all. A superior product, IMO. Everything after that has been reported to need props (eg: O-rings) in order to last effectively as long as a month or two at the most before collapsing. Without going into the whole rant again....More money for ResMed.

But it was such a good, informative rant, plr66! Worthy of a link to it, I do believe...

Re: MIRAGE SWIFT LT QUALITY POLL--THE RESMED CHARADE??? -- poll started by plr66
viewtopic.php?p=425631#p425631

On page 12, tattooyu's DME talks to a ResMed rep:
viewtopic.php?p=411916#p411916

"I wanted to chime in here and mention that I brought it up to my DME, who is a great guy and very interested in my feedback and my therapy. He spoke with a rep. at ResMed (I don't know what department) and he brought it up to them. According to him, they know about this quality control issue on the nasal pillows but don't want to change anything because, "Patients are allowed new nasal pillows every month anyway."

"I wanted to chime in here and mention that I brought it up to my DME, who is a great guy and very interested in my feedback and my therapy. He spoke with a rep. at ResMed (I don't know what department) and he brought it up to them. According to him, they know about this quality control issue on the nasal pillows but don't want to change anything because, "Patients are allowed new nasal pillows every month anyway."

Well, my insurance only allows me to replace pillows only every three months, and if I do, then the six month replacement cycle for the whole mask is reset to 0. In other words, if I replace my pillows at three months, I won't be able to get a new mask until the old one is 9 months old. Effectively, if I replace pillows every three months, I'll never qualify for a new mask if I understand my insurance policies correctly.

Wish I knew who to complain to at ResMed.

You can take advantage of The Great Pillow Exchange thread here and trade out the sizes you don't need for the size you do with other users.

One thing you might want to check is whether or not the inner pillow in one or both nasal pillows has become inverted. That's usually what has happened if I have a leaky night. You can pop it back into place by removing the pillow from your frame and pushing it up with your little finger.

If that is happening a lot, the pillow is getting too soft and needs replacing. You can see a lab rat fix using a small rubber O-Ring to prop up the nasal pillow for a few days here viewtopic.php?p=274917#274917 while you are waiting for a replacement. Over time, however, the rubber in the O-ring may deteriorate your nasal pillow.

Some nights are just bad and there's no rhyme or reason to it. As long as most nights are good, you're OK.

Janknitz wrote:You can take advantage of The Great Pillow Exchange thread here and trade out the sizes you don't need for the size you do with other users.

Been there, done that, and HIGHLY RECOMMEND this to others needing pillows!

Janknitz wrote:One thing you might want to check is whether or not the inner pillow in one or both nasal pillows has become inverted. That's usually what has happened if I have a leaky night. You can pop it back into place by removing the pillow from your frame and pushing it up with your little finger.

Doing this too. I notice that if I'm "rough" in the cleaning of the pillows, that inner pillow has the tendency to become inverted. Well worth double and triple checking the orientation of those inner pillows when you put the mask back together after cleaning the pillows.

Janknitz wrote:If that is happening a lot, the pillow is getting too soft and needs replacing. You can see a lab rat fix using a small rubber O-Ring to prop up the nasal pillow for a few days here viewtopic.php?p=274917#274917 while you are waiting for a replacement. Over time, however, the rubber in the O-ring may deteriorate your nasal pillow.

Another thing that may work is using a nasal pillow barrel cozy. I just got mine from Pad a Cheek yesterday and I was really quite pleased last night with the fact that the barrel cozy is just thick enough (with it's padding) to help those FX cone pillows stand more upright and erect. Also noticed that the irritated spot in my left nostril didn't hurt nearly as much this morning because the barrel cozy helped keep that pillow's tip properly aligned inside the nostril instead of letting it slop and hit the irritated spot.

Janknitz wrote:Some nights are just bad and there's no rhyme or reason to it. As long as most nights are good, you're OK.

Ain't that the truth.