AEIOMed Twilight NP - the rubber band trick

dvejr · Post by **dvejr** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 5:55 pm

Like others, I love the overall "fit" of this headgear. (Except there are those who find it too large....) VERY comfortable on my head and on my face.

Like others, I got a lousy nasal seal with it and my numbers were terrible. I needed to snug it up against my nose better (tighter).

Thanks to Rested Gal I finally found the good pictures to help me understand what people were talking about when they used rubber bands or pantyhose to improve the interface. I've now used both. I have not "deconstructed" the headset and probably won't have to.

The rainout issue is terrible. In my house this has nothing to do with heated hoses because the humidifier is on low and the room temp is not that cold. All my rainout is in the nosepiece, not the hose, and I'm POSITIVE this is a direct result of venting the system way upstream from the nasal pillows. In my Swift, all exhalation is quickly blown right out of the nosepiece by more incoming air. While most of us LIKE that the Aura vents up and away from our face and the face of anyone facing us in bed, I'm sure this very feature is what leads to poor ventilation of the nosepiece. I almost drowned the third night....

Doug

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 6:32 pm

Doug,

It is amazing what a little tweaking can do to an otherwise imperfect mask. And although rainout is not a pleasant experience, I think we always have to take a little bad with the good and be thrilled that we've even found some good in at least one mask. It's so hard for many to find a mask that is considered tolerable, that to find one that you actually like is a godsend.

Glad you got good results with those two fixes. And if you're not already doing it, make sure the machine is lower than the level of your mattress so at least some of that condensation runs back into the reservoir of the hh.

Sleep well.

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 8:00 pm

dvejr wrote:The rainout issue is terrible. In my house this has nothing to do with heated hoses because the humidifier is on low and the room temp is not that cold. All my rainout is in the nosepiece, not the hose, and I'm POSITIVE this is a direct result of venting the system way upstream from the nasal pillows.

I think you're right about why that interface seems to be more prone to condensation down in the nasal assembly area, dvejr. Rainout can be just as much of a sleep disturber as anything else that wakes a person up.

Even without a cold bedroom and even with the humidifier on very low heat, this seems to happen to some people using the Aura. May be condensation from warm breath collecting in the horseshoe shaped nasal assembly.

If you want to try something else before resorting to a heated hose, you might try wrapping the tubes alongside the nose with some kind of material. Might be difficult to do that...might make it too bulky, but worth a try. I assume you already have a hose cover or some kind of wrap around the main air hose. Also wrap the Aura's connector hose.

In other words, try to cover every bit of bare plastic hose or tubing with something to keep the plastic from getting cool.

Curious Guest · Post by **Curious Guest** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 8:44 pm

i dont know what rested gal used to help but nothing i ever used helped me with the headrest and rain out. maybe she would mind giving us the secret. even with a heted hose it still had water in mine.

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 1:10 am

Curious Guest wrote:i dont know what rested gal used to help but nothing i ever used helped me with the headrest and rain out. maybe she would mind giving us the secret. even with a heted hose it still had water in mine.

I wish there were a magic secret, CG. Sometimes there isn't anything, not even the heated hose, that can completely stop the condensation.

Jere · Post by **Jere** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 8:39 pm

Oh no - what happened to the original pictures showing the famous rubber band fix? I have been having seal issues with my Aura/Everest and finally decided to come back to this classic post only to find that the precious pictures are gone! Is anyone in contact with the original poster, jcarn?

Help!

Jerry

FOLLOW UP: Rested Gal has come to the rescue (again) and arranged to resurrect the missing pictures back on page 1 of this thread. Many thanks!!

_________________

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 9:37 am

Jere, thanks for your kind words, but it was ozij who came to the rescue. She's the one who had the foresight to save jcarn's great pictures to her computer back when he first posted them. She sent them to me a couple of days ago. All I did was provide a new storage place (my website) to link them from.

Kudos to ozij!! for saving the pictures!!

xxio · Post by **xxio** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 1:53 am

I was having a problem with my strap last month when my wife and I were on vacation...her solution...it worked quite well too....her bra straps (the detachable ones)

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 10:16 am

omigosh! A second one using bra straps!

And you thought you were the first, huh? Nope....

Snork (and wife) were there before you.

Which just comes to show you what great company you're in. That's the spirit xxio - you fit right in.

Any trophies for brave beginners, Rested Gal?
O.

feeling_better · Post by **feeling_better** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 9:11 pm

I am very new to cpap and this forum. Using AEIOmed aura for a couple of weeks.

rested gal wrote:
dvejr wrote:The rainout issue is terrible. In my house this has nothing to do with heated hoses because the humidifier is on low and the room temp is not that cold. All my rainout is in the nosepiece, not the hose, and I'm POSITIVE this is a direct result of venting the system way upstream from the nasal pillows.
I think you're right about why that interface seems to be more prone to condensation down in the nasal assembly area, dvejr. Rainout can be just as much of a sleep disturber as anything else that wakes a person up.

I also think that is the moisture in the breathed out air condensing in the tubes near the nose. Has anybody tried the following: putting a towel over your entire face, being careful not to cover the small outflow holes at the top of the headgear? This will keep the whole tube assembly near the nose warm, closer to the face temperature. Even though you may have to overcome the mild feeling of suffocation at first, remember the air is coming in from outside the the tube, you wont suffocate . I have tried this and it seems to reduce the condensation. Looking forward to hear the results from others.

I have the tubes already insulated, and running at the lowest level of the humidifier.

Cordially, feeling_better

GumbyCT · Post by **GumbyCT** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 8:31 am

New user of the Headrest myself but just turning the humidifier down did the trick for me.

jsmythe · Post by **jsmythe** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 5:45 am

I have been using the Headrest for a few months now, and can only run the humidifier in pass-over , or I nearly drown! Another thing that I have been doing lately and it works, is to turn on the heat on humidifier and let it warm up the water, and just before I get ready for bed, turn the heat off. There is a lot less rain out, most of the time, none.

deerslayer · Post by **deerslayer** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 10:43 am

sure is nice to have these archived docs to refer to !!!! i am gonna have to give the headrest a go

wristbandsnow · Post by **wristbandsnow** » Wed May 20, 2009 7:02 am

hello all
I'm going to try that! I've decided that I absolutely DESPISE my Activa mask, despite the fact that it quite clearly is the best at keeping a seal.

AEIOMed Twilight NP - the rubber band trick

Aura Seal Rubberband Pantyhose Rainout

Re: fix for aura - the rubber band trick

Re: fix for aura - the rubber band trick

Machine

Additional Comments: AeioMed "Headrest" nasal pillow mask. Everest 2 Travel CPAP

Machine	Mask

Additional Comments: straight cpap 12.20 AHI avg.0.79