I called Aeiomed to discuss this topic with them: 866-722-2507. I selected option 1 and spoke to a sales person. When I told her what I was calling about she quickly forwarded the call to Holly Larkin, Sr. Director of Clinical Affairs
and Steve Bordewick, President and CEO of Aeiomed, in a conference. Was I impressed!
I explained that there was a topic on this forum that questioned the proper CO2 elimination from the Aura nasal seal due to the relatively long distance to the vent.
First, Steve cited the fact that the FDA 'tightly constrains' the dead space and the vent distance to insure adequate ventilation. [So, this is something that the FDA looks closely at.]
I explained that there were still people posting that accepted the fact that the Aura had FDA approval, but still had doubts about the CO2 clearance. I asked if they had anything on a web site that I could reference that would be convincing. They said that the FDA has a site that can be queried for specific products. [I will do this.]
Steve added that the dead space on the Aura was very small compared to a nasal or full-face mask and that the Aura was much more likely to clear CO2 than either of these mask types, in general. Further, he said, our exhale is not entirely CO2, or something to that effect. [Keep in mind that I am trying to recall what was said from the brief notes I made and my recollection.] He said, we actually expel more CO2 through our skin than by exhaling. And, that people are likely to breath more CO2 when they bury their face in a pillow or cover their heads with bed covers than when using a CPAP interface of any type.
Holly asked for my phone number and email address and gave me hers. One of them said how much they appreciated my call and that they liked to keep in touch with the people using their products. They wanted to know in what state and area I lived.
Holly volunteered that she had been on PAP since 1988 and encouraged me to hang in there. "You will make it." [I had explained that I had just completed 2 months and had three masks: Swift, Breeze, and Aura.]
Then, I offered that the posts on this forum indicate that the Aura headgear runs large. I described my head size: 7-1/4 and the fact that I was bald. I said that I had to take the straps all the way up and close the two sliding adjustments, entirely. They said they were looking at that and in the meantime, they had provided adapter straps to provide for the needs of people with smaller heads. They said these were available from their suppliers. Holly said she would email me to get my address and send me two sets of adapter straps.
Steve added that if I had the sliders closed entirely, maybe I was wearing the headgear too far forward. He suggested I hold the interface so that the top bars were horizontal and note the way the staps hang. He said, "This is the way you should wear it." [I'll try that.]
How much nicer could their response have been?
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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition):
breeze,
swift,
CPAP,
Aura,
AEIOmed,
seal
