Pilairo!

I DO have a sewing machine at home (my wife has her own too!) I just don't bring it with me in my semi-truck ... Bending wire is easier since I do carry tools with me ...

I've also thought of cutting the tip of the one pillow off to shorten it ... If I can't get anything else to work ...

123.Shawn T.W. wrote:I DO have a sewing machine at home (my wife has her own too!) I just don't bring it with me in my semi-truck ... Bending wire is easier since I do carry tools with me ...

I've also thought of cutting the tip of the one pillow off to shorten it ... If I can't get anything else to work ...

I think a few tacking stitches done by hand with thread and needle would suffice to secure a fabric or elastic extension in there. I thought about suggesting snipping some of the tip off, 2 to 3 mm max should put it down to the same level as the Aloha. At least you can get another if trimming totally messes it up.

Ok, back to bathing the lizard...

Suz

Suz,

I agree hand sewing would work fine ... Just that I don't have needle and thread in my truck either ... And I also am reluctant at this point to make modifications that are not reversible ... As I'd like for my wife to try it also, and if neither of us can make it work, to sell it cheap to someone else here ...

Last night was my third try, not a charm, but ... Much better, still need a bit more legnth, as my nose is still sore this morning ... But I did manage to leave it on for nine hours last night!

Check out my video of it, sorry at one point I accidentally cover up the mic ... Oops!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOnkYiR ... ata_player

Yes, I totally understand your consideration of permanent modifications. I felt the same way while I still had time to send it back. I'm glad to see you use the ointment. Judging from where the inside of your nose is sore, you can see that the angle of the pillows is the culprit. Short of cutting the tip off of the offending thingy, a solution is seeming more and more remote because your face isn't close enough to hold the wings in a more open position which would change the angle in your nose and the longer the strap gets, the farther away your face is! Bless your heart for endeavoring to persevere! You may just conquer all of these difficulties.

Suz

Here are a couple pics of my modification to the strap...this has helped a lot. Found some fine velcro and cut it to the same width as the strap (so the strap cover would slide back over it). Cut the original strap at the half-way point and sewed (well, my wife did) the velcro to each end. Adjusted to fit, and slide the strap cover back over top....voila!

Grant

The Pilario is the worst nasal pillow mask I have ever used, hands down. It's noisy, it slips all over the place unless you are a back sleeper completely, it actually wheezes when you breath because of the bellows design, the support strap is not adjustable, there is no way to support the supply tube, which for some odd reason is only 6 inches long, the vent holes emit a faint scream when you breathe and so on. My pressure setting is only 7 on an APAP machine...I can't imagine what it would sound like with a pressure of 12 or 13. Unfortunately, I didn't buy the return insurance so I'm stuck with this piece of garbage. I've been on CPAP for 5 years now, tried a variety of pillow masks, and currently switch between a Swift and an Opus 360...they are both great. I'm disgusted with the pre-issue hype on Pilaro, what a bunch of hooey. Maybe it will work for others but in my case it's $100 down the drain.

bzbtrader@aol.com wrote:The Pilario is the worst nasal pillow mask I have ever used, hands down. It's noisy, it slips all over the place unless you are a back sleeper completely, it actually wheezes when you breath because of the bellows design, the support strap is not adjustable, there is no way to support the supply tube, which for some odd reason is only 6 inches long, the vent holes emit a faint scream when you breathe and so on. My pressure setting is only 7 on an APAP machine...I can't imagine what it would sound like with a pressure of 12 or 13. Unfortunately, I didn't buy the return insurance so I'm stuck with this piece of garbage. I've been on CPAP for 5 years now, tried a variety of pillow masks, and currently switch between a Swift and an Opus 360...they are both great. I'm disgusted with the pre-issue hype on Pilaro, what a bunch of hooey. Maybe it will work for others but in my case it's $100 down the drain.

I think it's interesting that you said this, and I'm glad you included your pressure. Because frankly, I don't think the Pilairo does very well on lower pressures (and by lower, I mean under 10cmH20 or so).

Obviously this mask works very well for my husband and I, but he has ended up upping his pressure a little to compensate for the Pilairo's roughness below 10. That doesn't bother him -- he tolerates this with no problem, and the advantages of the Pilairo are worth it to him. But it is something to consider. Just as some masks don't do that well at higher pressures, I really believe the inflation mechanism of the Pilairo (aka: the "hovering" design) just doesn't work as well without higher pressures to fully inflate it. Interesting, interesting, interesting.

I ended up returning the Pillairo too. I was so hopeful but I think my nose is too narrow. The part that projects into my nose ended up aimed at the inside of my nose and created dryness and pain. I have low pressure (7) too so that may be part of the problem. Luckily I got the return insurance free so I'm extremely happy with cpap.com even though I can't say the same about the mask.

Count me in as another person who returned the Pilario. My main problem was that the least bit of tension on the hose ended up pulling the pillows away from my face. If the the head strap were stronger/tighter, it probably would have held the pillows in place. I didn't want to start messing around with augmenting the strap because I was scared I'd mess it up and void the insurance I purchased. Even with the insurance, it's still $18 down the drain.

OOOOOHHHHH i love my Pilairo......its so light, compact and after using it now every night for four weeks, my ears no longer get sore, nor does inside my nose, never has it slipped off my head and amazingly, it stays in the one place in amongst my hair. Never have i had to tie my hair up or back. Yes i do agree with the feeling of it wanting to slip off my face but it doesnt! the pillows do tend to be alot less inflated than what I can tell from other nasal pillows.

Wish i could say the same for my Intellipap machine..........................now thats another issue.
Just cannot get settings right and having extremly high AHI's, night after night.

good luck with finding the right mask and I will keep tweaking my machine.

Just to throw in another type of person that the Pilario would not be good for: If you sleep without a shirt on and with your hose going straight up over your head, the Pilario exhaust aims down right at your chest and is very difficult to tolerate. The exhaust on the Swift FX does now swivel with the hose, so shoots away from your body regardless of where the hose is swiveled.

fredmertz wrote:Just to throw in another type of person that the Pilario would not be good for: If you sleep without a shirt on and with your hose going straight up over your head, the Pilario exhaust aims down right at your chest and is very difficult to tolerate. The exhaust on the Swift FX does now swivel with the hose, so shoots away from your body regardless of where the hose is swiveled.

VERY good to know! Thank you for your report! The more info like this we can gather for different kinds of masks, the easier it will be for people to choose among them! I had been wondering how the Pilairo would do with different kinds of hose management systems (my husband and I don't use them). My curiosity was mainly focused on how the seal would hold, but it didn't occur to me to think about the exhaust. Very interesting!

fredmertz wrote:Just to throw in another type of person that the Pilario would not be good for: If you sleep without a shirt on and with your hose going straight up over your head, the Pilario exhaust aims down right at your chest and is very difficult to tolerate. The exhaust on the Swift FX does now swivel with the hose, so shoots away from your body regardless of where the hose is swiveled.

I'll remember to keep my shirt on.

I slept with it last night: I love it, however It is a bit too tight on my face & makes marks on it. I was cleaning it this morning & the hook on the head gear broke off. So, it didn't last me very long. @ least I have the one I normally use to fall back on.

I've glued the little hook back on for Blessed, have to wait 24 hrs for full cure ... we will see if it holds, I may try the velcro extension on it too ...