leaks appear after 4 hours of sleep

Hi all

I'm looking for suggestions to solve my leaks that appear after 4 hours... My numbers are awesome up to that point

But every night right around the 4 hour mark, I get mask leaks that wake me. Call them face farts, musical cheeks, air across the eye, air rushing out of the mask at the chin, whatever your favorite term is - I got em all.

The leaks do not show up at my 15 l/min exhalation pressure, but when the bi-pap goes to 21 inhalation pressure they appear. 4 hours of flexing the liner's contact to my face between the 2 pressures is a likely culprit.

some nights, I can tighten / adjust the straps and make them go away.

last night was a nightmare.... face farts, musical cheeks, sound of air rushing out of my mask at my chin.... Took the mask off and completely reseated it.

That worked for about an hour and then they all reappeared. Tossed the mask at the 5 1/2 hour mark and slept the rest of the night without the machine.

I'm on my 3rd mask and I'm using PPapillow, pad-a-cheek liners,shaving before going to bed...So short of super gluing my mask to my face, I am at my wits end.

HELP!

Dave

Your problem is very common. As you sleep, the muscles in your face relax and your face actually gets slightly smaller. Masks are more likely to leak...and feel loose, later in the sleep cycle.

Does it improve over time? Or do i have to learn to live with it?

At the end of the day, you need to try and get your leak rate to zero. I started getting small leak rates (3, 9 l/m, etc...). I found out that I felt better at zero, even tho the leak rate was in the "acceptable - range".

Sheriff

Zero leaks is lofty goal for me.

I spent the first 3 weeks of therapy getting my leaks below 30. Im thrilled that I have been below 20 this past week or so.

Dave

When I was using a FFM, admittedly quite awhile ago, I'd do a second very light application of Lansinol around the silicon cushion when I got up to pee, usually around 2-3am. I got pretty good at it and could do the application without turning on the lights. Of course, being a guy like you, I've got stubble growing out during the night, however the Lansinol helped seemed to seal the mask until I woke up. I've found Lansinol only lasts for a few hours before it wears away (soaks into the skin?).

Denial Dave wrote:Zero leaks is lofty goal for me.

I spent the first 3 weeks of therapy getting my leaks below 30. Im thrilled that I have been below 20 this past week or so.

Dave

With the Quattro mask, leaks under 25 can be handled effectively by your machine.

I have only been using the quattro for the past week. Prior to that I had the quattro fx. Unfortunately its seal could not stand up to my frequent rolling over during sleep.

Im thrilled with the improvements in my leak rate getting below 20, now i need to control the annoying leaks that are waking me up.


Dave

I too, get the wake up after 4 hours leaks (sometimes 3 or 5, but usually 4). I have found that taking off the mask, getting a drink of water (mouth is usually dry) going to the bathroom and then just putting the mask back on like I did at the beginning of the night usually works well. Most nights I go right back to sleep with no leaks for another 4 hours or so. This seems to work much better than just trying to adjust the mask while in bed, moving it around or adjusting straps and tossing and turning to stop the leaks. I never change my strap tensions. I don't know why this works, but it's like a fresh start and works for me.

Hi all

a big thank you to Pugsy and everyone for their suggestions & PM's about controlling my leaks at the 4 hours mark.

Except for an occassional spike, My leaks have been 15 all night since Sunday night.

as part of my CPAP learning curve, I learned that;

#1 daily wipes of the mask and seal are okay, but I can't go a full week without a complete scrub of the seal and pad-a-cheek liner. 3-4 days is my max now. At some point, I may decide to have 2 seals & liners to rotate during the week.

#2 set & forget as advertised by ResMed is not for me... I need to follow the "Taming of the Mirage Quattro" guidelines each & every night before going to bed.

# 3 setting the H5i at 5 may be good come wintertime but not right now or on rainy days. Too much moisture inside my mask makes my face a slippery slope for the air to escape via the seals.

thanks!!!!

dave