CPAPtalk.com

Hmmm... I see a red pressure pulse rectangle but several green squares...never seen green squares before.
I have no idea why the green squares.

7th night with the the new PR S1 750 BiPap Auto machine....but trying Bella Loops on Swift FX for first time.

Had my first bad night in a very long time. Even woke up feeling like crap - slight headache and puffy eyes. My AHI shot up to 3.47 - which is high since I switched to nasal pillows.

I got the Bella Loops for the Swift FX from cpap.com and tried em out for the first time. I loved the feeling of having no headgear on and felt super light on my face. I thought I had a good fit before going to bed. But I really struggled trying to find a comfortable position to which they didn't start hissing when sleeping on my face (like I can with Aloha) with either the nasal pillow or the vents blowing into something making noise. Maybe its cause the Aloha pillow is a more harder silicon and keeps its shape (less flimsy) better than the Swift FX pillow when its gets forced into my bed's pillow with my face at night? The wifey actually woke me up last night saying I was "noisy with leaks". Haven't heard that in awhile . I just pulled each strap one notch tighter and went back to sleep without looking at clock. But looking at my charts, it must have been between 12:40am and 1:15am when I had a good leak spiking into the 90 L/min range. Also had a "spike down" at 3:40am when I blocked my hose vent. This morning wifey said I was noisy all night, but my leak chart shows a steady line at 38-40 L/min for the whole night except for the above. Just kind of ironic since yesterday, the wifey made a comment that I had really solved all the snoring/leak noise as she can't even tell if I'm in the bedroom anymore.

Wednesday night's data - Night #7 using new BiPAP AUTO with Swift FX wit Bella Loops

It took me a week to get the Bella Loops just "right"...yep, a week. The adjustments have to be tiny.
Make sure to do any adjusting laying down in bed. Sitting up the short hose pulls on the loops..add the long hose weight and it's very difficult unless laying down.
My first 2 nights with the Loops..horrible leak rate. There's a fine line between too tight causing pain at the ears mainly and tight enough to lessen chance of the pillows moving around.

Some people take to the Loops right away but I think most people it takes a few days.
For me the freedom from the headgear was worth the week long effort but it wasn't easy for me and normally I can make just about any nasal pillow work decently the very first night.

I don't remember if we talked about the Tap Pap...it comes with free return insurance from cpap.com. Unless you have a problem with your teeth (or lack of) you might find it a good choice. Those nasal pillows don't move at all and they are really forgiving as far as if you get things a bit too tight they don't cause huge amounts of nostril pain.
I had mine a bit too tight last night...I kinda thought it was too tight when I went to bed but didn't do anything about it.
Tiny bit of nostril tenderness on the right side only...or maybe I slept on it weird. I know with the Tap Pap I am sleeping a lot more on my stomach with my face buried in the pillow.

Pugsy wrote:It took me a week to get the Bella Loops just "right"...yep, a week. The adjustments have to be tiny.
Make sure to do any adjusting laying down in bed. Sitting up the short hose pulls on the loops..add the long hose weight and it's very difficult unless laying down. My first 2 nights with the Loops..horrible leak rate. There's a fine line between too tight causing pain at the ears mainly and tight enough to lessen chance of the pillows moving around.

I didn't really have em tight by any means when I adjusted em sitting in a chair WITHOUT the short hose attached. In all reality, the leak line below is very acceptable (minus the 2 events). I'll play around with the adjustments again tonight while in bed this time.



Just paid my old DME $500 bill for my original equipment and 3 months CPAP rental (a lot of that was deductible). I might try the TapPap when I'm eligible for a new mask, as my new DME just shipped me a new Aloha mask and several pillows yesterday.

Yeah, the leak line isn't bad but you slept like crap fiddling with the mask and leaks. I don't care if leak line was totally flat.
Remember...number one goal....good sleep with minimal arousals or awakenings.
If a leak, even a tiny leak, wakes you up a lot...that leak has to be fixed.

Do the final adjustments in bed, laying down. That was how I finally was able to dial in the just right tension. For 3 nights I tried it sitting up on the edge of the bed (with and without the long hose attached) and I wasted 3 nights.
The loops are just so sensitive to the least little amount of weight that it is just really difficult to find something that works both with sitting up and laying down.

Pugsy wrote: The loops are just so sensitive to the least little amount of weight that it is just really difficult to find something that works both with sitting up and laying down.

When I make adjustments - should I adjust the same number of notches: "Each ear - top/bottom loop same" and/or "Top/bottom loop the same for BOTH ears"

Kenwood wrote:When I make adjustments - should I adjust the same number of notches: "Each ear - top/bottom loop same" and/or "Top/bottom loop the same for BOTH ears"

I did. It makes things more balanced. Unless your nose isn't in the middle of your face or one ear is a lot higher than the other ear..balanced was less problematic for me. I did try different notches for side sleeping thinking the side down wouldn't need as much tension but I found out that things were more stable when notches were balanced.

Top and bottom notch did vary ...like 3 notches on top and maybe 2 notches on the bottom of the same ear.
But they matched on the other ear.
When measuring notches I found it easier to start from the visible end that you pull on to adjust the tension.

So top loop...whatever feels good (but doesn't have to the the same as the bottom) but balanced on the other ear.

Bottom loop...whatever feels good (doesn't have to be the same as the top) but balanced on the other ear.

Most of the time...I only needed one notch difference between top and bottom but I have tiny ears so there wasn't much space to need adjusting. I suspect that most people will need different notch settings between top and bottom.

8th night with the the new PR S1 750 BiPap Auto machine....but trying Bella Loops on Swift FX for 2nd night

I had a much better night last night with the Bella Loops for the Swift FX. I tightened the straps more last night and my leak line only fluctuated by 8 L/min. I didn't wake up at all last night to do the hissing leaks like last night. It was also nice to see my AHI go back down under one. This setup seems to be more vulnerable to the hose pulling the pillow away from its seal, but boy does it feel like you are not wearing a mask.

Thursday night's data - Night #8 using new BiPAP AUTO with Swift FX wit Bella Loops

Kenwood wrote:my leak line only fluctuated by 8 L/min.

Some of that movement is vent rate related and not excess leak.
Look at the leak line and the pressure line...leak goes up when pressure goes up...vent rate goes up when pressure goes up.
So probably most of that going up is from the vent rate.
Whenever people use auto adjusting pressures and the pressures vary...the leak line will vary too.
No way to get around it.

So you won't ever be able to see a flat leak line when using auto adjusting pressures...there's always going to be movement on the leak line when pressure moves.

Glad you had a better night with the Loops...you beat me..I was still struggling on the second night.

That short hose weight....I was able to finally get used to it as I got used to the loops and it wasn't a huge problem...so I never did the routing the hose over my head because in general I just have never cared to do that.
I think it could be done successfully but you would need to have a lot of play in the hose to allow for movement and not have that movement tug on the nasal pillows. Routing over the head without enough play will result in the hose tugging on the pillows and trying to give you piggy nose because of the upward routing.

9th night with the the new PR S1 750 BiPap Auto machine....but trying Bella Loops on Swift FX for 3rd night

As Pugsy would say....another boring night - LOW leak, snores, events and AHI. I sure can get used to this. Although those Bello Loops seemed to have dug into my ear curve at the top - just a tad sore with the impression.

For tonight, I'm bumping my EPAP to 15.5.

Friday night's data - Night #9 using new BiPAP AUTO with Swift FX wit Bella Loops

Kenwood wrote:Although those Bello Loops seemed to have dug into my ear curve at the top - just a tad sore with the impression.

If this continues...and you decide you want to make the Loops a permanent addition to your household..
Padacheeks makes a little loop cover as well as some little side cheek covers for over the pink covers.

http://www.padacheek.com/PAC_SwiftFX.html

I had sometimes had some tenderness mainly at the left ear top "groove"...never on the right ear...but it wasn't a make it or break it tenderness. So the loop covers were nice but not a critical deal for me BUT those side covers are awesome because I had 2 lines on each side of my cheeks from the 2 side straps on either side ....when that side was down on the pillow.
Remember I was using a buckwheat pillow...so rather firm...heck if I slept on a wrinkle or crease in the pillow case I got a mark from it.

Last night I bumped my EPAP up from 15.0 to 15.5cm. Had some events and I was at 1.36 AHI when my average of being under 1.0 AHI. I had an hour long "spike down" from 2am to 3am where I blocked the vents. Happy dance being able to sleep 10 hours last night.


Saturday night's data - Night #10 using new BiPAP AUTO with Swift FX wit Bella Loops

Pugsy wrote:

Kenwood wrote:Although those Bello Loops seemed to have dug into my ear curve at the top - just a tad sore with the impression.

If this continues...and you decide you want to make the Loops a permanent addition to your household..
Padacheeks makes a little loop cover as well as some little side cheek covers for over the pink covers.

http://www.padacheek.com/PAC_SwiftFX.html

I had sometimes had some tenderness mainly at the left ear top "groove"...never on the right ear...but it wasn't a make it or break it tenderness. So the loop covers were nice but not a critical deal for me BUT those side covers are awesome because I had 2 lines on each side of my cheeks from the 2 side straps on either side ....when that side was down on the pillow.
Remember I was using a buckwheat pillow...so rather firm...heck if I slept on a wrinkle or crease in the pillow case I got a mark from it.

My ears HURT today.

Which ear loop covers are thinner: Padacheek or SnuggleCover's? Size wise.....how are the compared to the grey cheek covers that comes with the Bella Loops?

Kenwood wrote:Which ear loop covers are thinner: Padacheek or SnuggleCover's?

Padacheeks loop covers much thinner. I bought the SnuggleCovers (that was before Karen did hers) and I hated them.
Some people liked them. For me it was too much material at the top of my ear and the damn thing wouldn't stay in the groove.
HUGE PITA to put on because you had to totally remove the little padding thing from the side things (mine was pink and I guess the new ones are gray) and unbuckle the strap.
Material felt yucky to me too.

The Snuggle cover material might not be all that thick but the bulk was awful for me since my ears are small. It was much more bulk than the little gray/pink things.

Pugsy wrote:Padacheeks loop covers much thinner.

Thanks....Order placed