mask leaks

Do you breathe through your mouth because you can't breathe through your nose? Or out of habit?
Two different things.
Do you have chronic nasal problems that make it impossible to breathe through your nose?

Oh..BTW...people are using nasal pillows very successfully with pressures exceeding 20 cm all the time.
I see 20 cm pretty much every night.
Couple weeks ago I had a nearly perfect flat 0.0 leak line using the S9 Adapt and I am seeing some wild pressure changes..
It can be done with nasal pillows...but can't be done if you have chronic nasal issues where you can't ever breathe through your nose.

Now for moderate and occasional nasal congestion..sometimes the added moisture helps, and sometimes the congestion can be cleared up.

But to say that people can't use nasal pillows with high pressures is just plain BS.

I was getting leaks also, I could hear them when I had my mask on. Turned out that the cats in our family(4), had chewed on the hose causing holes. Used DUCT tape to wrap the hose and so far it is working. Need to find something to prevent the cats from chewing on the hose.

JamesW6175 wrote:I was getting leaks also, I could hear them when I had my mask on. Turned out that the cats in our family(4), had chewed on the hose causing holes. Used DUCT tape to wrap the hose and so far it is working. Need to find something to prevent the cats from chewing on the hose.

Maybe on of those hose cozies from Padacheek?
http://www.padacheek.com/PAC_Hosecover.html
I have one and it's thick enough that that the kitties would have trouble penetrating to the hose but more importantly I don't think the hose would be nearly so enticing.
The light weight less expensive hose cozies don't offer enough bulk (like the ResMed hose cover because it is not much better than regular shirt material thick).

I am lucky...my kitty doesn't find my cpap stuff worthy of her interest. Never touches anything.

I can breathe through my nose. I think I breathe through my mouth out of habit. I generally don't have any nasal problems. What would you suggest for a mask Iknow everybody is different, at least a starting point.

http://s743.photobucket.com/user/Bennny ... 0.jpg.html

Here last nights numbers. I used a diff mask last night. I have an appointment tomorrow with my Dme. I can get a new mask.

The first hour was great...and 15 minutes around 4AM.

Try a nasal mask or even a nasal pillow mask..much less surface area to have to keep sealed.
Even if you did some mouth breathing half the night it wouldn't be as bad as this has been.

http://s743.photobucket.com/user/Bennny ... html?sort=

Ist night with nasal pillows. Definitely more comfortable. Mask leaks are better, but ahi is higher. Should I change settings back. Currently they are
16 and 12 ps at 2. Fell pretty good.

Can't see the report...I get error message.
I would expect a higher AHI...
1...we may be using less than optimal pressure but we knew that when we reduced pressure in effort to get leaks under control
2...With the leaks your were having it is very likely the machine could have been missing events anyway.

So not surprised...Can you check your link so I can see what you are seeing?

http://s743.photobucket.com/editor?imag ... ml?filters[media%5Ftype]=image&sort=3&o=0

Pugsy,

Here's the correct link to Bennnyp's last night of data:

http://s743.photobucket.com/user/Bennny ... d.jpg.html

Lots of events, but many of them can now be classified. And it's clear the machine wants to increase the pressure later in the night.

Leaks are now mostly under 27 L/min. There are a four periods where the leaks are higher than that; the longest is about 50-60 minutes long and starts around 6:00AM.

So some progress is being made in terms of leaks.

The leaks are still excessive but better than before. I suspect mouth breathing...got a chin strap??

The centrals...since you were titrated for 16/24...I am assuming that the centrals weren't a problem at those pressures.
But I wouldn't totally ignore them at this point.

Yes, increase your pressure but I wouldn't go the entire thing...
How about 16 EPAP PS 2 and max IPAP 20?
Probably not ideal but should be better...

If you have the image open and see the little box with 4 addresses in it on the right...copy that bottom address line and paste it in the body of your forum post you get the image like this

I will try chin strap and adjust pressure. Thanks

I did have my machine set to ffm. I suppose that could make a little difference. Should I still adjust pressure? I am feeling pretty good today so far

Yes, go ahead and adjust the pressure.
You are going to need it anyway. Way too many OAs showing up and those need EPAP.
Looks like probably clusters in REM sleep stage but might have been supine sleeping if you were on your back...or maybe a little bit of both.

Having the machine set to full face mask makes a little difference in reported leak numbers. Unsure how much but it wouldn't have made the leak numbers any better anyway.

http://s743.photobucket.com/editor?imag ... ml?filters[media%5Ftype]=image&sort=3&o=0

Hi, Here is last nights numbers. pressure is 16 and 20. Let me know what you think.

Bennnyp