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CPAP Masks


Sedalia Dave

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MODS please quit putting this in the classifieds I want it to remain in the Saloon. Several of us use CPAP machines and I want the discussion about them and the issues we experience to be in the Saloon.

 

 

A year and a half ago I was diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea. When I finally saw my API number and discovered that I was likely to have a stroke due to dangerously low O2 sats, I made up my mind to learn to love wearing a CPAP mask. The alternative of having a stroke and winding up dead or worse partially paralyzed was not an option.

 

Took a lot of doing on my part to get a machine as they were in short supply due to covid and the Phillips recall. but after 2 months I finally got a ResMed 11. So far I love it. Masks have been a different story.

 

I broke my nose when I missed a breaking fast ball at a Friday night pregame practice session about 20 years ago. The stupid ER doc I saw didn't try to straighten it nor did he pack it. Wasn't until Wednesday that I got to see an ENT specialist, by then it was too late to correct. :angry:

 

I was and still am something of a mouth breather because of the broken nose, so I felt that a full face mask was the best option. My Respiratory Therapist agreed had me try full several mask styles.

 

Started out with an AirFit 20. Loved it and lying on my back I can get a good seal even with a beard. However because I like to sleep on my side it would eventually start to leak excessively around my chin

 

 

Then tried both the Simplus and Vitera from F&P. These both cut the leakage rate in half over the AirFit 20 but still twice the acceptable rate. Again the problem was side sleeping. However this time the leaks were at the bridge of my nose and into my eyes. Needless to say I was not a happy camper.

 

Kept searching the internet looking for something better and stumbled upon the Dreamwear full face mask. Bought one out of my own pocket to try. The fit was much better and no more leaking into my eyes as it seals under the nose and over the mouth. However the mask would occasionally put pressure on my sensitive nose if I rolled over just right. The pain would be enough to wake up.

 

More looking and I decided to try the Dreamware nasal only mask. Problem was I still mouth breath and leakage out my mouth would mean that the mask wouldn't do me any good. So I coupled it with a chin strap.

 

HURAY and happy days. I finally have a mask that will stay sealed all night and it doesn't put pressure on the cartilage in my nose. Not totally happy with the current chin strap but is does work and now I only mouth breath once or twice a week.

 

 When I bought the Dreamware full face setup it came with all the different sizes. I only wear the small so I have Med, Large and MW masks still in their package. This is also true of the Dreamware nasal only setup. 

 

Now here is where @Calamity Kris got me to thinking. If one of you can use them I'd be happy to send you your size for the cost of postage. I though it would be better for someone that can use them to have them than for them to eventually end up in the trash.


All of the masks are new unused and in their original packaging. The frame is not included

1 Simplus large Full face mask

1 Vitera large Full face mask

1 Medium Dreamware full face mask

1 Large Dreamware full face mask

1 MW Dreamware full face mask

1 Medium Dreamware nasal mask

1 Large Dreamware nasal mask

1 MW Dreamware nasal mask

 

I also have the following frames. They are like new and have been sterilized in my dishwasher. 

2 Large AirFit 20 frames.

2 Medium Simplus frames.

1 Medium Vitera frame.

 

 

 

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SD

I have tried several chin straps.  Most I got off the stores on the web.  But I never found on I really liked until the VA gave me on.  It was made by ResMed Pty Ltd in Australia.  I have attached a picture of it.  If you are a Veteran you  would probably be able to get one from the VA.  If you do, when you put it on have the exposed Velcro on the side that faces your head other wise the straps from the CPAP mask will stick to the strap of the device as  you try to put it on and it will be difficult to put on.  Hope this helps.

NCD

NCD2048476084_CPAPchinstrap.jpg.4f565a90e5c9b1edb12fd6b8e306f537.jpg

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I would like to get one of the nasal only masks from you, but what does the MW mean?

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40 minutes ago, DeaconKC said:

I would like to get one of the nasal only masks from you, but what does the MW mean?

I am guessing Medium Wide

 

 

Very kind offer Sedalia Dave. :)

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7 hours ago, DeaconKC said:

I would like to get one of the nasal only masks from you, but what does the MW mean?

 

Medium Wide.

 

Link to the Dreamware fitment chart.

 

Note: this is the mask only it still needs the frame.  The nice part about he Dreamware series is that the same frame works for both the nasal and full face masks.

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9 hours ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

I am guessing Medium Wide

 

 

Very kind offer Sedalia Dave. :)

 

3 hours ago, Sedalia Dave said:

 

Medium Wide.

 

Link to the Dreamware fitment chart.

 

Note: this is the mask only it still needs the frame.  The nice part about he Dreamware series is that the same frame works for both the nasal and full face masks.

Thank you both, I will try it out tonight!

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OP,
I have the AirSense 10 with a full face mask.
If you are having leakage issues, there is a good chance your pressure is too high.
Simultaneous push Rotary and Home Button and HOLD until Clinical Menu comes up

You can change the settings here.
I reduced my pressure to 4.8, and turned off the Ramp-Up function.
This made a HUGE difference in mask leakage.

You can titrate your pressure through trial and error until you get enough to reduced the apnea without incurring farting and leaks.

I went from a nasal mask to full face because I wound up open-mouthed and drying out.
My dentist saw this before I did... "Do you use a CPAP?  If yes, your mouth is drying out and at risk."


 

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59 minutes ago, bgavin said:

OP,

If you are having leakage issues, there is a good chance your pressure is too high.
Simultaneous push Rotary and Home Button and HOLD until Clinical Menu comes up
 

 

CPAP and BIPAP pressures are set by Respiratory Therapist, per a physicians orders based on a sleep study. It's true you can change the settings, it's probably better getting the correct fitting head gear though.

Sleep apnea can have severe side effects if not treated properly. Changing your own settings is the same as adjusting your prescribed medications. 

Tully 

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Both of which have valid reasons.

Two of my daughters are nurses, and Dad was a doctor.
They have endless stories about standing up to some idiot doctor who is trying to kill their patient with stupidity.

Do you remember the well televised event on Regis and Kathy Lee, where they had a doctor giving injections on live TV and he used the same needle for both Regis and Kathy?  He was freaking out when it dawned on him.

I recently fired my previous cardiologist because he was useless as tits on a boar.
After my big heart attack last January he did zero follow up except for "eat a meatless vegan diet."
My stents lasted a few months, then the LAD started to close up again, along with increasing angina.
He refused to take any action.

I had to check myself into the E.R. (again) over Labor Day to get somebody to diagnose me.
While in the E.R. he prescribed 250 grams (!) of carbs for my record.. and I'm a labile diabetic.
I can't eat the vegan stuff either... so much of it is heavy carbs and murder on my diabetes.
They left me in the ER for 18 hours without food or water while trying to get their act together.
Three more cardiologists visited me and all gave me the same "eat a meatless vegan diet" B.S.

When first diagnosed with diabetes I attended a medical sponsored class to school us.
It was taught by an obese woman who told us "lose weight."
This sow never bothered to teach us syringe technique with the old style 12mm needles, how to come in at a 45-degree angle to avoid giving yourself a massive goose egg from the injection.
She never taught us how to dose (titrate) ourselves at all.  Not a single word.  Nothing.
I had to find that on the internet from a Canadian hospital.

Another doctor called me after my routine labs and had her panties in a bunch because I had a lot of sugar in my urine.
I asked her, "Did you bother reading my chart?  I'm taking Jardiance, which flushes glucose out the urine."

My doctor put me on Atenolol for blood pressure control.
It turned me into a raging maniac, and I was not aware.
My wife and I have a code phrase: "honey do you trust me" that means STFU, listen and comply.
No games, no guile, just something very serious.
She played the phrase on me 3x before I shut up and listened, and then took myself off the Atenolol.

I asked another doctor for a simple sleeping pill after my heart bypass, and she instead prescribed Trazodone which is an anti-depressant with a boat load of nasty side effects.

Back to the CPAP, the sleep studies are not solid gold, but only as good as the tech working graveshift doing the measurements.
Having a CPAP working at a lower pressure, beats having a high pressure leaking CPAP left on the night stand.

In the end, it is up to the patient to be proactive with his medical care.
There are very few Marcus Welby MD left in the world (my Dad was one of them).
The rest of them... well... they will kill you, if you let them.



 

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I have been using a cpap for over 15 years.  I am also a side sleeper/mouth breather.  I wear  a resmed mirage Quatro mask.  But to really help you out, go on amazon and buy a cpap pillow.  It is a pillow that has a cutout on each side so when you turn over the mask goes in the cut out and it doesn't push it off your face making it leak.  

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1 minute ago, Jack Spade said:

I have been using a cpap for over 15 years.  I am also a side sleeper/mouth breather.  I wear  a resmed mirage Quatro mask.  But to really help you out, go on amazon and buy a cpap pillow.  It is a pillow that has a cutout on each side so when you turn over the mask goes in the cut out and it doesn't push it off your face making it leak.  


I currently use a water pillow. Got my first one about 8 years ago. Best pillow I’ve ever used. No more stiff/sore neck and no more waking up to my arm being asleep. . 

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1 hour ago, bgavin said:

Two of my daughters are nurses, and Dad was a doctor.
They have endless stories about standing up to some idiot doctor who is trying to kill their patient with stupidity.
The rest of them... well... they will kill you, if you let them.

Thank your daughters for doing what they do.

I've been an RT for 28 years, everything you mentioned is true, without advocates within the medical field or family members advocating for their loved ones, many patients would be worse off. 

We'll have to agree to disagree on the CPAP.

I understand and agree with your comment about the nightstand, not the method achieved to wear the mask though.

Tully 

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I am being very proactive about my care. Learned to do that long ago. I was especially proactive with my wife's care. I learned to be extra observant when it came to changes in her personality and motor skills. I may not notice that she got her hair or nails done but if she had changes with cognitive abilities or fine motor skills I knew it immediately.

 

I did a home sleep study and for those that know the numbers, my AHI was 64.6. Which is pretty bad however, what really scared me was I my O2 Sats. 50% of the time they were below 90, 21% of the time they were below 85 and the lowest recorded over a 8.8 hour period was 59.  So even though the mask was leaking into my eyes I still continued to wear it because the alternative is much worse. I average 7+ hours every day. I even wear it if I lie down to take a short nap.

 

BTW not once has my RP contacted me about excessive mask leaks. However when I contact her she listens and is responsive to my requests. She is not perfect but I am 100% sure I could do worse. Part of my self evaluation was to have the machine start at a higher pressure when I turn it on. I based this on what the machine was telling me when I woke up every morning. It helped a lot with the mask staying sealed but when the mask does start to leak the machine tends to give me too much pressure to compensate for the leak and in doing so it makes the leak worse.

 

As part of learning more about sleep apnea I have found software that will let me monitor my CPAP operation in detail. I did have to buy a SD card and install it in my machine to collect the data so that I can download and view it. prior to that all the data was sent direct to my RP by the machine. (it has a phone sim card installed) Only installed the SD card a couple weeks ago. I plan to down load the data and examine it in detail this weekend.

 

The internet is a treasure trove of sound medical information if you look for it with a discerning eye and a healthy dose of salt. I vet what I learn by comparing it to other independent sources. Forums can be quite informative but can also be rife with bad information. I have found several people that post to multiple forums with different user names on each forum. Some of them know their stuff and others are full of it. Determining which is which is the hard part.

The odd part is that a lot of the good information I am finding originates down under. 

 

I have downloaded the current release of OSCAR and have an account with SleepHQ. Both will allow the patient to look at their own data. 

 

One disturbing trend is Phillips Respironics has started encrypting their data in an attempt to prevent patients from seeing their data in detail. Most current machines have vendor provided software but it doesn't provide any ability for the patient to look at their data in detail. 

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As a recient new-be to the use of a C-PAP I really appreciate this info and find it very interesting.  I have been trying to figure out how I can reduce or eliminate the leak around my eyes or my chin when I  turn over to my side .  I currently use the nasal but have been considering the full face. 

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Reducing pressure for my CPAP was a complete necessity.
I had a 4-way CABG bypass in September and was not allowed to sleep in any other position than on my back.

Without the CPAP, my throat closes down on my back and I go into big time apnea and the resulting startle and jump.
After having your chest sawed open, I can assure you this is not a good time, as well as being dangerous for a sternum rupture.

The surgeon assured me that a sternum rupture would be nothing short of "catastrophic" in his words.

My new machine is an AirSense 10 that arrived from CPAP.COM at around 11 units of pressure.
My Rx from 2006 is on file with the vendor and specified 9cm H2O.

The high pressure resulted in farting and mask blowouts as the machine ramped up.

I literally had no choice but to dial the machine pressure down or do without.
Being stuck on my back, doing without was not an option.
 

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56 minutes ago, Noah Cash said:

As a recient new-be to the use of a C-PAP I really appreciate this info and find it very interesting.  I have been trying to figure out how I can reduce or eliminate the leak around my eyes or my chin when I  turn over to my side .  I currently use the nasal but have been considering the full face. 

Noah, I'd give a full face a try.  I just tried one after using a CPAP for 20+ years, and my AHI when from 19-21 to 4-6 in just the 3 days I have been using it (a Fisher Paykel Vitera).  I have only used nasal pillows and nasal masks in the past.  Worth trying it out.

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3 hours ago, Jack Spade said:

I have been using a cpap for over 15 years.  I am also a side sleeper/mouth breather.  I wear  a resmed mirage Quatro mask.  But to really help you out, go on amazon and buy a cpap pillow.  It is a pillow that has a cutout on each side so when you turn over the mask goes in the cut out and it doesn't push it off your face making it leak.  

Jack what pillow did you purchase?  I have been thinking about one of those.

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13 minutes ago, portugeejn said:

Sedalia Dave, good on you for putting those things up for folk. 

 

And @Kalamity Chris for the offer of filters.

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1 hour ago, Noah Cash said:

As a recient new-be to the use of a C-PAP I really appreciate this info and find it very interesting.  I have been trying to figure out how I can reduce or eliminate the leak around my eyes or my chin when I  turn over to my side .  I currently use the nasal but have been considering the full face. 

 

How you tighten your mask makes a big difference. I discovered through trial and error that it is way too easy to overtighten the top straps on a full face mask. This will cause a leak every time.  Over tightening them will also cause the mask to be more leak prone.

 

One issue I discovered when wearing my previous full face masks is that when I shifted from my back to my side I tended to drop my chin closer to my chest. This caused the straps on my mask to loosen and the mask to leak. This is easy to test. Lay on your back and adjust your straps till the mask just stops leaking. Now roll on your side keeping your head up. Now let your chin drop to your chest. You can feel the straps loosen. 

 

The Dreamware mask doesn't do this because the straps are higher up on the back of my skull.

 

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1 hour ago, portugeejn said:

Jack what pillow did you purchase?  I have been thinking about one of those.

https://a.co/d/c3YvXH1 I think this is the one.

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3 hours ago, Sedalia Dave said:

 

 

How you tighten your mask makes a big difference. I discovered through trial and error that it is way too easy to overtighten the top straps on a full face mask. This will cause a leak every time.  Over tightening them will also cause the mask to be more leak prone.

 

One issue I discovered when wearing my previous full face masks is that when I shifted from my back to my side I tended to drop my chin closer to my chest. This caused the straps on my mask to loosen and the mask to leak. This is easy to test. Lay on your back and adjust your straps till the mask just stops leaking. Now roll on your side keeping your head up. Now let your chin drop to your chest. You can feel the straps loosen. 

 

The Dreamware mask doesn't do this because the straps are higher up on the back of my skull.

 

Thanks for the advise. I have fiddled with the straps but a little guidance helps a lot.   
NC

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4 hours ago, portugeejn said:

Noah, I'd give a full face a try.  I just tried one after using a CPAP for 20+ years, and my AHI when from 19-21 to 4-6 in just the 3 days I have been using it (a Fisher Paykel Vitera).  I have only used nasal pillows and nasal masks in the past.  Worth trying it out.

 I will call the VA tomorrow and ask for the full face.  I’ve been using the machine for just over 30 days or so and still learning.

NC

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Dave the Medium should work for me. I will send you a PM, thank you my friend!

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9 minutes ago, Noah Cash said:

 I will call the VA tomorrow and ask for the full face.  I’ve been using the machine for just over 30 days or so and still learning.

NC

 

I have a extra medium Virtera Frame and large mask still available. If they'll fit you, the shipping is $10.00 for 1 or both.

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14 minutes ago, Sedalia Dave said:

 

I have a extra medium Virtera Frame and large mask still available. If they'll fit you, the shipping is $10.00 for 1 or both.

Thanks,  pm on the way

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On 11/14/2022 at 5:48 PM, Sedalia Dave said:

 

 

I did a home sleep study and for those that know the numbers, my AHI was 64.6. Which is pretty bad however, what really scared me was I my O2 Sats. 50% of the time they were below 90, 21% of the time they were below 85 and the lowest recorded over a 8.8 hour period was 59.  So even though the mask was leaking into my eyes I still continued to wear it because the alternative is much worse. I average 7+ hours every day. I even wear it if I lie down to take a short nap.

 

 

 

Wow, I took the home sleep study back in 2018 and I ended up with 43 breathing stoppages an hour.  That was bad but seems to be minor compared to what you went through!  I'm glad you were able to get set up and treated properly.

 

I was very lucky.  My CPAP was set at the very lowest pressure and the pressure has never needed to be raised.  I use the Dreamwear mask with the nasal pillows and I've learned how to strap it up to minimize leaks no matter what position I sleep in.

 

What I'm going to set out now is my own medical information, but I think it's important to let everyone know what benefits can accrue from using a CPAP machine to treat severe sleep apnea:

1.  My breathing stoppages went from 43 per hour to less that 1 per hour.  That's a reduction of around 98%.

2.  I am mildly diabetic.  I keep records of my blood sugar and after a while I saw that my blood sugar readings went down around 20 points across the board.  I  may be burning my food better since I am getting better oxygenated.

3.  I have lost weight since I started using the CPAP machine.  Some of it came back but I am still down 13 pounds from what I was when I started using the CPAP machine.

4.  A few months after I started using the CPAP machine I noticed that my ambition rose considerably.  I get a lot more stuff done.  

5.  Together with the increase in ambition, I noticed that my problem solving abiiity increased considerably.

 

Yes, in fishing camp my extended family told me about my snoring and breathing stoppages, but I didn't realize the severity of my problem until I took the questionairre the sleep doctor gave to my cardiologist.  When my problems were quantified, I realized I was in deep trouble.  So I am positing all of this to give you the benefit of my experience.  If the people around you tell you that you are showing the symptoms of sleep apnea, make an appointment with a sleep doctor as soon as you can.  The testing now is done with a portable device that you can wear sleeping in your own bed.  I'm not going to kid anybody, the test was a rough night for me, but it was necessary.  

 

Thanks for reading this and best wishes.

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I have had a CPAP for 3+ years. I also use the Dreamwear full face system which I like better that others I have tried. I usually get 100% fit according to the ap on my phone.

 

I just had another sleep test which I am waiting for the results. My DR believes I have improved enough to either do away with the COAP totally or get the inspire System. I have lost over #60 in the last 2 years and walk several miles every day. Get the test results next Tuesday......

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