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First Night/Mask irritation
#1
First Night/Mask irritation
Hi Everyone - I was able to go 4 hours in 2 hour increments my first night. The one thing that is an irritant is the forehead piece of my mask. There is not enough padding in my opinion. No matter how I adjusted the mask I could not find a comfortable setting. If I can find a solution for that I think I can get more hours in. Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks!
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#2
RE: First Night/Mask irritation
I make padding for the forehead piece, cut a piece of cotton material and cover the forehead pad piece

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#3
RE: First Night/Mask irritation
I do the same as Zonk, make my own mask liners then Use the off cuts to make a pad fire the forehead
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#4
RE: First Night/Mask irritation
Also make sure the mask is not too tight. It should "float" on the face.
PaulaO

Take a deep breath and count to zen.




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#5
RE: First Night/Mask irritation
First post. I have absolutely nothing to add, but boy do I need to commiserate. It's 4 in the morning, and I desperately need to sleep, and as usual I have just spent a frustrating hour fiddling with my annoying, useless mask, when I could have been sound asleep.

I do no for a minute understand people who say the mask shouldn't be tight. The routine with me goes like this: I put the mask on and begin adjusting it. I start loose, and it slides around, blows cold air directly into my eyeballs, and makes loud farting noises against my cheeks every time I move a micron or relax my jaw. So I tighten it a little bit. Doesn't help at all. Tighten it a little more. Still doesn't help at all. Keep tightening in increments until the lower strap is holding my head immobile and cutting into the skin of my neck and the top strap is so tight I begin to get a headache. Then I tighten it a little more, and it stops blowing air into my eyeballs and making farting noises — for a while two or three minutes, sometimes. Then the whole process starts again. After about an hour of this routine, I finally get it balanced perfectly and manage to lay perfectly still and not move my jaw for long enough that it stays in place long enough to fall asleep. I wake up in the morning drained, exhausted, and feeling like I haven't slept at all and am useless all day, exactly like I felt before I started putting myself through this nightly torture session.

I honestly cannot imagine how people find relief using this torture device. It does absolutely nothing but make my nights awful. I can't believe anybody actually sticks with this. My mask was ok the first 2-3 weeks, and then it sort of wore out, and the last week or so has been a nightmare. The last few nights, I've started to feel like the catharsis of smashing my machine to pieces would be far better than keeping it around and continuing to torture myself trying to get it right. Two nights ago, after an hour of fiddling with it when I desperately needed to sleep so I could be up in the morning, I actually lost my temper and did try to smash my mask, but it got caught on the tube, which saved it from the impact. I left it laying on the floor, and without it had the best night of sleep I've had in a month. The living hell of years of severe sleep apnea was far preferable to this.

I'm tired of spending my nights like this. It's only been a month and I CANNOT TAKE IT ANYMORE. My sleep disturbance is so severe my doctor said I might be able to go on disability for it, because it makes holding down a job for any length of time impossible, and right this minute that is looking like a pretty good option.

My useless sleep doctor, whom I waited a YEAR to get the sleep study with (yay public health programs!) did not even give me the right setting to use... he only tested me up to 14cmH20, told my doctor I had much more severe sleep apnea than that and to "try" 15 and that it probably wouldn't work, and if not, I should get another sleep study. (IE, I get to wait a whole year again, possibly to be sent home without useful results a second time. Meanwhile, my life circles the drain because I walk around in a permanent stupor.)

I did follow the advice on this site and try to raise the pressure a little. This made the air blowing into my eyeballs and the loud farting noises every time I move a micron much worse.

So, this is where I'm at. Too little pressure to be effective for apnea is too much pressure for my mask to be keep a seal. Too loose to end the physical torture and constant obnoxious farting noises is still too tight to wear it at all. It's too loose to seal securely enough to work, yet so tight I'm developing permanent red marks on my cheeks, nose, and forehead. This whole thing is a travesty. It's like a sick joke.

Forgive the venting, but I figured at least people on this site would understand the deeply overtired frustration and resultant need to blow off serious steam. (It was either to strangers here, or inflict this on my facebook friends, who incidentally, are apparently all on CPAP also and uniformly tell me how incredibly wonderful it is.) I'm glad so many of you have somehow, unimaginably, actually derived benefit from this. For me, it's been absolutely nothing but a horrible, frustrating experience. I mean, if I felt the tiniest bit of improvement after a month, maybe I'd feel differently. But I'm wasting all this time, torturing myself and sacrificing my sleep, for nothing.
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#6
RE: First Night/Mask irritation
Oh, and I left out the best part. The mask, which is obviously made to break as quickly as possible, has a sliding part to attach the forehead cushion. You need to keep it snapped together as tightly as possible to hold the mask against your face. The little plastic nubs that hold it in the position you adjust it to? They wore down to nothing IN LESS THAN TWO WEEKS. This is the Respironics mask that comes with it, the same people who made the machine! They actually design the mask to last less than two weeks before it has to be replaced! WTF? I hope everyone who is connected with selling this rip-off is tortured with insomnia like mine for the rest of their lives. And then some.

Oh, christ, the sun is coming up. I freaking HATE this.
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#7
RE: First Night/Mask irritation
Hi Nodoz,
Welcome

You CAN beat this thing. The secret is to be persistant as hell and ornery with the proper people when required.
Smile

You need to get on your DME (get assertive) and get different masks to try.
I think the one you have is not working for you.

Next thing to try is make sure the mask seal and your face are clean and free of all traces of skin oil.
I usually wipe the sealing surface down with Handi Wipes (Lemon scented!) and then I use it on my face to de-grease everything.

Then the mask sticks to my face and it will seal without blowing off.

Go for it and let us know how it works out.

After you get the sealing problems ironed out we can go after your pressure issues.

Cheers & Good Luck.
"With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable." - Thomas Foxwell Buxton

Cool
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#8
RE: First Night/Mask irritation
I used a full face mask for the first 8 months of therapy and they are notorious for leaks. I really hated the cheek farts.

It sounds like you need to replace the face mask cushion. If your mask was OK for the first 2-3 weeks and now it's not, the cushion is probably worn. Most insurance companies will pay for a cushion replacement every month and a new mask every 6 months.

I noticed that you are not using software to check your data. If you start doing that, you can tell if your therapy is effective for the little sleep that you are getting. The data should tell you what the leak rate is with your mask. There are nights I swear I had no leaks or visa versa only to have the software tell me otherwise. Our perceptions are not always accurate - although the cheek farts are definite sign the mask is leaking air.

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#9
RE: First Night/Mask irritation
Nodoze i feel for you as i have been going through almost the same thing

i also dont get it when people say you do not have to have mask fitting too tight, as similar to you when i loosen it i also get the fart noise and air blowing all over my face and this keeps me awake. i also go through the same as you but my problem always seems to be that the top straps fall out of the mould setting they fit in as i tighten too far. it then takes me ages to get straps set back in, i dont know why i find this so hard must be a bloke thing !! lol

i also have my mask on very tight and have found the straps are weak and getting loose so harder to pull straps to get a tight fit

i try to get my mask set over my nose and down under my eyes so that the pressure on face is not too great, i awake with lines across nose and eyes but they soon vanish. i have a large red mark on my forehead that is always there, i use a E45 cream and this does help to make it go but not totally. so i permanently have red sore mark that is also drying out.

i have yet to try a face mask liner but i will try soon and report back

i find that once i am asleep which is usually under 15 minutes, the pressure from mask on my face does not matter and it does not interfere with my sleep at all. i have the 15 minutes of discomfort before i fall asleep but then that it once i am asleep.

my AHI before treatment were 86, since using machine i have an average of 1.2, so for this i can accept the discomfort, but i dont like a red sore forehead, thats for sure

hope you work it out


simon





(06-14-2013, 06:32 AM)Nodoze Wrote: First post. I have absolutely nothing to add, but boy do I need to commiserate. It's 4 in the morning, and I desperately need to sleep, and as usual I have just spent a frustrating hour fiddling with my annoying, useless mask, when I could have been sound asleep.

I do no for a minute understand people who say the mask shouldn't be tight. The routine with me goes like this: I put the mask on and begin adjusting it. I start loose, and it slides around, blows cold air directly into my eyeballs, and makes loud farting noises against my cheeks every time I move a micron or relax my jaw. So I tighten it a little bit. Doesn't help at all. Tighten it a little more. Still doesn't help at all. Keep tightening in increments until the lower strap is holding my head immobile and cutting into the skin of my neck and the top strap is so tight I begin to get a headache. Then I tighten it a little more, and it stops blowing air into my eyeballs and making farting noises — for a while two or three minutes, sometimes. Then the whole process starts again. After about an hour of this routine, I finally get it balanced perfectly and manage to lay perfectly still and not move my jaw for long enough that it stays in place long enough to fall asleep. I wake up in the morning drained, exhausted, and feeling like I haven't slept at all and am useless all day, exactly like I felt before I started putting myself through this nightly torture session.

I honestly cannot imagine how people find relief using this torture device. It does absolutely nothing but make my nights awful. I can't believe anybody actually sticks with this. My mask was ok the first 2-3 weeks, and then it sort of wore out, and the last week or so has been a nightmare. The last few nights, I've started to feel like the catharsis of smashing my machine to pieces would be far better than keeping it around and continuing to torture myself trying to get it right. Two nights ago, after an hour of fiddling with it when I desperately needed to sleep so I could be up in the morning, I actually lost my temper and did try to smash my mask, but it got caught on the tube, which saved it from the impact. I left it laying on the floor, and without it had the best night of sleep I've had in a month. The living hell of years of severe sleep apnea was far preferable to this.

I'm tired of spending my nights like this. It's only been a month and I CANNOT TAKE IT ANYMORE. My sleep disturbance is so severe my doctor said I might be able to go on disability for it, because it makes holding down a job for any length of time impossible, and right this minute that is looking like a pretty good option.

My useless sleep doctor, whom I waited a YEAR to get the sleep study with (yay public health programs!) did not even give me the right setting to use... he only tested me up to 14cmH20, told my doctor I had much more severe sleep apnea than that and to "try" 15 and that it probably wouldn't work, and if not, I should get another sleep study. (IE, I get to wait a whole year again, possibly to be sent home without useful results a second time. Meanwhile, my life circles the drain because I walk around in a permanent stupor.)

I did follow the advice on this site and try to raise the pressure a little. This made the air blowing into my eyeballs and the loud farting noises every time I move a micron much worse.

So, this is where I'm at. Too little pressure to be effective for apnea is too much pressure for my mask to be keep a seal. Too loose to end the physical torture and constant obnoxious farting noises is still too tight to wear it at all. It's too loose to seal securely enough to work, yet so tight I'm developing permanent red marks on my cheeks, nose, and forehead. This whole thing is a travesty. It's like a sick joke.

Forgive the venting, but I figured at least people on this site would understand the deeply overtired frustration and resultant need to blow off serious steam. (It was either to strangers here, or inflict this on my facebook friends, who incidentally, are apparently all on CPAP also and uniformly tell me how incredibly wonderful it is.) I'm glad so many of you have somehow, unimaginably, actually derived benefit from this. For me, it's been absolutely nothing but a horrible, frustrating experience. I mean, if I felt the tiniest bit of improvement after a month, maybe I'd feel differently. But I'm wasting all this time, torturing myself and sacrificing my sleep, for nothing.

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#10
RE: First Night/Mask irritation
has anyone tried these yet?

[commercial link removed per Apnea Board rules]



simon




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