However this past weekend I've been away camping under canvas in our camper trailer & problems arose, so much so that in almost 6 weeks of using a mask every night, the weekend has been the first time I discarded the mask & reverted to sleeping without a machine.
The weather was fairly cold at night with a light frost in the early mornings & the problem was condensation in the mask blocking the fine mesh of the exhalation ports. At home I use humidification on setting 1 & at camp tried both this & no humidification. Higher levels of humidification at home have resulted in similar rainout issues, & are not sustainable on the battery when camping.
I should add that in the not too distant future my wife & I plan to commence a long term adventure lifestyle travelling with our camper trailer for a few years, & although we intend to follow the warm weather, there are going to be times when we are camped out in the cold. I am thus keen to resolve this problem in a manner that we can sustain on a day to day basis utilising the solar battery set up we have at our disposal.
Using the mask with no humidification turned on & no water in the humidifier chamber, it became clear that it was my breath condensing inside the mask, & it took very little of this to sufficiently block the fine mesh - which significantly is on the lower side of the mask - making exhalation increasingly difficult & within a short space of time resulting in insufficient oxygen, as I was rebreathing my exhaled breath.
On several occasions I pulled off the mask & dabbed the surfaces of the mesh dry with a tissue & the immediate result was 'back to normal' breathing until the mesh blocked again.
I also experienced cold water running down my face & wetting my pillow several times.
Among my friends with whom I was camping there were several other CPAP users. Those in heated motorhomes of course had no problem, those without heating reported that they too had experienced condensation problems each night. Of the latter group none had been using a P10 & none had had the difficulty in breathing. For them the condensation had been a minor irritant which had not prevented mask use. Having examined their masks (both Phillips Respironics, one a Nuance & one a Dreamwear) & I was interested to see that neither of these masks use mesh for the exhalation ports (until then I wrongly assumed that all masks used mesh), but instead had a pattern of small holes, & importantly I suspect, the holes were positioned so that when the condensation occurred they were unlikely to become covered by it, let alone blocked.
I don't know if this is a known issue with the P10's or any other mask with mesh exhalation ports but I now think I'll need to purchase a different mask for cold weather use, & if that fails may have to consider the not inexpensive option of fitting a diesel heater into our camper.
Has anyone else grappled with this issue & found a particular nasal pillow mask better for use in similar circumstances?
Camper Trailer (Aussie style)