btbderek’s therapy thread

[btbderek]

Still struggling with waking up to my mask being off. Think I’m going to have to go back to putting tape on my mask straps. If the mask lands close enough to my face, the sound of the air will wake me but if I throw it off to far in my sleep I never know it even happened. Have been trying to find a good middle ground with my mask, too loose and she leaks like crazy at the higher pressures, but too tight gets uncomfortable quickly which is what I have had lately and I think it could be part of the reason I’m taking it off. Ready for my new F30i to come in, from reviews I’ve seen it seems to seal better than the F30. Still waiting on my cervical collar to come in, Amazon has pushed my delivery date back to Tuesday now.

On a better note, I bumped up my minimum air pressure to 10 from 8, from what I can tell that little change has brought my flow limitation down somewhat already. Sadly I don’t have much more than a couple separate hour long chunks of data after this pressure change, so hopefully I will finally get some good rest tonight with the mask staying on so I can post a Oscar chart and have some solid data to compare.

[btbderek]

Have you or anyone else you know successfully switched from Full Face to Nasal mask as a mouth breather? 

Finally got my cervical collar in the mail a couple days ago. Have had a tickle in my throat past couple days and took my full face mask off very early on in my sleep the night before. I have a Phillips Dreamwear Nasal mask laying around and I wanted to give it a try last night since I have the collar now, I managed to get 3.5 hours of sleep with it which is about on par for a typical night of sleep with my full face F30. Noticed that my pressures stayed much lower and I didn’t see any major leaks. I am trying to sleep on my side as well so I don’t know which attributes to the reduced pressure, but I seemed to average 14-16 most of my sleep last night with one peak of 20(happened right before or as I took the mask off, not sure which) when typically I average around 18 with several peaks of 20. The collar certainly seemed to hold my chin up as I am a mouth breather, maybe this is the route I will take? This mask is much, much more comfortable than my F30 is on my face. 

Can’t post my OSCAR data currently as I don’t have internet access for it currently (posting this on my phone), but will post it later when I can do so.

[Crimson Nape]

Have you considered trying a hybrid mask in lieu of gong directly from an FFM to a Nasal? There are 3 that I'm aware of, F&P Evora Full Face Mask, Resmed F30 Full Face Mask, and the Philips Respironics DreamWear Full Face Mask. All three have a nasal pillow style upper with a mouth enclosure. This is like having the best of both worlds for mouth breathers.

As to which one is better is like asking which is better, Ford or General Motors.

- Red

[btbderek]

Have you considered trying a hybrid mask in lieu of gong directly from an FFM to a Nasal? 

- Red

I am coming from a Resmed F30 full face hybrid actually. I should have said hybrid instead of Full Face. 

It’s a decent mask, but I still find it hard to get a good seal without it being what I consider too tight. Even after following a lot of the recommended mask fitting posts here. Those posts did help me get much better with getting a good seal, but it just went from extremely uncomfortable amounts of tight, to now being slightly uncomfortable level of too tight.

 When wearing the F30, my pressure stays around 18 and bumps up to 20 several times in the night. But 95% pressure is typically around 18. I can get a good seal without being tight if the pressure is around 15, but once you start going above that the F30 wants to leak if not cranked down more on my face.

[Crimson Nape]

I had the same problem with the F30. For some reason, I tend to have much better results using the F&P line of masks. For me, they require much less tension to achieve a good seal. Since I've not tried the Dreamwear, I can't offer any insights.

- Red

[btbderek]

I had the same problem with the F30.  For some reason, I tend to have much better results using the F&P line of masks.   For me, they require much less tension to achieve a good seal.  Since I've not tried the Dreamwear, I can't offer any insights.

- Red

I will give the F&P a try then. I’m not against a full face or hybrid at all, especially with sinus issues that can unpredictably give me a stopped up nose. Have a friend that manages a DME so they can get me a free sample to give a try.Thank you for the recommendation!

[btbderek]

Wow, just had one of the best nights of sleep since I've been on CPAP! Using my Dreamwear nasal pillows and collar, I was 5 minutes shy of 7 hours of sleep! I did wake up once early on in my sleep, less than an hour into it, but i kept my mask and collar on and went back to sleep. I started out on my side, when I woke up this morning I was on my back, so I need to get that figured out.

As far as how I feel, well I sprang right up out of bed and felt like I could do cartwheels, which normally is NOT the case, typically Im pretty hazy feeling and take a bit to roll out of bed. No dry mouth either which I consider a big win. Looking at Oscar, I do have some higher pressure peaks, but over all my pressures seem much lower using the nasal pillows, and my flow limit appears to be better than when I was using my full face hybrid/no collar.

I am going to attach both nights OSCAR charts in case anyone has any input for me. Will be night of January 4th, then last nights chart (Jan 6th). The night before, I took everything off to readjust the collar and fell asleep without it on. Just wanted to thank everyone again, you have all been incredibly helpful in my journey so far.

Edit: As per usual, I'm still using the machine during the day for compliance, so numbers in the box on the left are not accurate to my actual sleep period.

Night of January 4th

   

Night of January 6th