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+--- Thread: Suggestions for keeping hands off face while sleeping (/Thread-Suggestions-for-keeping-hands-off-face-while-sleeping)
Suggestions for keeping hands off face while sleeping - katez - 09-16-2022
We are having trouble keeping a non-leaking mask on my father's face. He is 91 years old, sleeps on his back because of back pain and difficulty turning over by himself. We put the mask on when he goes to bed with no leaks and in the middle of the night he starts moving the mask around. His leak rate is between 60 and 120 at that time.
Anyone have suggestions on how to keep him from touching his face?
He wore a cervical collar last night to lessen mouth breathing but that didn't keep him from changing the mask position.
RE: Suggestions for keeping hands off face while sleeping - mesenteria - 09-16-2022
This is a tough one. Many years ago, my eldest daughter, then about eleven or twelve, had begun to scratch and to pick at herself during the night/or while she was asleep. It left her with sores all over her bottom (weirdly??) for which our GP said to use a corticosteroid cream and to place thick work socks over her hands. It wasn't an instant turnaround. I seem to recall, now 40 years later, that we had to do this for close to a year, but the steroid cleared up the worst of it very shortly.
I don't think you can use something like a kid's mittens with the silly string that prevents one hand from coming to the face if the string is the correct length. That sounds hilarious...okay...maybe not...but something as drastic as that might be in the offing.
Have you ever noticed pressure point lesions around his upper lip or his nose? It may be that, when in a certain position, the mask gets deflected or deformed just enough that, after 20 minutes or less, he arouses to relieve himself of discomfort or pain. This may be out in left field, but it's worth consideration and ruling it out.
RE: Suggestions for keeping hands off face while sleeping - katez - 09-16-2022
I thought about mittens but I don't think he'd wear them and if he did he could still push the mask around.
He does not have any sores on his face though his nose gets hurt if the mask isn't taken off gently.