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Yes, all masks can leak at times without the loss of effective therapy. Note there is a difference between Leak Rate and Large Leaks. You are well under the okay Leak Rate and I see very little Large Leaks on your last OSCAR post. Your OSCAR reports will tell you if your Leak Rate and/or Large Leaks are over what is considered okay. From what I see on your last OSCAR post you do not have a leak problem. You have stated though that leaks from masks send air out to your face that wakes you but I think your favorite mask fixed that problem. I do not know which mask you were using that produced that OSCAR report.
If mouth breathing is continuous for long periods of a sleep session then a full face mask is prescribed by my clinic. It has been suggested on some forums that a collar, taping, and a chin strap could possibly stop mouth breathing so a nasal mask could be used. A pulmonologist doctor advised me not to tape saying it could be dangerous. I tried all three singularly (collar, tape, chin strap) and all at once. For me, none stopped mouth breathing so I must use a full face mask and tolerate a very dry mouth. I would rather use a full face than gear up with tape, chin strap, or a collar.
Use your favorite mask P10 and check OSCAR for Leak Rate and Large Leaks. Amounts of both are okay as long as you are getting proper therapy. If you have found a chin strap that works to allow you to use a nasal mask even though mouth breathing often then...great.
If the two types of leaks prevent quality sleep or poor therapy then reconsider a full face mask. The F40 has been a great improvement for me but I do have to strap it down tight to prevent air from leaking out to my eyes.
I only give suggestions from experience as a fellow CPAP user, not professional advice.
JDoug I looked up somnoseal on Amazon and it looks like it to me that it’s a Mandibular Advancement Device that’s used to make your lower mandible move forward to help prevdd we’d not snoring. I was prescribed something similar before when I had an AHI below 5. It won’t shut my mouth to prevent mouth breathing. I’m going to try my chin strap alone tonight w/o the tape to see how I fare.
Here is last nights OSCAR report. I cant seem to fix the timeline. My computer is set to the correct time but my OSCAR reports are off by an hour. It says I started therapy at 9;20. It was actually 10:20. Ive not been able to figure out how to fix this...............I made it through a whole night with therapy which is major achievement for me the way things have been going lately. I definitely feel the positive aspects of having therapy for the entire night. I'm still using the P10 but have come to realize I have a deviated septum towards the left. The problem this presents is the nasal pillow on the left pushes against that deviation at the nostril entrance and its painful now in that one little spot after several nights using the P10. I have a Respironics Nuance gel pillow mask arriving today in the mail. Supposedly its a more comfortable pillow mask. We will see. I gravitate towards a pillow mask because its less obtrusive and seems less leaky, when it does leak its not blowing in my face waking me up but I have to use a chin strap and tape my mouth. Not a fan of that. I did order the Somnoseal that JDoug recommended which looks like it will be more comfortable than tape over my mouth. Time will tell but I may end up on a regular full face mask, but I hope not.
I definitely need to make PAP work. Night before last I did not use my cpap and woke up Tuesday morning in AFib and ended up in the ER. I had an ablation for afib last November and its been very successful until Tuesday a.m. I think maybe the reason I developed afib in the first place a couple years ago was likely due to my sleep/breathing at night. As we know afib and OSA go hand in hand. So I'm convinced I need PAP for my well being, but it sure is a struggle to figure out what works and is something one can tolerate.
JDoug....I will see how my new mask goes and if I still have issues will try the Bleep Eclipse. Appreciate all your, EJ and Super Pilots help through this journey
Here is last nights Oscar report. I don't know how to interpret what's going on between good nights and not so good nights. My AHI for last night, though Ive had better, is in the acceptable range, but its mostly due to CAs. I dont know what causes the CAs or if its significant for how Im feeling day to day. It seems I have bumps in pressure when I have the CAs?? Some nights I have them. other nights I don't with everything, best I can tell, being equal. I did have trouble last night with one side of my nasal passage getting stopped up. Night before last the other side got stopped up but I had a better night and felt better upon awakening. This morning I felt like hell waking up. Go figure???? Im still using the P10. Yesterday I received the Respironics Nuance gel pillow mask hoping it would be gentler on my nose. But I kept having trouble with it comfort wise and leak wise and went back to the P10 after fighting with it for 30 minutes. My main challenge with pillow masks seems to be nasal congestion. The only other mask type left for me to try is a regular full face mask. I hate the thought, but it may come to that.
Disregard the junk breathing as you woke up and were failing back to sleep around 2 am.
You got slammed by CAs after the REM or deep sleep around 3:40 am. Must have been a good dream. Even some marked flow limits. I bet it looks worse if you zoom in.
You can zoom in around the CAs and see if you had large breaths or any else going on.
Post 3 minute zooms if you get a chance.
Your flow limits keep bumping your pressure up, causing leaks and who know what else.
You might want to try as a test, setting the minimum and maximum very tight and see how you do for a few nights.
Minimum 11.0 cm and Maximum 11.4 cm. see how you feel.
Might take a night or two to have the anxiety settle down.
When I have the CAs the flow waves are ragged & asymmetrical. Something is going on then, no idea what. It does seem the nights I get by with few to no CAs I wake up feeling much better than the nights I have a couple clusters of them. They seem to occur early in the night and at the end.
I’ll have to look closer at my AS11 but Ive not seen where I can set my pressures to anything other than whole numbers.
