Moondoggy

I think mine is a P10 also with the nasal cushions. Each end of the nasal cushion is suppose to snap into the silicon frame but evidently when I took it apart there are two hard oblong plastic pieces that appear to have come out of the cushion when I was taking it apart. I disconnected them from the frame attachment ends but I didn't pay any attention to them. Upon examination of them again today it appears that this oblong piece has two ridges and it looks like one of those ridges is a bit wider than the other so I reversed them and I managed to get the cushion to attach to the frame but I don't know if it will stay together. One thing I also noticed this morning was that the cushion just seemed a bit greasy. I washed everything with Johnson's baby shampoo but perhaps things didn't get rinsed off good enough and there was some residue that was on the silicone. I re-washed it with a different special soap that I use to clean my hands to remove any oil from my skin when handling my contact lenses. Still a mild soap but perhaps a better soap to remove residue. Anyway, it's back together at least for now and we'll see if it remains together tonight. Thanks for the reply.

I took my Respironics Dreamwear mask apart yesterday to clean it and when I went to put it back together I'm having an issue that I need help with. The nasal cushions are supposed to snap into the main flexible body of the mask but when I tried to put it back together it would not seat properly. There were two hard plastic parts that look as it they came out of the nasal cushion and when I attempted to put them back into the cushions they don't appear to want to stay in place. I eventually got them to stay but this morning one side popped out again. Has anyone experienced this issue with the two hard plastic clips not staying in the nasal cushion? If so were you ever able to resolve this short of buying a replacement cushion? Naturally this would happen on a weekend when my provider is closed.

Everyone,

In the past while traveling by air I have transportation available to when I get there so I can run out and get distilled water for my CPAP machine. This time I'm taking a trip to San Antonio and I'll be riding a shuttle to a downtown hotel so running out to get some distilled water might be a challenge. Can anyone share any method they have for carrying distilled water on the plane and not running into an issue with the TSA? Any help will be appreciated.

The Pillows go into your nostrils whereas the one I have just has flat opening on the mask and the soft, flexible material around the opening just expands to create a seal between the opening and the area below your nostrils. That's what made me think that this wasn't going to work for me but strangely it does.

Another thing you may want to try is swapping out the nasal piece that connects to the mask with a nasal pillow piece. Part of the pitch I received from my medical supplier is that the mask/headgear portion of the mask is the same for the nasal mask and the nasal pillow mask. What my provider said was that if the nasal mask didn't work I could buy the nasal pillow piece and try that approach instead.

Before I purchased the mask I read a lot of product reviews from people that were venting over the fact that the mask that you get from your medical provider is always a size medium. The claim, as I understand it, is that the mask also comes in a small and a large size but you have to own a medium mask to get one of the other sizes. Fortunate for me the medium is the correct size but it may be that the medium is not right for you. Not sure where you would go to get a different size but it might be worth investigating. The other thing is that my Dreamwear came with two pads that are designed to wrap around the tubes on the side of your face. I have not tired them as I'm not having any issues but perhaps this is something worth trying. The other thing is that mine also came with 4 different size nasal pieces that snap into the mask tubing. Perhaps the leaks are related to what size nasal piece your using as well so a bit of trial and error might help here as well.

Thanks for the compliment on my review but I can assure you that it was not a sales pitch. I'm just a retired computer support engineer that had to write very detailed reports for management that typically had no clue, from a purely technical aspect, of what was going on.

My wife seems to believe that the mask makes more noise (leaks air) than my softgel but I have a copy Rescan software and do my own tracking and in a comparison of the 10 days prior with my softgel and 10 days on the Dreamwear I had a lower leak rate and required less pressure during the night. I suspect that perhaps my wife is hearing the excess air being vented from the two vent ports on the mask. The top vent port is on the top of the mask where the air hose connects to the mask and the other is down where the air blows into the nasal cavity. Not sure why they have two vents on the mask and if the mask is making noise its probably from the lower vent when I'm sleeping on my side.

I just wanted to throw out a recommendation for the Phillips Respironics DreamWear mask. I've been a CPAP user for 5 years now and previously the only mask that I could get to work for me was a Resmed Mirage Softgel mask and even with that mask I needed use a mask pad from PadACheek to minimize my leakage. Earlier this year I tried the Resmed N20 thinking that a newer technology mask would be better but it leaked like crazy as I'm an active sleeper that moves all night long. Before Christmas I was able to get a new mask for free so my provider suggested the Dreamwear mask. Looking at the mask at first glance I thought that there wasn't a prayer that this mask would be better but I was amazed at how well it is working for me. The mask is made out of soft, flexible tubing with a removable nose piece and the connector for the air tube on top of your head. This may sound weird but with the air connector on top you can lay your air hose behind your pillow so it's totally out of the way. When you have your machine on, air flows from the top down the flexible, flat tubing on either side of your face and the air pressure inflated the thin flexible materials of the nose piece to the point where it creates a tight seal right under your nostrils. For an active sleeper like myself If I roll onto either side the flexible tubing on that side does collapse but the air is still flowing down the tube on the other side so you never lose pressure. My worst fear is that the mask would not be tight enough or slip when I roll from my back to my side but for me this has not been the case as the seal of the nose piece to my skin has very tight. In addition to the fit of the mask in general I REALLY like how light this mask is on my face, the open face design as I can now read a book or watch TV with the mask on since there's no interfering nose bridge that blocks my view. No mask lines in the morning either. Besides the fit and design I can report that my AHI is about 3.1 which is slightly lower than with my softgel and my pressure readings and mask leak rated are all down in comparison to my Softgel.

All of the above being said I understand that fitting a mask is not an easy task and no one mask can work for everyone but for me this mask is great. In addition the only difference between the Dreamwear nasal mask and the Dreamwear nasal pillow mask is the interchangeable nose piece and my provider said that if I want to switch to pillows all I need to get is the pillow nose piece instead of the nasal piece. In addition, Respironics also makes a Dreamwear full face mask for mouth breathers. So, if you're having trouble with your mask leaking and/or you just want to try something different, I highly recommend the DreamWear nasal mask.

I have been a CPAP user for 5 years now and I clean my mask, hose and water chamber in my RESMED S9 but not nearly as often as I should. I was asking my DME about the SoClean machine and the VirtuClean ozone cleaners and he said both work pretty well but they leave the mask smelling funny. Doing more research, I've seen many references made regarding the residual ozone causing breathing problems as well as other health issues so I've ruled out ozone cleaners.

Today, I learned of another cleaner called LUMIN CPAP cleaning device and I thought I would ask if anyone had any experience with this device that they would like to share?