Dreamwear to Amara View ?

[babydinosnoreless]

I haven't had any responses to my last two
messages in my old thread so I thought I would
try a new one.

It seems like my apena's go down when I can stop the leaks but the only way to do that is to tighten down the straps so tight it leaves marks in my face for hours.

I am wondering if I should switch masks ? I am quit claustrophobic and a normal ff mask scares the heck out of me. I sometimes pull my dreamwear off in a panic. Does anyone else have this issue and does the amara view maybe work better on leaks than the dreamwear ? I think I can get the pillow and the headgear sepreately on Amazon fairly inexpensively. I like being able to pull of the dreamware. Is that possible with the way the amara view hooks or am I going to struggle to get out of it when panicked ?

[Hopeful50]

I have a friend who has used the Amara View for two years and has a lot of trouble with leaks. He just recently switched to the Dreamwear full face mask, and is having an easier time controlling the leaks.

[Pugsy]

We are limited in what we can offer because we all we see is the limited data from the machine's LCD screen.
That leak number you see is just a 95% number and it wasn't in large leak territory.
95% number just mean you were at or below that number for 95% of the night.
These machines can easily compensate for the leaks you were having and even much more than what your numbers show.
24 L/min is ResMed's line in the sand for large leak territory...and it actually does a really decent job compensating up to around 35 L/min and then it starts getting a bit iffy.

Have the leaks caused you to wake often? Whatever leaks you might be having aren't high enough to impact the therapy pressure itself.
The machine can easily compensate for the leaks you are having.

Now it wouldn't be impossible for the leaks to be disturbing your sleep (you may or may not remember them) and it wouldn't be impossible for some of the events you are seeing to be false positive events. Events flagged as a result of irregular breathing because of an arousal related to the leak.

It's hard enough to have a working idea as to what is going on when we can see the data the machine gathers in detail.
Darn near impossible when all we are looking at is a single number.

You keep mentioning AHI and leak numbers but don't mention how you feel during the day or how you feel your sleep quality was.
Was your sleep sound for the most part or very fragmented with lots of wake up from leaks or any other reason for that matter.
You are very new to this therapy...it is very possible that the lower AHI recently was just a normal variance that we get from night to night and not related to the tightening of the mask at all. It was one night...you need more than one night to establish any trend or pattern. It's normal to have a variance in numbers even with no change in anything.
Not to mention but your AHI before the tightening of the mask wasn't horrible anyway...barely over 3 if I remember right.
I didn't say anything more in that thread because I was waiting for more reports. The slight difference in your AHI might have been nothing more than normal nightly variances. My AHI varies from 0.4 to 3 or 4 sometimes...and I don't change anything.
There are some things we can do to help figure out if a flagged event is real or related to arousal breathing but you need the software details to do that detective work.

In terms of masks....I have used/tried both the DreamWear and the Amara View. The DreamWear is far more comfortable and less leaky for me than the Amara View.
If you want to change full face masks....I suggest looking at the new ResMed F30 instead of the Amara View.

If your only complaint about a mask is the mask lines...try a mask liner.
If I didn't use extra padding on my mask straps I get some real nasty lines from the straps on my cheeks.

So...before you tightened the straps were the leaks waking you up?
How is your sleep quality?
How do you feel during the day?
Is your main complaint with the tightening just the marks on the face or did was there some comfort issues and maybe your sleep quality was affect?
Did you notice a big difference in how you felt during the day with the lower AHI compared to when it was 3 something?

[Coffee Man]

OP,

Have you considered the ResMed F30?

[babydinosnoreless]

Thank you for the replies. I have tried a mask liner. (The expensive ones). It got gross within a few days no way I can use it for 6 days even. It did seem to help with the leaks but very scratchy. I am going to try making one, a very nice individual here emailed me a pattern. I am somewhat scared of blocking important things as it does not attach anywhere and is just held in place by the straps, I dont want to suffocate!

My sleep quality is crap and has been for years so nothing new there, but the tooting noises from the mask do wake up my husband. The rain thing is also a problem and wakes me up with a wet face. I live in the desert southwest so my room is not ever really cool, and I have a heated hose so I don't understand how that is happening. Brain fog is normal for me, I have autoimmune thyroid, and bursitis in both shoulders that also affect the quality of my sleep.

This machine was touted as such a wonderful thing and I was told how much better I would feel but both the doctor and the dme just kind of tossed it at me with the one mask in the one size and I get the feeling I'm just supposed to make it work and not question anything. I waited a year for this and it was so expensive I was so excited and really wanted to like it but it just seems like a giant money hole.

I am neither more or less tired, just tired, frustrated and somewhat angry. The place I had the sleep study was before we moved and they told me I could come try on masks and they wanted people to succeed and they were so nice, but here it seems like no one cares. i wish I could have afforded the machine a year ago.

I think the mask is too big, the sides dont fit like the video i have to pull the hose way back on my head but when I went in the dme said no a small won't work she didn't even have me try she just tossed the very expensive liners at me and that was that. I though I was supposed to have one chance to change masks according to the tech but that never happened and now its longer than 30 days. They don't return my calls are always packed so If I make the drive and do go in I sit and wait. I am thinking of buying my own mask through amazon (screw the expensive and mean dme provider ) I am afraid of making any changes to the machine and getting it taken away by the insurance but am getting to the point where i don't care take back the dang thing.

That resmed f30 looks cool! Thanks for that tip! I may spend the money and buy one new mask before I give up completely. I was leaning toward the amara view but that one looks like it could work too and the comments I've been hearing is the amara leaks. I think the amara was the one they used when I had my sleep study and it seemed to fit better than the current one I have.

[Okie bipap]

I have used the Amara View and the Dreamwear FFM without having problems with leaks once I got the mask adjusted right. I use relatively high pressure (17 - 20 cm). The Amara View was harder to get adjusted than the Dreamwear is.

[babydinosnoreless]

Thanks. It sounds like amara view isn't the right choice. I thought it might work because it doesn't have the frame that is so big on me.

[Grace~~~]

Hi Cynmatthes ~~~

I'm going to be presumptive because one of my best friends name is Cyn and she's a girl. If you're a girl (or a long haired boy) this may help?

I wear my dreamwear WAY back on my head by choice. I like having the sides by my ears and leaving more of my face open and free. This makes the tube on top sit really weird and loose.

I solved this by wearing my hair in a topknot. I have thick long hair and it has the added benefit of making "beachy waves" LOL ... but what it really does is completely stabilize that top hose connection.

Not too long ago I had been out and worked hard to have my hair silky smooth and all the ends trimmed perfect and level and it was feeling and smelling so good that I just wanted to sleep with it. No way. I didn't even last 15 minutes because I couldn't keep the dreamwear in place. It was sipping everywhere and leaking. So I quickly pulled my hair back up.

This tip might work for you or someone since the dreamwear is SUCH a comfortable mask? I think dreamwear should offer an option of a wide open face design with a slightly different curvature.

I'm really excited to try the new resmed top design too!

[babydinosnoreless]

Thanks for the tip. Cyn is short for Cindy. I am female. Unfortunately I have really short hair but It sounds like it might work if I had longer hair.

[babydinosnoreless]

Just spoke to my dme. Am not allowed a new mask till January which is also when my deductible starts over.

[dreamingofdreaming]

My first mask given to me by my DME was an Amara View. It caused a lot of pain to the underside of my nose, like a bruising pain. After 2 days with this mask, I returned it for the dreamwear nasal mask. I have also purchased a dreamwear full face mask as a back up. The dreamwear full face is similar to the amara view, but fits better. I think the dreamwear is more comfortable, but I am use to the way the dreamwear nasal fits, so it's an easy transition.