Emergency DIY head gear

Violet West · Post by **Violet West** » Tue Mar 13, 2018 6:40 pm

Hi, guys-- it's been a while, but I thought I'd share this tidbit. I recently went on vacation to Mexico, and carefully packed up my cpap (Resmed Airsense 10). I had a new nasal pillow, so I put that in there, only to discover on my arrival that I had forgotten to switch it out in my head gear. So, I had the machine, the hose, the nasal pillow . . . but no way to keep it on my head.

The first night I tried hooking it up with extra long rubber bands I had brought (thinking I would hang the hose up over my head that way). Ouch! Way too tight, and way too uncomfortable.

So, we were trying to figure out what I could use that would be softer, keeping in mind we were in San Miguel de Allende with limited resources. We ended up getting some stretchy terry-cloth wristbands (like for tennis, I guess?), and my clever daughter cut them apart, and sewed them together to fit around my head. Then we sewed small hair elastics to those, and attached those to the nasal pillows.

Voila! Ingenuity to the rescue. Worked just fine the rest of my stay.

Bertha deBlues · Post by **Bertha deBlues** » Tue Mar 13, 2018 6:56 pm

Impressive! It looks at least as comfortable as some of the commercially produced headgear, and definitely more comfortable than rubber bands.

Violet West · Post by **Violet West** » Tue Mar 13, 2018 8:13 pm

It was pretty comfortable; although with only one part, it wasn't as secure as a double strap. Still, it was awesome.

Bertha deBlues · Post by **Bertha deBlues** » Tue Mar 13, 2018 8:16 pm

Violet West wrote: ↑
Tue Mar 13, 2018 8:13 pm
It was pretty comfortable; although with only one part, it wasn't as secure as a double strap. Still, it was awesome.

And it worked! That counts for a lot. I maybe could have MacGyver'd something using duct tape.

Hmmm, maybe not.

Cpapian · Post by **Cpapian** » Tue Mar 13, 2018 8:46 pm

Good for you and your daughter. Where there is a will ..... there is a way.

kteague · Post by **kteague** » Tue Mar 13, 2018 9:57 pm

Creative problem solving! Good for you and your daughter.

USMCVet · Post by **USMCVet** » Tue Mar 13, 2018 10:27 pm

That's awesome! Thanks for sharing.

Violet West · Post by **Violet West** » Wed Mar 14, 2018 6:48 pm

LOL, Bertha -- no duct tape -- I like my hair. (And that Beatles quote is one of my favorites!)

Thinking about it, the terry cloth things might have been hair scrunchies, but regardless, it worked.

chunkyfrog · Post by **chunkyfrog** » Wed Mar 14, 2018 10:09 pm

I keep a clean spare mask, with new pillows, in my travel case.

Violet West · Post by **Violet West** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 8:07 pm

Very sensible; maybe I'll do that. This is the first time in the 2 years I've been using it that I've traveled, though. Back to Mexico next year, I hope!

Emergency DIY head gear

Emergency DIY head gear

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