Bleep/DreamPort nasal mask review thread

[Jas_williams]

Yes, just the shipping cost. Not too bad for a years worth.

Yeah but the 12 months worth of ports cost is going to suck.

Maybe with luck and good sales the demand will increase and production costs can come down when in larger blocks of orders.

I've put my hand in my pocket purchased a years worth, the discount is more if you buy the ports with the mask, just waiting for them to ship now...

You will of course let us know your thoughts on this mask????

Pretty hefty investment in something you don't know if you will like it or not but maybe you are like me....know yourself well enough to know what you like and don't like fairly well ahead of time and you are confident that you will like it. I knew I would like it 2 years ago...I just knew it. Wasn't ever any doubt in my mind as to how I would feel about it.

I know I'll like it I can always sell the unopened dreamports... so it's not that bad I like the idea of no headgear... so it's on its way should get to me in a week

[JaxTom]

I have a new machine. Going from ASV to Bipap because medicare makes you start out there. Right now between the machine and me..... it seems we are more sensitive to leaks then before.....

So I may pick up one of these now. Not due for new mask from Medicare for a couple months.

But as I read about how great the tape is, I keep thinking "I wish I could get some of that for mouth taping"

[prodigyplace]

I have a new machine. Going from ASV to Bipap because medicare makes you start out there. Right now between the machine and me..... it seems we are more sensitive to leaks then before.....

So I may pick up one of these now. Not due for new mask from Medicare for a couple months.

But as I read about how great the tape is, I keep thinking "I wish I could get some of that for mouth taping"

It is a 3M hypoallergenic surgical tape. I see there are paper and cloth variants. I do not know which the Bleep uses.

[Miss Emerita]

I tried the Bleep for the first time last night. Three quick questions: is it OK to jam the home-made filter/diffuser right up against the vents? Is there any way to make the Bleep quieter? And how often are people washing the Bleep?

[Pugsy]

I tried the Bleep for the first time last night. Three quick questions: is it OK to jam the home-made filter/diffuser right up against the vents? Is there any way to make the Bleep quieter? And how often are people washing the Bleep?

Yes...you can place the homemade diffuser right up against the vents on the outside as long as the diffuser material you used is fairly porous.

I wash it when I feel like it...which isn't often because the only thing that touches me is the ports and they get tossed.
I have heard that if a person eats or drinks something that tends to be present in our breath long after we have consumed it that the mask and hose will take on the odor of whatever it might be that is in our breath. So that might promote us to wash things more often.
Once a week is more than plenty...I do a quick wash about once a month.

If the Bleep is noisy...it's either something not attached properly or the vented air is bouncing off something creating noise.
If you are hearing anything....check all your attachments and check to see if the vented air is hitting something.
Watch Jason's video again...pay special attention to the port fitting and the little things on the top that the ports fit into....they swivel and if the little arms aren't right between the little dots the mask will leak. I had this happen last night. I had disassembled things last night for my once a month wash job and I didn't get the arms back in between the dots...and I had small but annoying leak that I could both feel and hear. It's so close to the vent that my first thought was the vent bouncing off the diffuser I had put on but I quickly realized it wasn't so I had to take it off and look really closely at it and sure enough....that little arm on one side wasn't between the raised dots.

When things are properly attached/fitted....and the vent is NOT bouncing off something...the Bleep is silent and you won't hear or feel any air escaping anywhere except at the vents.

[Miss Emerita]

Terrific, thanks so much, Pugsy!

[booksfan]

First of all, a disclaimer. Please excuse any typos/errors/ramblings. I got back last night from Australia , dreaming the entire way about my Bleep waiting for me and FINALLY being able to try it out. I actually almost cried when my package was not in the house. My son had not pick up the mail the day my Bleep arrived and it was still in the mailbox. Hubby brought it in before I had a full meltdown! Got home showered (yes, I know, TMI!), and tried it out immediately! Could not wait!

I had no difficulty trimming the DreamPort adhesives or applying them after washing my face and using a witch hazel astringent to around clean my nose. I was initially concerned that I had trimmed a bit too much of the adhesive off, but it was fine. I did get a good seal, which (spoiler alert ) lasted all night. It was a little awkward attaching the DreamWay connector to the DreamPorts and I found that I had somehow angled one of the ports, but not too much of an issue. It was a bit of an odd sensation having the weight (not really that much) dangling/hanging from my nose, but I was thrilled NOT to have hard plastic pieces digging into my face, a strap sliding on the back of my head to constantly adjust during the night, and a mask to hold in place and readjust every time I moved at night.

I also attached a filter below the diffuser. However, when I attached my CPAP and laid down, I was actually surprised how much air was blowing up onto my face and eyes and how noisy it was. While I was in New Zealand/Australia, I used a (mask-hacked) Air Mini so I was looking forward to getting back to my silent Airsense machine. The Bleep was not more noisy than the Air Mini, and I figured the pluses WAY outweighed the minuses. But as soon as I flipped onto my stomach and buried my face in my pillow (for the first time in 14 months!), everything went dead quiet and no more air across my face. Apparently, I had done something wrong when I attached something and the shift in position pushed everything right. I fell asleep immediately and didn't budge for almost 3 hours!

I decided to try reattaching everything except the adhesives, and eventually, after basically taking the ENTIRE system apart <sigh> got it put back together. I had a lot of trouble figuring out why/where I was having the airflow leak coming from (any advice welcome!). I must not have attached something correctly, and hopefully tonight when I am not so jetlagged/exhausted I will just click and go. Anyway, the rest of the night was AMAZING! There was no strap to pull down constantly, no mask to hold on my nose, no painful plastic to readjust on my cheeks. I will have to adjust to the hose position down from my nose rather than up, but it didn't really bother me last night so that's pretty much a non-issue.

Overall, I think it was a good night. Obviously not possible to tell from one night, but my pressure was just a bit lower than my average, no dry mouth (although a bit of dry throat), good sleep, couple of wake ups but fewer due to no adjustments needed and more immediately back to sleep. I am looking forward to better results as I adjust to both the Bleep and the adjustment to being back home.

[Pugsy]

It was a little awkward attaching the DreamWay connector to the DreamPorts and I found that I had somehow angled one of the ports, but not too much of an issue.

It's still a bit awkward for me at times. I have to do it in front of the mirror and I just can't wrap my brain around "it's backwards in the mirror you dumb ass"... I am getting much better now but the first couple of weeks it was way awkward.

Don't worry if the port hangs down at a bit of an angle....as long as it isn't horizontal pointing towards your ear it will be fine.
The slight weight of the hose will even them out. I always seem to have one perfectly straight down and the other off to an angle a bit.

Make sure your diffuser material is good an porous...if it isn't the vented air will bounce back directly to your nose/eyes/face.
For that reason I use the standard mesh ResMed S9/AirSense filters instead of the more dense hypoallergenic filters.

Read what I wrote above just this morning about the little dots and the little arm thing. Amazing how much difference it made moving that arm back in between the dots. This is something I couldn't see when just putting the ports on. I use the bathroom mirror and I just can't see up close when using the regular mirror. Be careful when you attach the port that you don't inadvertently knock the arm our of place. Push don't turn stuff when attaching the ports.

[palerider]

I tried the Bleep for the first time last night. Three quick questions: is it OK to jam the home-made filter/diffuser right up against the vents? Is there any way to make the Bleep quieter? And how often are people washing the Bleep?

1) that's how I do it.
2) it's pretty much silent with the filter diffuser against the vents
3) i'm really bad about that.

[heyslick]

Well it didn't go well last night went through 3 ports. I used the filter and it was still super noisy. I will try again tonight. I really want to just give up but i think of my sister so i guess i will force myself to keep using the c pap. I got one to click, all 3 times i could not get the other one to click. I went back and looked at the video so hope it goes better tonight, can't get any worse.

[Pugsy]

Well it didn't go well last night went through 3 ports. I used the filter and it was still super noisy. I will try again tonight. I really want to just give up but i think of my sister so i guess i will force myself to keep using the c pap. I got one to click, all 3 times i could not get the other one to click. I went back and looked at the video so hope it goes better tonight, can't get any worse.

Super noisy means things weren't clicked in solidly.
Take a couple of the used ports and practice putting them into the mask frame and just hold the ports up to your nose real snugly and breathe with the machine on.

[loggerhead12]

And how often are people washing the Bleep?

Never, ever. It will never be wet unless the house floods. And I live at the top of a hill.

[booksfan]

It was a little awkward attaching the DreamWay connector to the DreamPorts and I found that I had somehow angled one of the ports, but not too much of an issue.

It's still a bit awkward for me at times. I have to do it in front of the mirror and I just can't wrap my brain around "it's backwards in the mirror you dumb ass"... I am getting much better now but the first couple of weeks it was way awkward.

Don't worry if the port hangs down at a bit of an angle....as long as it isn't horizontal pointing towards your ear it will be fine.
The slight weight of the hose will even them out. I always seem to have one perfectly straight down and the other off to an angle a bit.

Make sure your diffuser material is good an porous...if it isn't the vented air will bounce back directly to your nose/eyes/face.
For that reason I use the standard mesh ResMed S9/AirSense filters instead of the more dense hypoallergenic filters.

Read what I wrote above just this morning about the little dots and the little arm thing. Amazing how much difference it made moving that arm back in between the dots. This is something I couldn't see when just putting the ports on. I use the bathroom mirror and I just can't see up close when using the regular mirror. Be careful when you attach the port that you don't inadvertently knock the arm our of place. Push don't turn stuff when attaching the ports.

Too funny...I was posting this morning while you were posting your reply to Miss Emerita. As soon as I saw it, I went and checked and sure enough, the little arms on the ports were not between the little dots/plugs. So I put them in properly. As far as my filters, I don't have the hypoallergenic filters, but the ones I do have are not OEM ResMed and I do think they are a just a bit denser than the OEM ones. So I guess I need to find some of those. I think I will also do as you suggested in another post and practice with plugging the mask frame into the used ports a few times to get the feel of how it works.

Thank you so much for your patience and advice!

[Pugsy]

ResMed S9/AirSense/AirCurve filters
Hypoallergenic filter on the left.
The middle and far right filter...one is OEM and one is aftermarket generic and to be honest I forget which was what and other than the slightly different color they were essentially the same. They are what ResMed ships with the machine. I wouldn't be surprised if the ResMed packaged filters were nothing more than massive bulk purchase of someone else's product.

If you can put it up to your lips and gently blow through it and feel the air on the outside then it is porous enough.
Or use what I did the first night before the filter idea was thought up...I just used a little bit of gauze from a deconstructed gauze pad.

[palerider]

Well it didn't go well last night went through 3 ports. I used the filter and it was still super noisy. I will try again tonight. I really want to just give up but i think of my sister so i guess i will force myself to keep using the c pap. I got one to click, all 3 times i could not get the other one to click. I went back and looked at the video so hope it goes better tonight, can't get any worse.

If it's 'super noisy' then you have a leak somewhere, either you don't have the ports on right, or they're not clicked into the clippy bits on the mask body... (I've had both things happen to me.

It's fiddly getting used to clicking the ports into the clips... there's usually two clicks, one from each side, and even then, sometimes I've had to push a little more to get the thing to click into place. Once I get that, it's quiet (with the diffuser) and pretty quiet without it.

the other time i had noisyness was when I dind't have the silicone body properly in the groove of the plastic vent piece.. but that was my first or second night, after I'd accidentally pulled it apart and tried to put it back together while still attached to my nose, half asleep and without a mirror.

Try practicing clicking the ports in with one of the used one.. practice helps, (at least it did in my case).