Routing cpap hose around pillow rather than hose buddy?

I purchased a cpap hose management system, similar to a hose buddy, but the hose either had too much slack (hanging right above my head), or wasn't loose enough and pulled when I slept on my side. The "never perfect" situation led me to just give up and try to route the hose around/near my pillow. I've purchased fleece hose covers, and while this is helping, i'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions for how to make this setup (without the hose hanger) better?

Does hanging the hose over your head (similar to the setup with the Swift LT) help? Any other tweaks I can make?

What I did was drilled a wire coathanger size hole in the back of my headboard about an inch deep, stuck in a straightened metal coathanger, and looped one end to put the hose through. The wire hanger acts like a spring and will give and flex with your movements. Remember though, if under to much stress, they will bend. Has worked great for me the past 10 years.

Zidane,
I hang my hose on a nail in the wall...using small bungee. Works good.

You may find a longer hose might give you more options. I use 8 foot hoses.
J

Zidane wrote:route the hose around/near my pillow.

That's what I've been doing for several years - works OK for me.

Cheers,

Bill

I'm using one of those horseshoe shaped travel pillows, when I put the gap by my nose/mouth it doesn't push the mask around or displace it and all I have to do is fiddle with strap tensioning.

Zidane wrote:The "never perfect" situation led me to just give up and try to route the hose around/near my pillow.

This is what I have done for over 4 years now. It's not perfect but for me it was less of a bother than the routing over head (which I have tried and just found annoying). The long hose goes flat on the bed and up around my bed pillow and down to my face. This is how I always start the night on my left side with machine to my right side. It works really well with the Tap Pap which comes up over my forehead on its own but I used the same system with my Swift LT when first starting therapy and didn't attache the hose to the top strap..and then with the Swift FX or any of the other nasal pillow masks I have tried. Having it secured to the top of my head bothered me more than having it lay loose.

I have the opposite problem. I hate masks that have the tube sticking out from the center of the mask. I prefer masks like the breeze that route the pita hose over your head and out of the way. This way I am free to roll over without binding my mask or pinching my tube. The Tap Pap works, but the hose is bent upward at the center of the mask, wish more designs would consider doing the same thing.

Zidane wrote:... route the hose around/near my pillow ...

That's what I've done for about 25 years!!

I have the hose covered and then route the hose under my neck before it heads over my shoulder and loops down toward my chest and then up to my face. I sleep quite peacefully this way.

I use a 8 foot hose with a hose cover that connects to the humidifier on my right. I route the hose across my lower torso and then it goes up the left side to my mask. Since I am a back sleeper and sleep on my back at probably 95% of the time (that is a guess since I can't really know what happens when I am asleep, but I always awaken on my back ). This set-up has worked well for me for almost 2 years .

John

I've never used a hose hanger. Before I was on the hose, it seemed like the perfect solution. Once I was on it, it seemed redundant.

My hose routes over my head, and off the top of the pillow, along the top of the mattress, off the side of the bed to the machine. I do cover my hose with a fleece snuggly.

Doesn't give me any problems. Sometimes it shifts, and I just reach up and re-shift it, no bother, no stress. Doesn't ever pull the machine out, doesn't get in the way of my sleeping. I tend to route the hose away from my bed partner, so it doesn't impact them either.

Cheers,
B.

I'm glad to see this topic. I have never tried a hose buddy, but I keep my xPAP on top of my headboard (which, since this used to be a water bed, is more of a cabinet then a board). I don't seem to like it when my hose is being held above, so I am also in the "drape it around the pillow" crowd.

I've wondered about trying other options, but I think that this has convinced me not to. The only times I've given it real thought is when the hose manages to get trapped somewhere and I end up wrenching my nose practically off of my face. Hose won't move. Teeth won't move (tap pap). Nose loses.

Does everyone sleep on their backs? I kinda look like John's avatar when I sleep, as I sleep on my stomach or side. I can't sleep on my back at all.

I am a very restless side sleeper.
B.

I started hanging my hose up a little over 3 years ago, when I woke up lying on the short tube of my Swift FX.
My home setup involves a hinged plant hanger, part of a fishing pole, duck tape, and scrunchies.
All I'm missing is a stringer and bait bucket.

Chunky, are you channeling Rested Gal?

LOL,
B.