Let's talk about our CPAP machines, masks, tips, numbers, etc.

[CathyA]

Redfox...........a baby blue cashmere cozy? OOoooo la la!
But does it make you feel like you have a muppet sleeping with you?

[bae]

LOL Gregg about Aunt Gertie's nightie!!

I'll have to talk to my therapist to get that one out of my brain :-)

Sometimes I wonder if something is wrong with my humidifier (4i model), because I keep it on the next to the highest setting and it doesn't ever get rainout.

I think that rainout depends very strongly on the temperature/humidity in your sleeping room - some times a year I have no issues at all, other times/locations it's a problem. If you are using water and not getting rainout, that's a *good* thing. When it is humid here, I go through almost no water at all - relative humidity the past few days here has been nearly 100%, and the water level hasn't moved much. Drier times of the year, I can use almost 1/3-1/2 the water in a night.

I use about 1/2 of the water every night. Then again, our house is really dry now because of the A.C.

Bae....where did you get the cord that would plug in from your cpap machine into the cigarette lighter of your car?

The CPAP manufacturer of my unit sells the cord, it is a cigarette lighter plug, a bit of a power filter, and then the power jack into the CPAP. You just swap it in for the wall wart.

Also, if you're jump starting your car with it, how long does it usually take? We have a charger, but it takes hours and hours. (Maybe I had it on the wrong setting). I ended up calling AAA.

By "jump start" I mean that the Duracell thing comes with a set of jumper cables that plug into a port on it, you then jump the auto from it, takes about 2 seconds. You don't use the Duracell to recharge the car battery, but use it to actually jump the car, as if you were using another car's battery.

Is your mask just for your nose? I've been playing with the idea of trying something different. Seems like my nasal prongs on my Swift original leaks pretty easily, if you turn wrong.

My Swift FX is just a set of nasal pillows/plugs, though it comes with 3 different sizes in the package so you can find one that works decently. I found fitting the straps properly reduced leaks hugely - not tightening them up exactly, but placing the straps around my head in the correct places - I broke down and read the manual :-)

I guess my insurance company says I can replace my machine every 4 years (even though I still have to pay a large portion of it). I think its been almost 4 years, so I'm going to look around for a better model.
My sleep doc said he wouldn't mind writing a note to the insurance company saying my dog chewed it up. hahaha

Any idea how long masks are supposed to go before replacement?

[CathyA]

Thanks Bae,
I think my Swift nasal pillow is much like your mask. I have a small nose, but actually discovered that I do better with the large pillow. I've also discovered that having the head gear tighter isn't always better, in terms of the leaks. I ended up adding a 2" wide piece of elastic around the bottom (to go around the lower back of the head), and it stabilizes it better.
I think they say to replace a mask every 6 mos, but that's unnecessary. I probably replace my pillow (nasal prong thing) every 6 months, and I'm supposed to replace it every month.
I did discover that I needed to change my headgear every once in a while. I think when it gets old, it gets slippery and adds to leakage.

I had a heck of a time getting my leak rate down over several months once. Even though no one had ever heard of it, I swore it was the humidifier. I didn't want to order a new one, since they were so expensive, so I just taped it up alot. I found out that you could order just the water tank for pretty cheap, so I got a new one, and the leak rate went down immediately. It makes sense that those tanks with all their gaskets/seals would wear out.

I also don't change my big tubing very often. I suppose cpap companies are like all other companies.......they want to make money off you.
I just wish they had recycling for all this tubing!