First a big thank you to all you generous people who give of your time to help those of us with sleep apnea, especially those newly diagnosed and new at CPAP therapy. It's because of this forum that I finally went ahead to schedule the sleep study and deal with having sleep apnea. My main symptom is atrial fibrillation, which I've had over a year. My cardiologist finally insisted I had to be tested. The tests showed I have moderate apnea. I stopped breathing 23 times per hour for up to 58 seconds a time. Oxygen dropped from 95% to 80%. So here I am.

I got my Remstar Plus M Series CPAP and Optilife nose pillow mask Wed., so I've used them for four nights. I'm having a hard time adjusting the pillows so they're comfortable all night. I'm determined to make this thing work and have slept reasonably well the past two nights. I keep the mask on all night.

When I got the equipment the therapist gave me minimal instruction on fitting the mask. I'm hoping for some tips on adjusting the mask so my nose isn't ending up on my forehead by morning.  

BTW, I'm already noticing a difference in how I feel -- much more energetic .

Thanks for your help.
Ann

Ann, I'm using the pillows with fair success.  There are several videos on the Respironics website that will help you get a good fit. http://optilife.respironics.com/fitting.aspx  You might also want to try moving the headstrap to the other holes in the mask.  Good luck!


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REMStar Pro M w/ c-flex and heated humidifier
ResMed Swift LT nasal pillow
Encore View Software
12 cm H20, 13 cm H20
CPAP start date: June 4, 2008

Yawn,
Thanks for the website. There's a lot of good information. I see you're using the same equipment as I am, but my pressure is 7. How have you done with the Optilife? I see you say "some success".  How long does it take to really get it right? I called the customer service of Apria (where I got my cpap)and the person I talked to said it might take up to a month to get it right. Have you found that?

Ann

I've only been on CPAP about 2 1/2 weeks.  I don't think my pressure is just right because I'm still having apneas in the lower mild range.  But, I am starting to feel the benefits.  I've gone from an AHI of around 47 to something like 5-9.  I do notice a difference from life before CPAP.  I notice I have good days and not so good days, but overall it's an improvement from where I was.  I contracted a sinus infection about a week ago and taking some strong antihistamines and that is disturbing my sleep.  It might also be affecting my apneas.  I do like the Optilife.  I have tried a nasal mask and the particular one I tried didn't work for me.


_________________
REMStar Pro M w/ c-flex and heated humidifier
ResMed Swift LT nasal pillow
Encore View Software
12 cm H20, 13 cm H20
CPAP start date: June 4, 2008

I also have an optilife. It took me several months to get the fit actually perfected, each night it seemed to get a little better.
It seemed like I would take two steps forward and 5 back sometimes. I could get things working great when I would take a nap and be all excited about knowing it was fitting perfectly when I was ready for bed that night and low and behold I would put it on and the fit was not like it was just a few hours earlier. But it all worked out.

The one thing that made the BIGGEST difference for me was when I finally did something with the tubing! I took a piece of velcro and attached the tubing to the upper most part of the headgear. The long piece of tubing that comes off of the bottom of the mask does not have a swivel in it so I would get hung up in it if I moved and would pull the mask away from my nose. Once I turned the hose into more like a snorkel everything fit tighter and I was finally able to roll all over in bed and sleep on my belly with out having leak issues.

The other big thing that I have noticed with the optilife is that I started out with the petite pillows and have graduated up in sizes as time has gone on. I am now up to a Medium pillow.

Good Luck it is a good mask and eventually you will wake up in the morning and feel your face to make sure it is even still there!


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Optilife mask by Respironics
Remstar Plus M with c-flex and heated humidifier
Pressure set at 18
Started Cpap on 12-13-07

I had tried the OptiLife and couldn't get it to work well for me.  Just recently, an addition to the OptiLife came out.  It is the "Cradle Cushion".  It fits on the Optilife just like the nasal pillows.  I got one of those and it's been much better.  One caution - you probably need a size smaller than you would use in the nasal pillows.  The sizing guide says that you should get the same size as in the nasal pillows.  I did that and the medium (size I wore in the nasal pillows) was too big and leaked like crazy.  I got the small and - no excessive leaks.  One other thing.  The cradle cushions seem hard at first but they do soften and become quite conmfortable after several nights of wearing and daily washing.  You can purchase the Cradle Cushions separately and use them on the OptiLife mask you have.  They make the OptiLife like the Comfort Curve mask, if you are familiar with that one, but without the cheek pads which seem to be the biggest problem, for some , with the Comfort Curve. The Cradle Cushions sit just under your nose.

I have used the Optilife nasal pillows since day 1 which was 14 months ago.  For me they are perfect.  It helps not to make the headgear too tight and to go one size larger than you think you need.  I use the large and sleep on my stomach with no problems.  Sometimes it helps to swivel the pillows a bit away from your upper lip.  If your teeth are sore in the morning, you will know the mask was too tight. The pillows need room to flex.  Put it on and look in the mirror closely to see how it fits best.

I've been using the OptiLife since last October with 100% success.  My DME RT sent me off to have my titration with the size small pillows but I had some leakage.  The sleep tech suggested that I bump up my pillows to the medium size, so I did.  That was the cure for any leakage I was having.  To insure that I not have leakage I use a small dab of Ayr Nasal Gel in each nostril every night and I wipe off the pillows before each use...the result is no leakage.  My beginning AHI was 64 but using the OptiLife my AHI is usually less than 1.  Rarely but every once in a while I will go to up to 1.2 but never higher.  

I found that the trick to my success with the OptiLife is to properly adjust the straps and have the correct angle of the nose pillow.  My headgear is fairly loose but my face straps are snug.  I also clip the mask hose to my nightshirt for stability of the hose...I sleep on my back.  I love my OptiLife!


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OSA Sleep Test 8/29/07, AHI 64/Sat. 74%
Titrated 10/1/07 and 9/30/08
BiPAP Auto M Series w/Humidifier 15/10cm
Opus 360 Mask; Ruby chinstrap


CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO~ http://tinyurl.com/69q52a

Thanks for the good suggestions.

iking and  Mullerbrau-- You're right. I loosened the head strap, went up to a medium on the pillows and snugged up the face strap it seemed to work easier.

Hawthorne -- I saw the Cradle Cushion in the brochure. Does it fit as tight as the nasal pillows? I'm a side sleeper. How does it work for that?

kssleepyhead -- I tried attaching the tubing on the top of the head strap, but it seemed to pull the pillows up and pushed against my nose too much. How did you overcome that? I agree that tubing is one of the bigger problems. I also agree that it's 2 steps forward and 5 back. Just when I thought it was getting better, I spend a night that seems like I hardly sleep.

I have just started this adventure (which every night is a different one), and there are so many things worse than sleep apnea.  But today I'm having a pity party.  

Ann

When I attached the tubing, I left a loop from the tubing that comes off the bottom about the size of a cereal bowl, then pulled the tubing that comes off of my machine up to the top of the headgear. Once I had it velcroed I then started adjusting and tweeking the velcro and the actual pillows. One of the biggest mistakes I made was having the chin strap to tight, I loosened it up so the "bracket" sat fairly wide on my face and then adjusted the straps that hook to it to the ones furthest from the nose piece. The gradual tweeks over several nights, and I was finally able to flip around in bed and sleep on my side with out any problems.

I am happy with the optilife, but am currently testing a different nasal pillow system. I changed DME's and the DME didn't have any replacement pillows for my optilife so he gave me the comfort light 2 to try. I have asked that once they get the new pillows in that he let me know so I can get back to using my optilife. It is much more light weight than the comfort light and I like how it fits better.

Good LUCK!!!

Trish


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Optilife mask by Respironics
Remstar Plus M with c-flex and heated humidifier
Pressure set at 18
Started Cpap on 12-13-07

I have the Optilife nasal pillows too and love them.  I've only used them for now going on 3 weeks and have done a lot of adjusting.  I found that I had my headgear too tight.  Thus the pillows were pulling up on my nose and leaking.  I adjusted it several times until I now have it perfect.  I've tried sleeping on my side but that just isn't comfy for me with the pillows in my nose.  I used to be a back sleeper so am back to that.  I also noticed that I was feeling like I was suffocating.  So much so that I would wake in the night several times with that feeling.  My husband looked at my medium nasal pillow openings and told me he could see how I felt that way since the holes were so small.  I compared the petite, med., and large pillows and sure enough, the holes in the medium size pillows were noticeably smaller than either the petite or large.  I don't know why either...mismarked or just made that way.  Anyway, I tried the petite then and really noticed a difference in airflow.  I might try the large and just see how they feel.  I don't seem to have a problem with leakage according to my printout from the smart card though.  It's all trial and error and thank GOODNESS there is this message board!!!!