Correspondence from resmed:

"Mr. (deleted),

Setting your device to “mir full” will be the right setting for the mask you are currently using.  If you have any further questions please feel free to contact me.

Regards,

(deleted)
Software Support Specialist
Technical Services Dept.
ResMed Corp."


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Resmed S8 Elite II with FitLife total face mask.
DISCLAIMER - I am sometimes corrected by those that actually do know what they are talking about.

You know I actually feel more awake today than I have in a long time.  Hmmm.  A difference in about four days?   (Four days successfully using this mask, it has been about 20 days unsuccessfully using other masks).


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Resmed S8 Elite II with FitLife total face mask.
DISCLAIMER - I am sometimes corrected by those that actually do know what they are talking about.

For some reason, the RT steered me into this particular mask today.  She said it may be best with my high pressures.   Or did she just say this because she didn't have a small quatro on her?  (She was supposed to have one.  But did have an older version of the same mask.)  The Fit LIfe  was less noisier when it did leak.  But I seem to be in a mask size right in the middle of small and medium.  Thus the small quatro did fit better.  

BTW, she did say the Mirage setting was correct for full face.  And I also recall reading it in the Clinicians menu.  Although I can't seem to find it there now.

Tonight will be my first night, and I will go with the medium fit life insert.  Since a quick trial with a small left me with a red nose.

Last night was my first night (finally after 3 months) of my new bedpartner, my Resp. BiPAP Auto and my Resp. FitLife mask.  I specifically requested this mask after seeing it and reading the reviews here.  My DME's RT that came over was intrigued as it was his first time getting the chance to play with one of them.

The mask was comfy, my only complaint is that at the high end of my pressure (19) it seems to have leak issues mostly dead center top of the mask.  I very much would have liked them to work in a clip or a loop of velcro or something at the top center to cinch it back towards my forehead some more without having to cinch the two temple supports tighter.  Eventually I got it to behave but this morning I have marks along my cheeks.

I also found if I tried to sleep on my side, as my head sunk a little into the pillow, it would scooch the chin of the mask over slightly, causing a leak down there.

I'm guessing I haven't found the correct level of tightness for this thing, or maybe I need to figure out a modification for that top center leak.  It might not be that big of an issue tho, since this mask seems to put out a good bit of air from the exhaust port regardless.

Edit:  I just watched Respironics' leak-fixing video for the mask - they suggest at the end "Remember, not all leaks need to be fixed" but of course they don't say -which- leaks might be acceptible.  Guess I'll loosen the straps back up tonight and let it blow my bangs if it wants to.  Anyone have a clue which leaks are ok and which arent?

Carrie, are you thinking of the Full Life vs the Fit Life?  Fit Life doesn't touch your nose at all, whereas Full Life does.

Carrie wrote:

For some reason, the RT steered me into this particular mask today.  She said it may be best with my high pressures.   Or did she just say this because she didn't have a small quatro on her?  (She was supposed to have one.  But did have an older version of the same mask.)  The Fit LIfe  was less noisier when it did leak.  But I seem to be in a mask size right in the middle of small and medium.  Thus the small quatro did fit better.  

BTW, she did say the Mirage setting was correct for full face.  And I also recall reading it in the Clinicians menu.  Although I can't seem to find it there now.

Tonight will be my first night, and I will go with the medium fit life insert.  Since a quick trial with a small left me with a red nose.

I believe the FitLife comes in small or large - and I do not know of any inserts.


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Resmed S8 Elite II with FitLife total face mask.
DISCLAIMER - I am sometimes corrected by those that actually do know what they are talking about.

imu wrote:

I just watched Respironics' leak-fixing video for the mask - they suggest at the end "Remember, not all leaks need to be fixed" but of course they don't say -which- leaks might be acceptible.  Guess I'll loosen the straps back up tonight and let it blow my bangs if it wants to.  Anyone have a clue which leaks are ok and which arent?

I think it doesn't matter which leaks you have - as long as they are not more than the allowed leak rate at your pressure.


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Resmed S8 Elite II with FitLife total face mask.
DISCLAIMER - I am sometimes corrected by those that actually do know what they are talking about.

I won't be able to see the leak rate yet, all my Resp M-series Bi Auto shows is 7 & 30 day averages.  This morning (day 1) the averages show 0.  I presume it's not going to show me anything until it has 7 days...

Or until my copy of Encore arrives and I read the smartcard.

Both might be 7 days from now so it's moot.

Mask says at my pressure the accepted leak is either 40 or 60 depending upon which connector I'm using.

did they give you the colored connector?  They didn't give me one - cause it isn't the right one for most of us.

The clear one is the one to use - it has a higher leak rate I believe - the "60"


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Resmed S8 Elite II with FitLife total face mask.
DISCLAIMER - I am sometimes corrected by those that actually do know what they are talking about.

They gave me the clear swivel connector, which I believe you're right is the "60" one.  He might have put another one in the travel bag for the machine, but I haven't finished going through all of it.

Got home and my machine had at some point today decided to update its stats.

Duration 6.2 hrs
Leak 40.9
AHI 7.0

Not too shabby I suppose.

40.9 L per minute I suppose?

Some machines give leaks per second

Sounds pretty good - hopefully your AHI will continue to come down a little more.


_________________
Resmed S8 Elite II with FitLife total face mask.
DISCLAIMER - I am sometimes corrected by those that actually do know what they are talking about.

dkdc wrote:

Carrie wrote:

For some reason, the RT steered me into this particular mask today.  She said it may be best with my high pressures.   Or did she just say this because she didn't have a small quatro on her?  (She was supposed to have one.  But did have an older version of the same mask.)  The Fit LIfe  was less noisier when it did leak.  But I seem to be in a mask size right in the middle of small and medium.  Thus the small quatro did fit better.  

BTW, she did say the Mirage setting was correct for full face.  And I also recall reading it in the Clinicians menu.  Although I can't seem to find it there now.

Tonight will be my first night, and I will go with the medium fit life insert.  Since a quick trial with a small left me with a red nose.

I believe the FitLife comes in small or large - and I do not know of any inserts.

Tee hee, these names all sound the same.  You are talking about the mask that looks like a face shield.  Sorry, I was talking about the full life.  My bad.

Carrie wrote:

Tee hee, these names all sound the same.  You are talking about the mask that looks like a face shield.  Sorry, I was talking about the full life.  My bad.

I have seen about five people confuse these two masks - they are both new this summer, start with F and are full face masks and are both made by Respironics!

So, you are not alone!


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Resmed S8 Elite II with FitLife total face mask.
DISCLAIMER - I am sometimes corrected by those that actually do know what they are talking about.

I posted this in another thread but thought I would put it hear as well. I got my FitLife mask about a week and a half ago. I finally have a mask that does not irritate my nose. In that respect this thing is great and I will continue to use it. I would definitely recommend this mask to anyone who needs a full face mask and cannot tolerate anything on their nose. Unfortunately, it does have its drawbacks. Let me start by saying that I am very picky and being an engineer tend to overanalyze everything. That having been said, I think a company such as Respironics, who is a leader in the industry, could have put a little more effort and lessons learned into the overall design.

First, I wanted to laugh when I read the Respironics web site and they were touting how quiet the mask is… compared to what! Well, with the normal air flow from the pump it is very quiet. However, each time I breath in I sound like Darth Vader. What were they thinking! It appears to me to be a valve design issue. Have you ever seen those toys with a small hole in them that kids can blow through and it whistles? The mask doesn’t whistle but it’s the same principle. I’ll bet if I could breath in fast enough it would whistle. This is about the seventh mask I have tried and the first that actually bothers my wife. I even contacted Respironics about it and all I got was that my issue would be logged into their quality system for review (i.e. deal with it).

Second, this mask does not have a removable silicone seal, it is integrated into the hard plastic mask. While Respironics clearly went above and beyond to design their own proprietary quick release clip for the headgear, they only provide them on the bottom straps. The top straps use Velcro. Thus, even after getting everything adjusted just right, each morning you have to remove the headgear to clean the mask and start all over again the next night. Why didn’t they put removable clips on the top as well? They do say in the manual that it is OK to clean the mask with the headgear attached. That to me sounds like someone realized after the fact that this was a mistake and instead of investing to fix it simply edited the manual. Be real, washing/wetting the headgear every day is just not practical and will ultimately lead to premature failure.

Third, overall the fit is pretty good but as others on this board have indicated, it tends to leak at the center of your forehead. This is primarily due to two reasons; the curve of the mask and the thickness of the silicone seal. If you look at the top of the mask it is shaped like a half circle. Since all of the tightening force is on the sides they really should have made it flatter (and maybe thinner) so that as you cinch the top straps they tighten the fit at the forehead instead of loosening it. The silicone is also very thin at the top so the pressure from the pump is enough to blowout the seal. The result is you have to tighten it more to keep it sealed. That results in lines on my face in the morning that do fade during the course of the day but take a while.

I really don’t think that Respironics actually ran trials with patients before going into production. If they did, I’m sure these issues would have come to light soon enough for them to be addressed. Respironics, if you’re listening, DFSS! Sorry if this seems to be a very negative review. I really do like the mask. It is comfortable and I have no trouble wearing it through the night unlike most of the other masks I have tried. I am starting to get used to the noise, I think my wife is too. The bottom line is that this mask has solved my nose irritation problem and I will continue to use it. However, given its limitations I will be continuing my quest for a better solution.

You and I agree on a lot of these flaws.  I too think it is the best one I have tried, but not being an engineer - I am willing to live with the flaws.

1) Quiet?  First mask I have had to use earplugs with.  I don't mind using earplugs, luckily.  When I sleep my breathing gets more shallow and thus the darth sounds get quieter.  My wife doesn't seem to mind the noise anymore, but did mention it when I started with the mask.

2) Removable seal: I usually wipe or wash just the inside so I don't get the headgear wet.

3) Forehead leaks: I don't usually have the forehead leaks - mine happen around the cheeks, but I too keep it cinched up and get marks on my face.  I am experimenting with it being looser - but any leak seems to wake me up.

If you look at the "Total Face Mask" that was the earlier model that Respironics sold before this one, you will see that this is an improvement.  But, as you said, I wonder how much money they had to spend on testing.


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Resmed S8 Elite II with FitLife total face mask.
DISCLAIMER - I am sometimes corrected by those that actually do know what they are talking about.