Laurora wrote:Sigh. I think I've learned my lesson not to post about my experience in the hopes of helping others. In my very first post I said "I post this in the hopes that someone else with the same issue might see this and give the nasal mask a try, or at the very least, use a chin strap/taping with a FFM.". Never did I imply that this would work for everyone. I feel like I should edit the subject to "Turns out that I can learn to breathe through my nose", but I don't think it's good form to edit things after people have commented on them.
Yes, I do get dry mouth during the day. And I didn't mean I thought my doctor would know more about my sleeping habits than I do, just am curious if she will think that my leak rate is acceptable and will agree that the switch to a nasal mask was a good move.
Don't let the naysayers get you down. I understand what you were trying to convey. Tis no different than someone here who is touting their positive experience with their full face masks and they don't realize that they are doing the very thing they are blasting you for.
Just ignore them.
FWIW...you might eventually get lucky and the mouth stay shut without the chin strap. Early on in my therapy I also had to do something to keep the mouth shut and I elected to tape my mouth. I did that for about 2 to 3 months and then I got lazy and started to "forget" until lights out and started blowing off doing the tape. Come to find out the leak graphs were greatly improved over the first nights when I just started cpap therapy. I seemed to have broke the mouth opening habit for the most part.
For the record the mouth breathing was never out of a physical necessity...my nose is almost always totally open but it was more out of habit likely made worse by years of gasping for breath because of untreated apneas.
Not everyone can ditch the mouth support but you might get lucky with some time.
Dry mouth...doesn't always mean prolonged massive mouth breathing. It all depends on the person and how easily their mouth gets dried out. There are other causes for dry mouth besides mouth breathing.
I have woke up with my mouth horribly dry but when I look at the reports for that time frame often the leak was maybe evident for 5 minutes and sometimes the leak wasn't even that big to start with.
I still mouth breathe on occasion...at least for short periods of time because I wake up with mouth open but it rarely seems to have been going on for very long and sometimes it doesn't even result in a significant leak and I choose to not do anything about 5 or 10 minutes of big leak anyway......using tape or a chin strap was more detrimental to my sleep quality over the entire night than 5 or 10 minutes of big leak that I slept quite well right through it.
We all have our preferences and options and choices..up to each of us to set the priorities. For me good quality sleep is much more important than a perfectly flat 0.0 leak line if that means I don't sleep so good in the process. I will give up a few minutes to leaks if it means the bulk of the night I sleep soundly. It's simply a compromise I am willing to make...if others don't wish to to make that choice.....well, that's okay too. I doubt I will ever be using a full face mask and I have many reasons as to why I choose not to....and it doesn't matter if my reasons seem valid to someone else or not....it only matters that I think that they are valid for me. I try not to convey my dislike for full face masks because I know that people are all different but I do think that people should try any mask that interests them and make an informed decision for their own personal use. If the nose is working properly and a person has an interest in some sort of nasal mask...then by all means at least try it and see if it will work or not.
Same thing goes for someone using a nasal mask and wondering about using a FFM...try it...I just can't help much with them. since I have never used one.
I may have to RISE but I refuse to SHINE.
If you want to try the Eclipse mask and want a special promo code to get a little off the price...send me a private message.