[Poll] Do you use anything to help keep your mouth closed?

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.

Do you use anything to help keep your mouth closed when sleeping?

I don't use anything to keep my mouth closed - it doesn't seem to be necessary.
40
35%
I use a full face, total face, oral, or hybrid mask and this isn't a problem for me.
15
13%
I don't use anything to keep my mouth closed, but I probably should.
10
9%
I use a purchased chinstrap to keep my mouth closed.
19
17%
I use a homemade chinstrap (ace bandage, etc.) to keep my mouth closed.
2
2%
I use tape to keep my mouth closed.
21
18%
I use a cervical or other type of neck collar to keep my mouth closed.
2
2%
I use something else that isn't listed above and will add it in a reply.
5
4%
 
Total votes: 114

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palerider
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Re: [Poll] Do you use anything to help keep your mouth closed?

Post by palerider » Tue Apr 21, 2015 9:25 am

LibbyLou wrote:Oh, so it may be normal that my machine didn't register the leak last night that the software programs are showing?
what shows on the machine is just a summary...

details get lost in any summary

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Pugsy
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Re: [Poll] Do you use anything to help keep your mouth closed?

Post by Pugsy » Tue Apr 21, 2015 9:32 am

Uncle Flapp wrote:The LL flag in SH has never worked for me (but it does in Encore) so I look at the graph and try to identify any instances manually. DL, I am curious if you are able to see any LL flags on yours since our machines are the same.
I am in the process of getting a 960 machine. Check back with me in a couple/three weeks and I will see if I have the discrepancy in LL flags you are seeing between SH and Encore.
I don't have the machine yet (USPS crappy service has struck again)...and I don't always go into large leak territory so it may take me a bit of time before I actually get something to compare.
You will have to remember to ask me...I will forget to tell you. unless someone reminds me to look.

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Re: [Poll] Do you use anything to help keep your mouth closed?

Post by bwexler » Tue Apr 21, 2015 9:37 am

When I switched from APAP to ASV my pressures were allowed to get up into the 20s regularly and the mouth leaks got bad. I got a chin strap and used it but never liked it. Then my new doctor recommended even higher settings. Tried that one night. Then I recommend lower settings, the leaks went away and so did the chin strap.
Last night I switched back to my favorite mask th Élan and slept like a baby. Now I have to go look at my report and see what Sleepyhead thinks.

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LibbyLou
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Re: [Poll] Do you use anything to help keep your mouth closed?

Post by LibbyLou » Tue Apr 21, 2015 9:42 am

palerider wrote:
what shows on the machine is just a summary...

details get lost in any summary
Makes sense!
Last edited by LibbyLou on Tue Apr 21, 2015 12:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Uncle Flapp
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Re: [Poll] Do you use anything to help keep your mouth closed?

Post by Uncle Flapp » Tue Apr 21, 2015 11:35 am

Pugsy wrote:USPS crappy service has struck again.
Image
Perhaps your new machine in that box.

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Noctuary
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Re: [Poll] Do you use anything to help keep your mouth closed?

Post by Noctuary » Tue Apr 21, 2015 12:03 pm

I gave up on the closed mouth thing. No matter what it seemed air had to escape, making a high pitched whistling sound.

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Re: [Poll] Do you use anything to help keep your mouth closed?

Post by Darth Lady » Tue Apr 21, 2015 3:49 pm

Uncle Flapp wrote:Thanks for your replies, Pugsy and Darth Lady. The large leak indication on the machine LCD remains at 0% even on the rare occasion my mouth opens and I awake. My guess is because the machine reports an average for the entire night and a few breaths aren't going to set it off. The LL flag in SH has never worked for me (but it does in Encore) so I look at the graph and try to identify any instances manually. DL, I am curious if you are able to see any LL flags on yours since our machines are the same. I did report this anomaly to Mark a while back.
Nope - I've never gotten that to work either. However, on the "welcome" screen and in the statistics, you can see leak figures.

I also agree that if you're sleeping and it's not bothering you, and you feel good in the morning, it's not likely a problem. It doesn't take much leaking to wake me up, so I do a lot of work at stopping leaks - like wearing a chinstrap with a FFM, because my face is so narrow that even with size small, if my mouth falls open, the further narrowing of my face causes leaks (as well as dry mouth).
Under all that headgear, I'm really just a ferret face

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Re: [Poll] Do you use anything to help keep your mouth closed?

Post by Uncle Flapp » Tue Apr 21, 2015 5:10 pm

Darth Lady wrote:Nope - I've never gotten that to work either. However, on the "welcome" screen and in the statistics, you can see leak figures.
Unfortunately, the large leak threshold in SH is a customizable fixed rate and not a true representation of large leaks - at least not with PRS1.

Here is what Philips says on the subject:
Patient leak rate depends upon device pressure. For any given pressure level, the REMstar Auto algorithm compares the measured patient leak rate to an expected amount of leak from the exhalation device in the mask. The robust REMstar Auto algorithm tolerates a wide range of leak fluctuations. If the measured patient leak rate significantly increases above the expected leak for an extended period of time, the enhanced Encore report indicates this large leak by displaying a black bar.

At first I cranked the SH threshold up to 90 but even that didn't necessarily mean a large leak. Eventually I just turned it off and now just eyeball the graphs for spikes in leaks without corresponding increases in pressure.
Darth Lady wrote:It doesn't take much leaking to wake me up, so I do a lot of work at stopping leaks
Are you using liners? Made a world of difference for me with the Quattro Air and F10 (I used to alternate). I now *heart* the P10 and there is no going back.
Darth Lady wrote:Under all that headgear, I'm really just a ferret face
Reminds me of Frank Burns in M*A*S*H.

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Re: [Poll] Do you use anything to help keep your mouth closed?

Post by Pugsy » Tue Apr 21, 2015 6:00 pm

Uncle Flapp wrote: Unfortunately, the large leak threshold in SH is a customizable fixed rate and not a true representation of large leaks - at least not with PRS1.
That customizable leak number thing is useless and really doesn't do anything.
Your machine flags the leaks...not SH and SH just reports what the machine is reporting.
The customizable number is useful if you want to add the red line to wherever you want see easily if you go above it.
Your machine is doing the leak computations...and it is also flagging the large leaks....and that's why SH and Encore should match if they are both working properly. SleepyHead is supposed to be reporting what the machine is reporting.

Since SleepyHead is still in Beta and still buggy and still has some problems with the higher end machine data...Encore has the final say so.

Respironics never gives us a set number like ResMed does because actually the way Respironics does it is more accurate and allows for variables like masks and pressures.

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Re: [Poll] Do you use anything to help keep your mouth closed?

Post by Sir NoddinOff » Wed Apr 22, 2015 10:07 am

If I check out the leaks my machine labels as large leaks on my LED display and then my software, they're always just a small degree over the line. When I check my quality of sleep using my software there is no absolutely no clinical difference between a 'no-large-leak' night and a 'large-leak' night. The AHI and so forth are all good. As I said, my leaks don't do much but slightly step over the line, so that's just my personal experience. I suspect if you feel a big gush of air on your face or into your eyes (I never do) then you really do have a large leak problem to address and it will likely be throwing your machine's therapy accuracy off.

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Re: [Poll] Do you use anything to help keep your mouth closed?

Post by footballgirl13 » Wed Apr 22, 2015 9:36 pm

chunkyfrog wrote:Tape, because every single chinstrap I've ever tried gives me a headache--immediately!
I've read that chin straps also - stretch and they don't help with the mouth opening at night.

I've read on here that some people put tape over their mouth. I'm thinking that a mouth could open without the chin lowering. I can open up my lips without moving my lower jaw. If I can do that awake - I'm thinking it would happen when alseep.

Funny thing is, I was testing in a sleep lab and they said my chin didn't move an inch. But when I go to bed - and when I wake up in the AM - guess what I have? Dry mouth and horrible dry lips. I used a nasal mask since I can't do a FFM due to the claustrophobia. I am also in the process of making a non elastic chin strap that I found on Youtube. But I'm not sure that will work. It seems to hurt when I put in on during the day and turn my face red. But I totally understand - how a chin strap would/could possibly give someone a headache - if it is too tight. I've just heard that those ones you purchase are elastic and since they stretch - they don't keep the jaw closed.

I may try tape if I don't lose 40 pounds in a year. I guess tape could be painful too.

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Re: [Poll] Do you use anything to help keep your mouth closed?

Post by ChicagoGranny » Thu Apr 23, 2015 3:08 pm

footballgirl13 wrote:I've read that chin straps also - stretch and they don't help with the mouth opening at night.
Even if you could clamp your jaws shut with a vise, the lips can open and allow air to pass through the mouth. That is why some tape their mouth shut.

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palerider
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Re: [Poll] Do you use anything to help keep your mouth closed?

Post by palerider » Thu Apr 23, 2015 3:51 pm

ChicagoGranny wrote:
footballgirl13 wrote:I've read that chin straps also - stretch and they don't help with the mouth opening at night.
Even if you could clamp your jaws shut with a vise, the lips can open and allow air to pass through the mouth. That is why some tape their mouth shut.
who knows, maybe she's go air tight teeth....

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Re: [Poll] Do you use anything to help keep your mouth closed?

Post by Sir NoddinOff » Thu Apr 23, 2015 5:19 pm

palerider wrote:
ChicagoGranny wrote:
footballgirl13 wrote:I've read that chin straps also - stretch and they don't help with the mouth opening at night.
Even if you could clamp your jaws shut with a vise, the lips can open and allow air to pass through the mouth. That is why some tape their mouth shut.
who knows, maybe she's go air tight teeth....
Which brings us to this forum's alternate Plan B to taping: the Fix-o-dent solution, you know, the denture sealing stuff.

Some people on this forum actually use it on their lips and say it works great and, as a extra benefit, can be pulled apart in an emergency. Before I switched to FFMs I was meaning to try it, however I never got around to buying a tube.

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Last edited by Sir NoddinOff on Thu Apr 23, 2015 6:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I like my ResMed AirFit F10 FFM - reasonably low leaks for my ASV therapy. I'm currently using a PR S1 AutoSV 960P Advanced. I also keep a ResMed S9 Adapt as backup. I use a heated Hibernite hose. Still rockin' with Win 7 by using GWX to stop Win 10.

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palerider
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Re: [Poll] Do you use anything to help keep your mouth closed?

Post by palerider » Thu Apr 23, 2015 6:02 pm

Sir NoddinOff wrote:
palerider wrote:
ChicagoGranny wrote:
footballgirl13 wrote:I've read that chin straps also - stretch and they don't help with the mouth opening at night.
Even if you could clamp your jaws shut with a vise, the lips can open and allow air to pass through the mouth. That is why some tape their mouth shut.
who knows, maybe she's go air tight teeth....
Which brings use to this forums alternate Plan B to taping: the Fix-o-dent solution, you know, the denture sealing stuff.

Some people on this forum actually use it on their lips and say it works great and, as a extra benefit, can be pulled apart in an emergency. Before I switched to FFMs I was meaning to try it, however I never got around to buying a tube.
as far as I know, nobody has tried plan c, which is superglue... which also doubles as a weight loss plan

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