Balloon Mouth

[SheriT]

I finally have my mask fitting right and I put an end to my mouth breathing by taping my mouth shut. It seems like every time I solve a problem my body comes up with a defense. The best I can tell what is happening now is that air is traveling through my nose via my throat and into my mouth blowing up my mouth like a balloon.
It’s a very odd feeling that disrupts my sleep. Any ideas?

[Pugsy]

We call the inflation of the cheeks....chipmunk cheeks and if you search the forum you will find some mention.
It's fairly common and yes, it is annoying.

Air goes up the nose and starts down the airway and instead of going on down the airway it tries to exit through the mouth. Lips are sealed...then cheeks inflate. Solution is too train the tongue act as a door and block that premature exit of the air. Normally keeping the tongue positioned in the roof of the mouth will create a barrier so air won't enter the mouth. Really easy to do when we are awake but sometimes not so easy to do when we fall asleep and the tongue falls out of position. Mainly it is a habit that can be learned. Just practice keeping the tongue in position by placing it in the roof of the mouth and totally breathe through your nose during the day.

[kaiasgram]

Hi SheriT -- I have a nasal pillow and tape my mouth now, too. To get the hang of using your tongue to prevent chipmunk cheeks another poster some time back suggested this: pinch your nose closed, then breathe once or twice through your mouth. Now, put your tongue on the roof of your mouth, hold it there and try breathing through your mouth again (with nose still closed off). You should find it near impossible to mouth breathe with your tongue pushed up against the roof of your mouth. You'll also find that doing this creates a suction which helps keep your tongue up on the roof of your mouth while you sleep.

Interesting your thread popped up today -- I've gotten good at putting in my dental night guard, doing the suction thing, then taping up and going to bed and getting through the night with no chipmunk cheeks. Usually my tongue stays on the roof of my mouth all night. But last night I forgot my night guard and just put the tape on -- I also didn't get that suction seal going before I taped -- sure enough I woke up multiple times with my cheeks puffing out. I kept trying to position my tongue back up to the roof of my mouth but as I fell back asleep it would fall down again. Apparently my tongue is now trained and knows what to do when the night guard is in place, but is lost without it.

BTW, I did not have to remove the tape to deal with the chipmunk cheeks. I use 3M micropore tape which allows for a little bit of air exchange, and I also put a small piece of breathable fabric between my lips and the tape -- so I just gently blew the extra air out of my mouth and it dissipated without pulling the tape off.

[chunkyfrog]

Taping is something that works well for some, but "freaks out" others.
If the idea makes you really uncomfortable, follow your instinct.
It is not for everyone.

[kaiasgram]

Taping is something that works well for some, but "freaks out" others.
If the idea makes you really uncomfortable, follow your instinct.
It is not for everyone.

Very true Froggie. It still sounds dangerous to me but I do it and have gotten used to it. I couldn't make a full face mask work for me, and I finally got so exhausted from waking up all night with mouth leaks and chipmunk cheeks that I stopped caring about the risk and decided to give it a try. I also bought the power outage alarm at that time.

I have to say it works well for me even though I do go to bed looking like a kidnapped alien. My leaks are usually zero which allows me to get a better handle on how my cpap therapy is going. Yes there is some risk to mouth taping but there are also serious risks to sleep deprivation. It became a tossup for me several months into using cpap, so now I tape. When a better invention comes along, I'm open to trying that for sure.

[Sir NoddinOff]

I'm a recent graduate of the "I FINALLY JUST LEARNED TO LIVE WITH IT SCHOOL". Because I can't wear a FFM due to problems with my crooked nose, I've learned to use nasal pillows... part of the problem with nasal pillows or a nasal mask is 'chipmunk cheeks', which many CPAP users will verify. Anyway, after about a month, I just started to ignore the puffing up and didn't wake up anymore. My lips, whether taped or not, automatically let the air escape without me waking up (see my note at the bottom). Will this be the case with everybody? Certainly not, but for a lot a people this is what they will experience. I might add that my 'chipmunk cheeks' only happened once or twice a night, so that's something to factor in. If it's happening more than once an hour, I can see that it might keep someone up all night. Final note: If your mouth is hanging open for long periods of time (ie. dry mouth) while letting the therapy pressure escape, then that's a whole other conversation. Time to talk chinstraps and different mask choices, maybe even hybrid masks.

[insylem]

Taping the mouth shut sounds dangerous.

I asked my Dr about that, he said not to do it. Gave me a FFM instead.

I cannot exhale very well through my nose.

Yes I get the inflated cheeks. I just delt with it and got used to it.

Inflated Cheeks = Getting enouhg air = Not Chokeing in my sleep

[SheriT]

Wow these are all great reply's thank you all so much for taking the time to help me! Taping is a necessary risk for me I’m afraid but perhaps I am doing it wrong. I’ve been making sure my lips are as tightly sealed as possible. Perhaps a way letting some air escape is the answer. I also found a post were someone was using an Ace Bandage to hold their cheeks in. Lots of good ideas…I will keep trying.
Thank you all again.

[grillhead]

That might have been me with my "sleep ninja" get-up... still working well for me

[lazer]

That might have been me with my "sleep ninja" get-up... still working well for me

grillhead, I must confess that I had purchased that wrap you wear via the Walmart a couple weeks ago when the discussion came up but I've been too chicken shit to try it yet.

[wally13]

Pugsy's recommendation to train your tongue to stay attached to the roof of your mouth is right on and has worked for me. I have been using a SWIFT FX for almost 2 years now. I used to have major mouth breathing and ballon cheeking issues but since training my tongue to stay attached to the roof I no longer have mouth breathing and ballon cheek issues. In fact, I no longer have to use a chin strap. Of course, there are occasional times when I get some jaw drop and some mouth leaking but overall my AHI's are usually below 1.5 and leak rates below 13.

One cpaptalk person advised to use a boil and bite sports mouthguard. I use a mouthguard and I believe it helps minimize mouth breathing and helps train the tongue to stay attached to roof of my mouth. I also like Pugsy's idea of keeping your tongue attached to your roof of your mouth and breathing through your nose during the day. If you do this during the day ... it is that much easier to do at night.

[lazer]

I can't keep my tongue in my mouth let alone at the top of my mouth.

[karl9000]

I had the baloon mouth problem as well using the nasal pillows and tape. But I could never get the tape to hold all night, and the resulting blowout (?) always woke me up and kept me awake. I finally went with the hybrid mask.