Should I try a full face mask?

[ThisIsMyUserName]

I am considering a full face mask (I currently use mostly a nasal mask, sometimes nasal pillows). Here are my reasons:

1) I sometimes wake up with a dry mouth, which I hear is a symptom of mouth breathing
2) I hate the feeling of the mask/pillows on my upper lip; don't know why, but it bugs me
3) I'm about 5 months in, and, while I'm feeling about a million times better than I was before CPAP, I'm still tired and could be feeling much better.
4) Why not?

Reasons why I wouldn't bother:

1) My CPAP titration didn't say anything about mouth breathing
2) My sleepyhead data looks really good with the nasal mask/pillows; I see breathing all night long (though i don't know what I'd be looking for to indicate the need for a full face mask.
3) Getting fitted and a new mask is a pain in the neck.

Is there something I can look for on sleepyhead to help me decide? Is dry mouth an unambiguous indicator? Other advice? Thanks!

[LSAT]

IF your leaks are higher than normal, that could be an indication of mouth breathing. I found the FF mask much more comfortable than the nasal mask because of the upper lip discomfort. Why is getting fitted such a pain? You go in and try out some masks...

[Pugsy]

People using full face masks complain of dry mouth all the time.
So if you are mouth breathing using a full face mask isn't going to stop it. All it does is prevent loss of therapy pressure out the mouth.
Don't assume that the added moisture in the full face mask is going to be enough to prevent dry mouth..it may or may not.
It takes very little mouth breathing to dry the mouth out and also there's always the chance that dry mouth is just dry mouth from meds or simply lack of hydration either from drinking water or the mouth not producing adequate saliva.
This forum is filled with full face mask users complaining of dry mouth.

That said...I always feel like people should try something if they want to. Trying a different mask almost always answers some questions even though the answers may not be what we want or expect. It's a pricey experiment though and some people simply don't have the money and yes, it's a bit of a PITA to have to fiddle with something new all over again.

Some people do like to keep a full face mask on hand anyway just in case they ever get a bad cold or bad allergy attack where nothing will open the nasal passageway. I tried one once...decided I would rather deal with the stopped up nose and maybe mouth breathing. but it answered my questions about using one..so wasn't a total failed experiment. I found out that I hated FFmasks and subsequent episodes where I did have a cold (think maybe 2 or 3 in 4plus years) that I managed to survive quite well without a FFM. I didn't die a thousand deaths because I didn't have a full face mask and slept about as well as I would have anyway having a cold. Not particularly great but that goes along with having a cold anyway.

Mouth breathing in general..a little mouth breathing will dry out the mouth for some people. Been there myself...wake up in the middle of the night with mouth open and feeling like the Sahara Desert but when I go look at the reports there aren't any massive leaks like we would expect to see and sometimes I couldn't even spot a little blip on the leak line. I can only assume that either I hadn't been doing it very long or the mouth wasn't open nearly as much as one would expect. This is why I tell people to look at the leak line when they suspect mouth breathing...it doesn't always mean that the total night's therapy went flying out the mouth and it doesn't always mean that they just HAVE to use a FFM to prevent the loss.
10 to 30 minutes of even big leak over 7 or 8 hours isn't the end of the world and doesn't erase the other parts of the night where leaks were acceptable.

[bayourest]

This is such a helpful post Pugsy
I've been using my new nasal pillow mask (swift fx) for about 5 days and I'm finding some areas on the data that appear to be big leaks to me. I have been reading this forum for 3 years so I KNOW that you have to give yourself 2 weeks or so to adjust to a new mask and I was using a FFM (with very small leakage) and I know that every night I'm trying to figure out what to do to ensure that my new mask fits comfortably and is effective. I know it takes a while to make friends with a new mask, even if it feels great when you try it on. Even though I KNOW this, I "forget" it sometimes!

[Apneanderthal]

I almost went for a full face mask because of mouth breathing problems, but then found out that it doesn't work well for men with facial hair. Without my goatee I look 12 so I thought I'd find another way. Then I made my own chin strap (covers my mouth) which did wonders. Keeps the pillows off my upper lip too. If you want to see it, you can probably find the post by checking out my profile.

Just a thought.