Will a full mask give me problems

I will try to be short with this. 5 years on CPAP, S9 escape and swift FX nasal pillow. I've never felt rested during this 5 years. Been seeing a pulmonary doctor for a little over a year too. After my last visit and my wife telling him I still snore and stop breathing every night. With the S9 escape and lack of data not much to tell the doctor how things are working for me. Any way since he got involved I did a tritation study last Jan and changed pressure from 11 to 13 and now a few months ago he had me change it to 15. Still didn't seem to help so a few weeks ago he ordered an autoset machine and wants to to try a full face mask. Told him my mouth is not dry in the morning so I think I keep it shut but who knows. My question is how will a full mask work for me? How can I tell if I'm breathing with my mouth? When I get the new machine should I keep using the nasal mask for a day or two and see if the data tells me anything or switch to the full mask? It could be a different nasal mask might do the job and I'd love to not have to use a full mask. But it would be nice to have if my nose is stopped up.

The point of an FFM is that you can mouth breathe but not lose Cpap air which will go down your airway instead of into the room. You may still need either some humidity or need to use e.g. Biotene to keep your mouth from going dry, but otherwise it's not a problem. DO try FFms on while lying down - your face changes a lot then and fitting will be different than just sitting.

I don't have a dry mouth but I do have a heated hose and humidifier so I could be breath some thru my mouth. But I don't think so, the other morning I got up at 4 because I couldn't breath thru my nose because it was too stuffy. Would think if I opened my mouth this would not have been a problem. I don't know but I think I've trained myself to keep my mouth shut

To me, it's always better to have a spare mask that is different. I almost always wear a total mask, but can wear a full face mask (Resmed F10) a couple ttimes a year. Yesterday I was mowing my front yard. I was wearing safety glasses. I was ducking under a tree limb, but didn't clear the tree limb. The limb smashed my nose and my glasses cut my nose on my bridge. Oh well, back to the Fitlife Total Mask. As Julie said, the full face allows you to mouth breath without compromising CPAP therapy. I would get used to the full face and use whichever mask you like, with the other as a backup.
Sheriff

Under the assumption of mouth breathing.

Data from your new data capable machine will help to identify mouth breathing. Snoring is a good indication that you may be mouth breathing.

Mouth Breathing
Mouth Breathing is when you open your mouth and the air pressure from your PAP is venting out your mouth typically showing on your charts as a large leak which can substantially negate the effectiveness of your therapy. It is generally not good. The solution varies depending on the person

How to manage Mouth Breathing, not in any particular order. Realize that ALL of these solutions fail for some people. Nothing will work for everyone

FFM – Full Face Mask. This is a very traditional solution to mouth breathing and it is generally effective.
Practice nose breathing with your tongue at the roof of your mouth with the tip behind your top teeth. This helps close the path to the mouth which can stop mouth breathing.

Chin Strap. A chin strap is to manage mouth leaks from a variety of causes. Most result from the jaw dropping or opening either partially or wider. The chin strap is to gently keep the jaw closed. If you have to crank it shut to make it work this is not the correct solution. This is the “standard” solution for users who desire to keep their non-FFM or are adverse to using a Full Face Mask. Note that your jaw is strong enough to open against a chinstrap if it wants to.

Cervical collar. A Cervical Collar may also be used to keep the jaw from dropping. This is a non-traditional solution suggested by PAP users. These come in a variety of sizes and can be found in many pharmacies. The purpose of a cervical collar is to immobilize the head and neck when neck, back or spinal cord trauma is suspected. This is NOT the purpose here, look for a looser fit, all we want is to prevent the jaw from dropping, kind of a reminder, to prevent mouth breathing.

Mouth Guard. The concept here is a closed mouth guard to keep the air from leaking out.

Taping. The purpose of taping is to seal the lips and prevent mouth leaks / mouth breathing. It is not to stop the mouth from opening. This method is the most controversial. The fear some have is that you will not be able to quickly remove the tape and you may suffocate. Try to use as little tape as possible. I make sure that I can easily open my mouth, when taped, if I need to. I have a very full mustache and beard, almost Santa Clause like (little kids have mistakenly identified me as Santa). Try placing the tape on the lips, it doesn’t have to go over the mouth, I tape so you can see the shape of my lips.

Thanks for the info. Even if I don't normal use my mouth it would be nice to have a full mask for when I have trouble with my nose. Got up this morning and could only breath thru one side of my nose. Still didn't open my mouth. I laid there about half asleep for about an hour before I got up

After my last visit and my wife telling him I still snore and stop breathing every night.

No intent to be snarky, just honestly asking:

-- Does anyone snore through their nose? If you're snoring, you are struggling to pull air, usually through your mouth. That would indicate to me that your nasal mask might not be working as good as you suspect.

-- If you still stop breathing every night, enough so your wife notices (does she stay awake to monitor you? or is the cessation enough to reach through her sleep and wake her up?), I'd suggest that our current therapy is not mitigating your issues. Perhaps it used to - but perhaps it's time to evaluate a new strategy.

I usually breathe through my nose. But I also snored like a wounded grizzly. And I suffered from frequent sinus blockage (probably allergies). I selected a ResMed AirFit F10 as my full-face mask, even though the doctor thought I'd be fine with nasal pillows. (I wanted the F20 for the more comfortable seal, but it was a bit too wide across the bridge of my nose, allowing the seal and air into my eye sockets.) I no longer snore, I don't take Benadryl or other sinus meds every night, and my AHI is less than 1/10th of my initial findings.

There are much worse things I the world.
Like stopping breathing in your sleep and not starting again.

Ed

EdNerd wrote:Does anyone snore through their nose?

Yes. I just did it. Made some pretty awful snores with my mouth totally shut. Enough to fool the machine for sure. Not only did I hear them I felt them. It was extremely easy to do.

And yes, he knows his current therapy is not optimal but until he gets a full data machine we are just guessing as to what might be going on.
It might be leaks, it might be mouth breathing, it might be sub optimal pressure, it might be central apneas, it might be any number of things but without any data at all we are just making WAGs (wild ass guesses).

He's working on getting a full data machine though so once that hurdle is overcome then he can start ruling out potential culprits.
There is no sense on jumping on the full face band wagon until a need is proven. We don't know that the mouth is opening at all or if it is opening...is it doing it enough to really impact the therapy all that much.

He's working on getting a full data machine

Oh - right. Yes, it will be much easier to tell things once the data is there. I overlooked this and simply responded as if the OP just didn't want to bother with a FFM. My bad!!

Ed

EdNerd wrote:-- Does anyone snore through their nose? If you're snoring, you are struggling to pull air, usually through your mouth.

yes. many people snore with a closed mouth.

It's good to hear everything people have to say because it gives me things to think about. I know it's very hard to tell much until I get the new machine.
My wife does not stay up watching me sleep but does take notice pretty easy. We both have back issues and don't sleep all that well in the first place for sure. But I'm sure if I start making any noise during the night she notices.
I do think there are time the nasal pillows are leaking just because I do move from my side to my back and many times a night. A few time I notice the back strap has slid up but for the most part stays were it should. But with all this I think it works well but data will tell once I get the new machine.
Everything I'm hearing is helping me to get ready to try things when I get the other machine and to help me decide what to do for now. If I get the machine with the DME that I think ordered one today then their mask policy is you have 30 days to swap them out so I know if I try something I will not be locked as long as I decide to change before the 30 days. That is why it is good to get ideas from everybody so maybe I can make less mistakes this time around in getting things going