How do I determine if my cpap leak is my mask or my mouth op

I've been having on and off issues with mask leak. Some of the time my mouth was extremely dry so I will assume it was due to my mouth opening but sometimes my mouth is fine. Ive been trying to use the mask fit function every night and it helped for awhile and today I woke up with my mask off and a major mouth leak. I used it while awake to bring my time up to 4 hours and in that time my smiley face went from red to green

First get the real software, Sleepyhead, not smiley face software.

Use a FF mask or Tape your mouth.that will keep the pie hold closed, leaving the leak to be mask vent (normal) plus extra leak. Jim

It's good to use it while awake to help getting use to wearing the mask, but it's even more important to wear it all the time you sleep. Taking it off and leaving it off, tell your brain it's ok to do that, counter training your brain.

Hi Jersey, first of all what kind of mask? Full face, nose pillows etc. I use a FFM and at times my mouth gets dry, not often. If u use a nose mask and your mouth is open, u can expect a dry mouth. a FF mask for me is better because I know my mouth flies open(according to the wife).
Please enter your mask and cpap machine, others can tell you more if that info is here...good luck with your new best friend...

Please add your equipment to your profile so we know what kind of mask you are even using.
wiki/index.php/Registering_Equipment_in_User_Profile

If using a nasal mask of some sort and you are seeing large leaks and want to know for sure if the leaks are mouth breathing or mask movement then you will need to sleep with your lips sealed 100% for sure all night to see if the leaks stop or they don't stop.

I had to do this last summer when experimenting with the new Respironics DreamWear gel pillow mask. I was getting more leaks (and bigger) than I was used to seeing and I didn't know if they were mouth breathing or mask movement leaks.
I know that sometimes I mouth breathe but not usually a lot and not usually in the magnitude I was seeing with this mask.
And I normally use an XSmall and this mask doesn't offer XSmall so I was using the Small and I kinda thought I might do better with XSmall.

So I taped my mouth for one night and made sure it stuck all night and then looked at the leak graphs and they really didn't improve.
So definitely mask movement since mouth breathing possibility was eliminated by the taping of the mouth.

There really isn't a definitive or easy way to for sure look at the leak and flow rate to know for sure if it is mouth leak.

I have a eson nose mask and the resmed airset 10

Jerseyguy wrote:I've been having on and off issues with mask leak. Some of the time my mouth was extremely dry so I will assume it was due to my mouth opening but sometimes my mouth is fine. Ive been trying to use the mask fit function every night and it helped for awhile and today I woke up with my mask off and a major mouth leak. I used it while awake to bring my time up to 4 hours and in that time my smiley face went from red to green

Dry mouth is a pretty good clue. You can even have dry mouth using a full face mask.
Too much heated humidity can cause nasal congestion. So, if you're using lots of humidity, try turning down (or off) your HH settings.
You need to be able to breathe through your nose if you're using a nasal mask, so doing nasal cleansing before bedtime is a must if you experience nasal congestion.
As mentioned, mouth taping might help to narrow the possibility.


Den

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Ironicly my DME told me turn it up. If I can force myself to thoroughly wash it I can use my cpap mask from my last try at CPAP a year ago an Amara view full face

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The turning down the humidity as a way to reduce mouth breathing (assuming you are mouth breathing) is on the premise that the humidity is causing nasal congestion and the nasal congestion is causing the mouth breathing.
Some people find that too much humidity causes nasal congestion....some people find that not enough humidity causes congestion and each person is different and pretty much has to figure out what their nose likes.

Den/Wulfman does better with a very minimal humidity being added and I am the total opposite and need as much moisture as the machine will crank out.
So try both if you wish.

Pugsy wrote:The turning down the humidity as a way to reduce mouth breathing (assuming you are mouth breathing) is on the premise that the humidity is causing nasal congestion and the nasal congestion is causing the mouth breathing.
Some people find that too much humidity causes nasal congestion....some people find that not enough humidity causes congestion and each person is different and pretty much has to figure out what their nose likes.

Den/Wulfman does better with a very minimal humidity being added and I am the total opposite and need as much moisture as the machine will crank out.
So try both if you wish.

Ok so I had a bad leak night last night but the mask stayed on. I'm expecting my delivery of my sd card from Amazon today so I can start looking at Tonight's numbers tommorrow via Sleepy head hopefully this will tell me. I noticed last night that one of my nostrils was stuffed up and I tried to use flonase to clear it up. Not sure of the results but hope it worked. Not sure if I should purchase a 10ft hose wondering if that increases rain out possibilities. My 6 ft might be too small I was pulling the unit closer to the edge

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Going to a 10 ft hose will increase the chance of rain out but it's fixable if it should happen.
There are no heated hoses that are 10 foot in length for one thing. Now if you aren't using a heated hose now then it may not make much of a difference in rain out if you aren't having condensation issues now.

But if you are using a heated hose and want additional length and don't want to sacrifice the heated hose feature...how about adding a short hose to get you some extra length and the rain out chances are less likely. Yes, some cooling in the short hose which is not heated but if you have the air warm enough going into the short hose that it doesn't cool down then condensation chances are less.

This hose is a really nice light weight flexible short hose.
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/circad ... -tube.html
It will add 1 1/2 ft length and might be enough.

Or if you do wish to go the full 10 ft...and you get rain out...it's fixable.

I think that forum member metsfan302 may make 10 ft hose covers.
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=109716&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=45

or Snugglehose for 10 ft
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/snuggl ... -foot.html

Pugsy wrote:Going to a 10 ft hose will increase the chance of rain out but it's fixable if it should happen.
There are no heated hoses that are 10 foot in length for one thing. Now if you aren't using a heated hose now then it may not make much of a difference in rain out if you aren't having condensation issues now.

But if you are using a heated hose and want additional length and don't want to sacrifice the heated hose feature...how about adding a short hose to get you some extra length and the rain out chances are less likely. Yes, some cooling in the short hose which is not heated but if you have the air warm enough going into the short hose that it doesn't cool down then condensation chances are less.

This hose is a really nice light weight flexible short hose.
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/circad ... -tube.html
It will add 1 1/2 ft length and might be enough.

Or if you do wish to go the full 10 ft...and you get rain out...it's fixable.

I think that forum member metsfan302 may make 10 ft hose covers.
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=109716&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=45

or Snugglehose for 10 ft
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/snuggl ... -foot.html

Wow I just looked at my sleep report in clinical mode and it was reported at 54L/min. That has to be mouth breathing right its too much to be mask issues? I need to clean my Amara view mask asap. I dont like the idea of wearing one because it makes me nervous as if my cpap stops very little air gets thru the mask

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Jerseyguy wrote:reported at 54L/min. That has to be mouth breathing right its too much to be mask issues?

Not necessarily. I had some major mask movement leaks with my recent trial of the DreamWear nasal pillows last summer and I taped my mouth to rule out mouth breathing leaks and I still had some really high leak numbers which meant with the mouth taped the leaks had to be mask movement.