Mouth leaks

bod wrote:Greetings to you. First message here.

I am primarily a nose breather and I use a nostril mask (brevida). I believe that there is no leak with this mask. Nevertheless there are major leaks shown on Sleepyhead, some times associated with dry mouth.

My understanding is that my tongue gets relaxed during the night and opens an airway to my mouth. Therefore the air leaks.

I am now very tired. I tried a warm hose (Resmed) and a lot of humidity (highest temperature and humidity index 5, above I face water in hose/mask issues). This helps, I have much less dry mouth issues. Nevertheless I still get a lot of mouth leaks. This makes a lot of noise and is a nuisance for my spouse.

I believe that no close mouth device will help as the issue is not with my mouth opening but my tongue making an airway possible. In fact, my mouth remains closed and my cheeks suddenly get all puffed during the night.

I tried an full face mask, but I get a lot of air leaks in my eyes. Never dared to go to sleep with this mask.

What can I do to prevent the mouth leaks ?

I tried to lower the air pressure. This reduces the air leaks but I loose efficiency on AHI.

Thanks

bod,
ResMed 10, Brevida, hot hose

Mikebear wrote:

bod wrote:Greetings to you. First message here.

I am primarily a nose breather and I use a nostril mask (brevida). I believe that there is no leak with this mask. Nevertheless there are major leaks shown on Sleepyhead, some times associated with dry mouth.

My understanding is that my tongue gets relaxed during the night and opens an airway to my mouth. Therefore the air leaks.

I am now very tired. I tried a warm hose (Resmed) and a lot of humidity (highest temperature and humidity index 5, above I face water in hose/mask issues). This helps, I have much less dry mouth issues. Nevertheless I still get a lot of mouth leaks. This makes a lot of noise and is a nuisance for my spouse.

I believe that no close mouth device will help as the issue is not with my mouth opening but my tongue making an airway possible. In fact, my mouth remains closed and my cheeks suddenly get all puffed during the night.

I tried an full face mask, but I get a lot of air leaks in my eyes. Never dared to go to sleep with this mask.

What can I do to prevent the mouth leaks ?

I tried to lower the air pressure. This reduces the air leaks but I loose efficiency on AHI.

Thanks

bod,
ResMed 10, Brevida, hot hose

Maybe try one of these to hold your tongue in place? https://www.amazon.com/Pacifier-Tongue- ... e+retainer

TedVPAP wrote:

Mikebear wrote:

bod wrote:Greetings to you. First message here.

I am primarily a nose breather and I use a nostril mask (brevida). I believe that there is no leak with this mask. Nevertheless there are major leaks shown on Sleepyhead, some times associated with dry mouth.

My understanding is that my tongue gets relaxed during the night and opens an airway to my mouth. Therefore the air leaks.

I am now very tired. I tried a warm hose (Resmed) and a lot of humidity (highest temperature and humidity index 5, above I face water in hose/mask issues). This helps, I have much less dry mouth issues. Nevertheless I still get a lot of mouth leaks. This makes a lot of noise and is a nuisance for my spouse.

I believe that no close mouth device will help as the issue is not with my mouth opening but my tongue making an airway possible. In fact, my mouth remains closed and my cheeks suddenly get all puffed during the night.

I tried an full face mask, but I get a lot of air leaks in my eyes. Never dared to go to sleep with this mask.

What can I do to prevent the mouth leaks ?

I tried to lower the air pressure. This reduces the air leaks but I loose efficiency on AHI.

Thanks

bod,
ResMed 10, Brevida, hot hose

Maybe try one of these to hold your tongue in place? https://www.amazon.com/Pacifier-Tongue- ... e+retainer

Have you tried this?

bod wrote:Thank you all for your answers.

I taped my mouth and had wake ups due to my cheeks puffing up. I got rid of this issue by puncturing the tape with a toothpick to make a small hole between my lips.
During the night if pressured air comes into my mouth, it does escape slowly through the little hole.

Two advantages :
-pressure reduces to atmospheric pressure avoiding
-because of the tape small air leak, when my cheeks are puffed up, I breath in with my nose (can't breath in with my mouth due to tape) then my mouth closes again.

You can try for yourself (when awake), it is really more comfortable.

Bod

DeeCPAP wrote:I tried tape for the first time in a long time. Got tired of seeing all the leaks showing up sporatically. I always wore a chinstrap.

Results: I slept for almost 5 hours and when I woke up I found I'd pulled the gear off my head. My AHI went up to 6.7 according to my ResMed machine -- happy face tho. When I looked at the SleepyHead data DAILY results, there were no graphs, only the left side of the screen had data ALSO the data didn't correspond to the data the machine gave me. So, the data card is either too old, or there's too much data on it. So, something's wrong there, too.

So, things aren't working out for me even though I tried a lot, gave up, tried again, gave up. It just isn't working for me. My doc is a lung specialist. He knows about the leaks and accepts the low AHI with the high leak rate and accepts it. I'm changing docs. He's another lung specialist. MAYBE a new doc will help.

nicholasjh1 wrote:

DeeCPAP wrote:I tried tape for the first time in a long time. Got tired of seeing all the leaks showing up sporatically. I always wore a chinstrap.

Results: I slept for almost 5 hours and when I woke up I found I'd pulled the gear off my head. My AHI went up to 6.7 according to my ResMed machine -- happy face tho. When I looked at the SleepyHead data DAILY results, there were no graphs, only the left side of the screen had data ALSO the data didn't correspond to the data the machine gave me. So, the data card is either too old, or there's too much data on it. So, something's wrong there, too.

So, things aren't working out for me even though I tried a lot, gave up, tried again, gave up. It just isn't working for me. My doc is a lung specialist. He knows about the leaks and accepts the low AHI with the high leak rate and accepts it. I'm changing docs. He's another lung specialist. MAYBE a new doc will help.

low leak rate with a high AHI may actually be a sign of a certain amount of success. sometimes going into a deeper sleep raises AHI. It could mean that a different starting pressure is needed.