A workable alternative to mouth taping!

I'm still waiting for the pictures of this setup

jskinner wrote:I'm still waiting for the pictures of this setup

Thanks for the reminder! I posted them in the original post at the top of the thread, on page one, since they are easier to find that way. However, I'm going to post another Encore Pro printout here. I tried the mouth wrap by itself, and the first night (new sticky wrap) it worked fine without the Topaz chinstrap. I was pretty excited. Over a few days, it does lose its stickyness and so I was getting a lot of mouth leaks after a few days. It woke me up after about 5 1/2 hrs, so I got up and put on the Topaz. As you can see, the Topaz/wrap stopped the leaks, even with the wrap being not so sticky any more.



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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): Encore Pro

Hi Rosemary,
Thanks for your tip! What's funny is, I had just 20 minutes ago discovered that I could "tape" my mouth closed with this tape I have that sounds very similar to your tape. Its sticks to itself. I realized that this could work very well for me. Then I came on here and did I search of "chin straps" which brought me here.........and I realized that you had discovered the same thing a month ago!
I'm definitely going to try it tonight, but I'm a little worried that it will come apart in the back of my head while I'm moving around at night. I have a simple chinstrap that I will also try, but it just has one strap over the top of the head, and I really think I need one that comes around the back of the head too.
I think the kind of chin strap that you have would work good, and would also help to keep the tape in place. Thanks for your great tip! And thanks for the pic of it. A picture is really worth 1,000 words!

Country4ever wrote:Hi Rosemary,
I'm definitely going to try it tonight, but I'm a little worried that it will come apart in the back of my head while I'm moving around at night.

I just tie it in the back. At first I tried just sticking it to itself, but it didn't hold. So I tied it and it worked well.

I thought I'd do an update. What I've discovered is that any TWO methods of keeping my mouth closed work much better than any one singly. The reason is that I have puffy cheeks that cause lots of leaks. Here's what I've tried:

The J&J wrap plus any one of the following:

Topaz chinstrap
Traditional mouth taping
Polygrip strips
Polygrip paste

These all work extremely well (consistent straight leak lines) and have different advantages and disadvantages:

Topaz chinstrap & Wrap
Advantages-you can breath through your mouth, cough, etc. without having to retape, reseal. Disadvantages-the chinstrap leaves marks that don't go away for many hours and I don't want to go to work that way. Also, the chinstrap is hot in the summer.

Mouth taping and Wrap
Advantages-not so much marking, if any. Easy to apply once you've got the hang of it. The tape doesn't break loose with the Wrap over it. Disadvantages-your mouth is sealed for the night. If you unseal it for any reason, you have to retape.

Poligrip Strips and Wrap
Advantages-Don't have to mouth tape and you can open your mouth and it may reseal (variable results for me) if you rewet the poligrip lightly. Doesn't irritate the skin like tape. Disadvantages-I had to cut the strips and this is a finicky, delicate job. Also I never seem to get them placed quite right. My impression (though I haven't done the numbers) is that this is more costly than any other method. Goopy in the a.m.

Poligrip Paste and Wrap
The same advantages as the strips, with the added one that you don't have to cut apart those strips every night. You do have to master the technique of getting just the right amouth of Poligrip placed properly. This seems a little easier than the strips. This is what I plan to use when I travel and may be around people. Disadvanteges - goopy in the a.m.

This has shown me that there's always room to try something new, and that multiple methods may work, depending on circumstances. For instance, I will wear the chipstrap with the wrap anytime I get a cough/cold. I will likely wear it on weekends when I don't need to care about the marks. I won't wear it in the summer normally as it's too hot. In the winter it is another way to stay warm. OTOH, on weekdays I will likely use the mouth taping and wrap, unless I'm getting irritated from the adhesive, then I'll switch to polygrip. In the summer I'm thinking poligrip is best, because if you perspire, the tape is more likely to break loose. It's good to have flexibility. Chin-up strips are next experiment. I'll report back.

I hope that this is helpful.

Hi Rosemary,
What are chin-up strips?
I found that if I wear lip balm under the paper tape, I'm okay. But my big probably lately has been that I have needed to sneeze or cough after its all in place. What a bummer that is!
I've been using the self-adhesive wrap, which isn't tight but seems to work for me. Maybe there is a more durable kind, but I think I have to use a new section of it every night. I'd love to tie things over my head, but my hair is always getting caught in it.
Sounds like you've develop a pretty good system. It definitely is one of those things that has to be custom-made. Thanks for all your great suggestions.

Country4ever wrote:Hi Rosemary,
What are chin-up strips?
I found that if I wear lip balm under the paper tape, I'm okay. But my big probably lately has been that I have needed to sneeze or cough after its all in place. What a bummer that is!
I've been using the self-adhesive wrap, which isn't tight but seems to work for me. Maybe there is a more durable kind, but I think I have to use a new section of it every night. I'd love to tie things over my head, but my hair is always getting caught in it.
Sounds like you've develop a pretty good system. It definitely is one of those things that has to be custom-made. Thanks for all your great suggestions.

You are very welcome.

I don't use a new section of tape every night (too expensive). I can get at least 5 days out of it, but I do start to show some leaks around that time. At first it isn't tight, but then I do make it tighter as it stretches out.

I do sometimes wear a tiny bit of lip balm when I mouth tape, too. My lips stay much moister than they did pre-cpap . Maybe we can get chin straps and things like that that smooth away wrinkles, make our skin softer, etc. Now that I'm better rested, I have more energy to pay attention to how I look, .

The chin-up strips were described on a couple of recent threads. Here's the link to the discussion
viewtopic/t27036/ChinUp-review.html

Here's another link with chin-up reviews:

viewtopic/t27243/My-first-night-with-ChinUp-strips.html

My RemStar heated humidifier shuts off after a short period like 20 minutes and does not come back on.
Do you know what I can do about this? Is this normal? It makes the air very, very cold and wakes me up.