Pre Apnea Surgery,,Best Hybrid Mask?

[DavidCarolina]

Situation; Having apnea/Septum surgery soon.

Problem is that even with a fullface medium mask, i start out mouth breathing but revert to nose, causing bad AHI and vertigo

Will any of the fullface hybrid masks help such as the Liberty?

Thanks. My system currently is Aircurve vpap 16/12 amd Simplus mask.

[TedVPAP]

Situation; Having apnea/Septum surgery soon.

Problem is that even with a fullface medium mask, i start out mouth breathing but revert to nose, causing bad AHI and vertigo

Will any of the fullface hybrid masks help such as the Liberty?

Thanks. My system currently is Aircurve vpap 16/12 amd Simplus mask.

I am not following your question. With a FFM you can breath using either the nose or the mouth. That is the beauty; use which ever path the body wants. It sounds like you want to avoid breathing through your nose which I don't understand why. If that is the case, use an oral mask.

[DavidCarolina]

My surgery goal is to open up space to nose breathe

Until then, i want to optimize more flow through the nose

Even though i cannot use a nasal only mask because i revert to mouth breathing

Thus, will a hybrid mask help until surgery ?

[TedVPAP]

My surgery goal is to open up space to nose breathe

Until then, i want to optimize more flow through the nose

Even though i cannot use a nasal only mask because i revert to mouth breathing

Thus, will a hybrid mask help until surgery ?

I think you are asking will a hybrid stimulate more nasal breathing than a standard FFM???
My guess is yes but I don't know.

[DavidCarolina]

Yeah, exactly

"Will the hybrid keep me in nose breathing longer"'

[JimW159]

Not exactly - the benefits of the two hybrids I have used (ResMed Liberty and the InnoMed Hybrid) was that they would allow mouth breathing while seeming to concentrate on the nasal interface. However, because there was no penalty for mouth breathing it did little to enforce the nasal pathway. Admittedly, for me, the seal for the two paths seemed to be more forgiving than several FFMs I tried - it, never-the-less, was more difficult than a nasal pillow mask. The path that took me to using nasal pillows was long and winding - from FFM to FFM, seemingly ad infinitum, followed by several nasal prongs, straight nasal, and many versions of pillows. Once past the FFM stage, it became obvious there was no simple solution - taping became the primary means of enforcing the law against mouth breathing while using the nasal pathway. Taping and discipline - taping was easy to do, but problematical if one had sensitive skin or facial hair - discipline was harder and took longer to develop, but much less painful that pulling the tape away when getting out of bed and stays with you longer.
Regarding the surgical solution: I, too, considered it a lot (looking for the cure) not one person supported it as the cure, not even a couple of surgeons who would have done the job. After time, it became so obvious to me that it was not the cure that had someone advised it as a good solution, I would have thought it was probably self serving and virtual quackery. Your situation may be different and the outcome you want may be as well, but, personally, I would think long and hard before doing it. At this point, PAP is second nature in my daily life - just as taking your shoes off before removing your socks.

[TedVPAP]

Not sure what surgery you are referring to but; if the septum is blocked then definitely get it fixed regardless of apnea issues.

[nanwilson]

Hi David,

This is just my outlook on the Hybrid but it may be what you are looking for....
I used the Innomed Hybrid for many years as I was a mouth breather with a usually clogged up nose. About 4 years ago I noticed every time I woke up I was breathing thru my nose... what ta hell.... I found that since the hybrid mouth piece was tight against my mouth and kept my lips closed, it had made me switch to my nose for breathing. Believe me I was the happiest "papper" on the planet, no more full face mask, it looked like I could use a nasal or pillows interface. I tried out several and have settled on the P10 as it has the smallest footprint out there and have been using fit for about 4 years .... with no mouth breathing! During the day I have worked at placing my tongue on the roof of my mouth and breathed thru my nose, not I rarely open my big mouth ..except to talk of course
Why don't you ask here to see if anyone has a spare you could use and try it out... might do the trick, you don't know until you "try"
Cheers and good luck
Nan