Mouth fills with air (full mask)

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
dantose

Mouth fills with air (full mask)

Post by dantose » Fri Aug 01, 2014 9:31 am

Still waiting on my actual prescription so I can get a machine at home, but when they were doing the sleep study my mouth would fill with air. I breath mostly through my mouth when asleep. Is there any way around this?

Janknitz
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Joined: Sat Mar 20, 2010 1:05 pm
Location: Northern California

Re: Mouth fills with air (full mask)

Post by Janknitz » Fri Aug 01, 2014 1:25 pm

It's hard if you're breathing through your mouth, so do what you can so that you can breathe through your nose. I call this "nasal hygiene":
1. Talk to your doctor about allergy/sinus treatments like a nasal steroid spray or an oral medication like Singlulair or Claritin. AVOID oral nasal decongestants like Afrin or Neosinephrine--they have a rebound effect which will worsen your problems, not make them better.
2. Use a nasal sinus rinse--Neti Pot or Neil Med saline rinses.
3. Use a saline nasal spray as needed.
4. Drink lots of fluid early in the day, as better hydration keeps nasal secretions loose.
5. Play with the humidifier settings to find the sweet spot for you which may be LESS humidity than you think (if you are a mouth breather, your mouth will be dry, which causes you to crank up the humidification, but that may increase your nasal congestion, so you have to experiment with the settings to find the right combination.

And try to learn to breathe through your nose by placing your tongue on the roof of your mouth, on that ridge right behind your top front teeth. Your tongue should always rest there unless you are talking or eating. Practice as often as you think about it, all day, every day. Sleeping with your tongue in this spot will close off the mouth from the airway and stop this problem, BUT it won't work unless you can breathe through your nose.
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englandsf
Posts: 1016
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2014 6:17 pm
Location: Austin TX

Re: Mouth fills with air (full mask)

Post by englandsf » Fri Aug 01, 2014 5:49 pm

What kind of mask were you using when you had this problem?

_________________
Mask: AirFit™ P10 Nasal Pillow CPAP Mask with Headgear
Humidifier: S9™ Series H5i™ Heated Humidifier with Climate Control
Additional Comments: Sleepyhead SW. NeilMed and Alkalol Nasal rinses. Veramyst. AutoPAP 11-20 cms. Started June '14, untreated AHI 31-38, with PAP around 1.