Did You Train Yourself Not to Mouth Breathe? How?

I have an appointment with a sleep medicine doctor this week and anticipate that he will order a sleep study. I mouth breathe at times on my back. I want to avoid a FFM if at all possible. I've been paper taping my mouth at night and get up much less dry in the morning. But I can't use tape during a sleep study. If you trained yourself not to mouth breathe, how did you do it? Thanks.

I don't really know how I did it, but I read on the forum the trick to doing it... place your tongue on the roof of your mouth, right by but not touching your upper teeth. I would just practice during the day for a while and then all of sudden I realized I was doing it in bed. I've no idea if my tongue stays there all night but I do always start the night that way now. Even if your mouth opens with your tongue in that position you will not be able to breathe and your nose will do it for you.

Library Lady - but you're still using an FFM?

jaycee2 wrote:I have an appointment with a sleep medicine doctor this week and anticipate that he will order a sleep study. I mouth breathe at times on my back. I want to avoid a FFM if at all possible. I've been paper taping my mouth at night and get up much less dry in the morning. But I can't use tape during a sleep study. If you trained yourself not to mouth breathe, how did you do it? Thanks.

What do you have against full face masks? I've use one ever since I started over nine years ago.

Anyway, like Library Lady said.......train your tongue to stay on the roof of your mouth all night and you should be able to solve your problem. I do that even though I use a FF mask.


Den

.

englandsf wrote:Library Lady - but you're still using an FFM?

Yup! I'm comfortable with it for now, and since I have some issues with breathing through my nose I will probably stay with a FFM.

I've tried to train myself not to mouth breathe. I still have to use a chin strap. The tongue trick helps even with the chin strap.

I've been trying to train myself for several weeks now. I seem to be having success, but it's difficult to be sure. I only know I've failed when I wake up with my mask having slipped upwards, the bottom part in my mouth. I'm pretty sure I've succeeded when I wake up with my mouth closed and no dry mouth whatsoever (and a bit of a crusting around my lips). I'm still using a FFM, but I think nose breathing helps prevent leaks with this type of mask. I have no data to help me verify that, but I'm no longer getting the "air in the eyes" effect that used to plague me.

Hopefully once I get better equipment, with data capability, I can verify my success by trying out a nasal mask and seeing what the data shows. My initial sleep study said "Nasal CPAP is recommended as the first line of treatment for this degree of OSA", but no one, technicians or sleep doctors, has ever mentioned this to me. I was simply asked at my sleep study whether I breathed through my mouth or nose while sleeping and I answered, "both, I guess", never having given a second's thought to that question before. I never knew that nose breathing was preferable till I started posting here. Then I started checking out my studies and found that it had been recommended. You'd think someone might have mentioned it to me, right?

I didn't have to train myself, since when I sleep on my side I don't seem to open my mouth while I'm sleeping, but still use the tongue on the roof of the mouth thing. When I do open my mouth with the mask on (to lick my lips, or whatever), I don't like the noisy rush of air that I get if I'm not paying attention. So I've focused on that one, and also on not clenching my teeth, since I was getting tooth sensitivity. Both missions seem to be accomplished. No more tooth sensitivity, and I can open my mouth while using cpap without air whooshing out of my mouth.

To teach my body those habits, I just consciously focused on doing them a few times a day, and checked in every once in a while to make sure that I was still doing them. I still check in on them from habit, but seldom need to correct the position of my teeth or tongue now. While there's certainly no guarantee that we'll continue doing what we do during the day while sleeping, if you can make it a habit, that really seems to be the best that one can do.

I don't have anything against a FFM but I don't like waking up with a dry mouth. It seems that when I mouth breathe I need to drink more water during the night too.

Archangle, what chin strap do you use?

I really appreciate all the hints, folks. I have trouble sleeping on my side (vertigo on one side and cervical dystonia on the other) so I mainly backsleep. And that means apnea in this case.

Another tip which might help is to chew sugarless gum before sleeping. I've found that peppermint gum helps open up my sinuses as well as helping to prevent dry mouth. Nasal saline spray is also a good idea, imo.

I mouth breathed alot probably most or all of my life due to nasal congestion and probably snoring and apnea too more recently. I can't really tell you why that has not been a problem for me after two+ months of using a nasal mask but I think it's due to the CPAP helping to open my nasal passages and the fact I am a side sleeper. Maybe the filtered air is cleaner too. Seems like if I wind up on my back the mask may come off and/or I wake up for some reason. But as long as I'm on my side it's not been a problem from day one.

jaycee2 wrote:I don't have anything against a FFM but I don't like waking up with a dry mouth. It seems that when I mouth breathe I need to drink more water during the night too.

Archangle, what chin strap do you use?

I really appreciate all the hints, folks. I have trouble sleeping on my side (vertigo on one side and cervical dystonia on the other) so I mainly backsleep. And that means apnea in this case.

The solution to dry mouth that I used was to get a large double-walled mug (don't have to worry about where I put it) with a lid and straw and fill it half full of water. If I wake up with a dry mouth during the night I pull the connector off my mask and take a few small sips. In the morning I can take all the swigs of water that I need. For me, this works very well because my mouth just happens to be right in line with the connector, but if your mouth doesn't line up that way, switch out the straw for a regular flexible straw and it's still do-able. I tried it with a mask that is too small for me and the connector didn't line up right.

The important thing about this tip is that you don't want to be taking in a lot of water when you wake in the night because that's apt to cause the need for more bathroom trips.

Another important thing is that, in my case, at least, I'm not needing my night time water jug much any more; I suppose I've gotten used to the dry mouth and don't notice it. It's also possible that I'm not opening my mouth at night now... I don't really know why but those are my guesses.

jaycee2 wrote:I have an appointment with a sleep medicine doctor this week and anticipate that he will order a sleep study. I mouth breathe at times on my back. I want to avoid a FFM if at all possible. I've been paper taping my mouth at night and get up much less dry in the morning. But I can't use tape during a sleep study. If you trained yourself not to mouth breathe, how did you do it? Thanks.

First thing is to make sure your sinuses are clear. Use a nasal rinse if needed. Definitely use a saline spray before bed.

I started with one of those sports mouth guards. Boy does that give you an idea what it would be like to use an oral appliance. Be conscious of how you breath while awake (all day). If you breath thru your mouth all day it will be hard to change that when sleeping. So work on the daytime breathing also.

Tape is helpful but you can still breath thru the mouth with a chin strap on. You can make your own chin strap with an ace bandage or similar, get creative and save yourself some cash.

A cervical collar can be useful to keep you neck straight (no kinking) and it can keep your chin from dropping (mouth falling open).

I just realized I've been doing this, probably throughout my short time using cpap, just never realized it. I use nasal pillows and can even find myself waking with my mouth open just slightly but no air rushing because of my tongue being against the roof of my mouth.

I use a ResMed chin strap just tight enough that I can still open my mouth, but it is a little uncomfortable to do so.