First night with full face mask (Quattro Air)

[chunkyfrog]

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{{{You would never believe how long it took ME to figure that stuff out.}}}

[yaconsult]

If the AirFit P10 was comfortable for you and you had a good seal, may I suggest that instead of going straight for the full face mask that you experiment with taping your lips together? Many of us use this method to eliminate dry mouth as it completely stops mouth breathing. You can get two rolls of the tape at Walmart for $3.50. It's called Nexcare Gentle Paper Tape. Tape across the lips horizontally with a single strip of tape. Doing this eliminated my mouth leaks and desert mouth.

[sleepychar]

Thanks, yaconsult... I didn't give the whole history in this post I realize. I appreciate your suggestion but I tried the tape across my mouth one time and I ended up with severe aerophagia - very, very bad abdominal pains from it. I think since I was not exhaling air from my mouth, I was swallowing the air instead. That is not something I want to try again. I also tried the Scuncii that Jay suggested. I tried that on two different occasions and it wasn't very comfortable for me. I have tried a chin strap and that is better than not doing anything additional with the P10 but still was ending up with severe dry mouth. And then I had a dental cleaning and there was alot of tartar on my teeth which I am sure came from the dry mouth situation because I am very diligent in my dental care and nothing else changed except for the CPAP/dry mouth. The one thing I haven't tried yet is a cervical collar and I am going to try that soon, both with the P10 ( which I would love to be able to return to) and with the Quattro Air which I am trying out now. Last night was my 4th night with the Quattro Air and it is going ok, not perfect. Still some dry mouth but not nearly as much as I was getting with the P10. Still waking up more than I like at night. Last night I woke up 3 times - but no excessive dry mouth at any of those wake-ups so I count that as an improvement. The last two nights there have been mask leaks and I think that might be what woke me up. I could feel air leaking out around the edges of the mask. For some reason that didn't happen the first two nights. I ordered a mask liner because I don't like the feeling of the silicone on my face. That may either increase or decrease the amount of air leakage. I am planning to try out the Amara View mask in another month or so once my insurance will pay for it. I am trying to keep a good and positive attitude although I do get very frustrated at times. My fantasy was that I would be one of those who doesn't have any adjustment problems, just dons the mask, turns on the machine, and sleeps all night through. Sigh...

[palerider]

I think since I was not exhaling air from my mouth, I was swallowing the air instead.

anatomically, that makes no sense.

[sleepychar]

by palerider on Sat Sep 17, 2016 12:23 pm

sleepychar wrote:
I think since I was not exhaling air from my mouth, I was swallowing the air instead.

anatomically, that makes no sense.

Well, may not make sense but that's exactly what it felt like... Air was going into my mouth, which normally I would have exhaled through my mouth... Not sure why you think anatomically it makes not sense - makes sense to me... but perhaps not important... the important point is that when I tried taping my mouth closed, I experienced very severe aerophagia... the only time since I started CPAP. May have been a complete coincidence but it made me not want to try mouth taping again...

[palerider]

by palerider on Sat Sep 17, 2016 12:23 pm

sleepychar wrote:
I think since I was not exhaling air from my mouth, I was swallowing the air instead.

anatomically, that makes no sense.

Well, may not make sense but that's exactly what it felt like... Air was going into my mouth, which normally I would have exhaled through my mouth... Not sure why you think anatomically it makes not sense - makes sense to me...
.

because, if you look at a cross section of the nose, mouth, esophagus and trachea, they all come together, and in fact, the normal 'air path' and 'food path' so to speak, cross over each other, that's why FEEDING TUBES go up your nose and AIR TUBES go in your mouth when you're in the hospital.

so there's no 'logic' that air in your mouth would go down your throat, just because it's in your mouth.

[sleepychar]

This is an update after a little over a week trying out Quattro Air full face mask (after switching from AirFit P10 pillow mask due to dry mouth issues). Things went well with the full face mask for the first couple of nights. Then, for some reason, the mask got very leaky and I couldn't seem to get it adjusted so it wouldn't leak. I switched back to the P10 for a couple of nights at that point. That was enough to demonstrate to me that there really is a significant improvement in the dry mouth situation with the Quattro Air full face mask. I found a video that demonstrated how to fit the Quattro Air mask and, using tips from that video, I have been able to get the mask to fit pretty well with few leaks since then. So it looks like I will be sticking with a full face mask from now on; I'm disappointed though that I couldn't make the P10 work even with chin strap, cervical collar, tape experiment, etc. I ordered a mask liner and used it last night. While I liked the feel of the liner against my face better than the feel of the silicone of the mask, something went wrong because for the first time I got a sore spot at the bridge of my nose. I think it may have been from the pad at the top of the inside opening of the liner that is supposed to pad the bridge of your nose. I will try removing that pad and try the liner again after the current soreness goes away. It was either that pad or the mask somehow slipped on my face during the night. Even with that, I only woke up one time during the night last night which is like a miracle for me to have only one wakeup instead of 3, 4, or 5 wakeups a night. I'm still planning to test drive the Amara View mask as soon as my insurance will pay for a new mask. So really no new issues at this time. I just thought I'd post an update now.

[Pugsy]

Hold on to the P10 and maybe revisit it after 6months or so.
You might find that the mouth issues aren't nearly so problematic later on.

[sleepychar]

Thanks, Pugsy. I'll hand onto the P10. You never know... maybe I'll be lucky and in the future it will turn out I can use it...

[mdemers800]

P10 was my first mask and I immediately liked it, but I had dry mouth also after a few days. I, too, have done taping and sweatbands over the mouth, but they did not solve the dry mouth. I was using an F10 on alternate nights and it helped a lot with the dry mouth, but I cannot stand to have anything on the bridge of my nose.

Last night was my first night on Amara View. I am hopeful based on the first night...virtually eliminated my dry mouth. It is probably the smallest of the full face masks since it sits under the nose instead of over it. This makes for a small mouth opening. For me, the silicone presses as a ring around my mouth and helps to keep my lips pressed together, which is my issue... I don't tend to open my mouth I just exhale through my lips.

Also, the airflow into my nose just feels more "open" with this mask. Not sure how to explain it, but I seem to be breathing better, with the same pressure settings. I am getting some leaking around the nose. The plastic/silicone there is very soft and seems to balloon up and allow some leakage. My leak scores are not large, but I do notice it. I will focus on adjusting tonight, or maybe it is a size issue. I have a size large and I may be borderline between medium and large. On the Amara View the sizes are changed by replacing a cushion piece, not the who mask ($45)

Too me, the Amara View is a promising mask to address my issues, I will report more if I get the nose area mask leakage addressed. I tried a Liberty Mirage hybrid mask at the DME (pillows on nose and mask over mouth). I thought I would like it more than I did, as I Iiked the P10 pillows, but the mask just seems way more bulky and complicated than the Amara View, so I walked out with the latter.

As Pugsy suggested, I am keeping the P10 and hope to return to it at some point if my mouth exhaling recedes.

[nobody]

tan - she is using full face mask and not the pillows her profile shows. She shouldn't need a chinstrap.

A chin strap can still be useful even with a FFM. It can keep the chin from dropping past the mask and creating a leak or keep the mouth from opening and leading to dry mouth. You can also use a stuffed animal or small pillow tucked under the chin.

[nobody]

sleepychar, a couple of things to consider. First, if you're having problems with air swallowing turn the pressure down a point or 2 on your machine. I did that and only rarely have air swallowing now. My AHI did go up a tad, but not noticeable in terms of how I feel and it's never above 2. This might be the easier thing to do rather than fighting with various masks.

Another thing, does your machine have exhale pressure relief? Try turning that on or up might help too.

The other thing is stop worrying about waking up at night. Sleep works in stages and we cycle through those stages several times during the night. At the end of each cycle you come very close to waking and some people will wake up. As long as you've been asleep for about an hour and a half (that's how long a sleep cycle lasts) each time then it's normal and nothing to worry about. Just go back to sleep.

[Jay Aitchsee]

This is an update after a little over a week trying out Quattro Air full face mask (after switching from AirFit P10 pillow mask due to dry mouth issues). Things went well with the full face mask for the first couple of nights. Then, for some reason, the mask got very leaky and I couldn't seem to get it adjusted so it wouldn't leak. I switched back to the P10 for a couple of nights at that point. That was enough to demonstrate to me that there really is a significant improvement in the dry mouth situation with the Quattro Air full face mask. I found a video that demonstrated how to fit the Quattro Air mask and, using tips from that video, I have been able to get the mask to fit pretty well with few leaks since then. So it looks like I will be sticking with a full face mask from now on; I'm disappointed though that I couldn't make the P10 work even with chin strap, cervical collar, tape experiment, etc. I ordered a mask liner and used it last night. While I liked the feel of the liner against my face better than the feel of the silicone of the mask, something went wrong because for the first time I got a sore spot at the bridge of my nose. I think it may have been from the pad at the top of the inside opening of the liner that is supposed to pad the bridge of your nose. I will try removing that pad and try the liner again after the current soreness goes away. It was either that pad or the mask somehow slipped on my face during the night. Even with that, I only woke up one time during the night last night which is like a miracle for me to have only one wakeup instead of 3, 4, or 5 wakeups a night. I'm still planning to test drive the Amara View mask as soon as my insurance will pay for a new mask. So really no new issues at this time. I just thought I'd post an update now.

Yay!!
You've been a real trooper, Char. No doubt you will ultimately be successful and comfortable with your therapy.

[sleepychar]

Thank you, Jay! I so appreciate your encouragement as I proceed along this path. It has meant alot to me. There have been a few times when I felt like chucking this whole process and your words have pulled me back to keep trying. I wanted to be one of those people who put on the mask and on Day 1 everything was wonderful. But with your support and support from others on this forum, I am gradually - though not always in an absolutely straight line - reaching acceptance and willing to try different things until I find something that will work for me.