My Cheeks wake me up!

[Cryssied]

Hello everyone! I've been using CPAP for 2 months now and I am loving the results that I'm getting from it. I actually don't mind the machine at all. My husband doesn't like it, he jokes around and calls it the intimacy killer LOL. I had nasal pillows with a chinstrap before and found that I cannot sleep with a chinstrap because it is either too loose and doesn't work, or too tight and causes me tension headaches. I spent a month battling that before I gave up and went to the full face mask which I like much better.

Nonetheless, I've found a comfortable mask that does not leak for me the Resmed Airfit F20. The only problem that I have is that sometimes (ok, oftentimes) I forget to take my allergy medicine and my nose closes off. I start to breathe through my mouth and my cheeks bulge out which wakes me up. This doesn't happen all the time, when it does not happen I wake up feeling very comfortable. When it does happen I wake up many times through the night close up my mouth and go back to sleep but I wake up pretty tired.

Does anyone know what the variable is? What am I doing sometimes that is making it comfortable to mouth breathe? What am I doing that is causing my cheeks to puff out like a blowfish? Thanks in advance guys, I'm so glad there's a community here for this kind of (silly) question.

[kteague]

I didn't quit getting puffed up cheeks and puffing to release built up air until I mastered the technique of creating and maintaining a seal between my tongue and the roof of my mouth. Took some practice and time but it did become 2nd nature. At first I was trying too hard and the roof of my mouth would get sore from too much suction, but I was able to relax about and need only light suction to maintain a seal. Good luck.

[Cryssied]

What about when you need to breathe through your mouth? Just pull up the big girl panties and deal with it? LOL