breathe through nose but sometimes mouth fills with air

[Off2Sleep]

I am new to this, just four nights in, and my newest issue occurred last night. I have a full face mask and I breathe through my nose. Last night, after about 3-4 hours sleep, my mouth filled with air and puffed out. I exhaled the air, no problem, but it kept happening every few minutes, even though I was breathing through my nose. Any input on this weird development?

[Bookit]

I believe that is actually fairly common. It started happening to me after a few weeks on cpap. I wear a scunci to keep my cheeks tucked in. Zonker has some great pictures he can share with you of his scunci setup.
Zonker... Where are you? This is your favorite question, isn't it?

[kteague]

I dealt with this for a long time till I read on here someone telling about creating a seal by training their tongue to stay suctioned to the roof of their mouth. Worked on it diligently day and night till it became second nature. Also, be mindful of your sleep position and make gravity work for you rather than against you. As a side sleeper, for me that means a flat firm pillow. That assures there is little opportunity for jaw drop. Also, sleeping on the edge of the pillow where it slightly compresses makes your face tilt slightly downward, discouraging the tongue from relaxing backward into the throat and helping the tongue fall naturally into place to keep its seal. Hope that helps. Oh, don't get over zealous about the suction. Bruised up my soft palate and had to lighten up.

[zonker]

I am new to this, just four nights in, and my newest issue occurred last night. I have a full face mask and I breathe through my nose. Last night, after about 3-4 hours sleep, my mouth filled with air and puffed out. I exhaled the air, no problem, but it kept happening every few minutes, even though I was breathing through my nose. Any input on this weird development?

you could try this-

viewtopic/p1089718/viewtopic.php?f=1&t= ... s#p1086296

works a treat for me, it may work for you. i also see kteague has mentioned the tongue against the roof of the mouth method. when i first came to this forum, seems this was mentioned a lot. not so much any more. i'm sure this works for a lot of people. for me, it didn't. i think because of the very high arch of the roof of my mouth.

oh and btw? could you do us a favor and keep your posts in one thread for a bit? this will help people keep better track of you and your journey. this is by no means a hard and fast rule. but it would make things easier. thanks!

[zonker]

I believe that is actually fairly common. It started happening to me after a few weeks on cpap. I wear a scunci to keep my cheeks tucked in. Zonker has some great pictures he can share with you of his scunci setup.
Zonker... Where are you? This is your favorite question, isn't it?

good lord, woman! i'm not up at 7 o'clock in the morning!!

again, this will give me the chance to credit jay aitchsee for the method. unfortunately, i can't blame him for what i look like in his creation!

i'll spare off2sleep the gruesome visuals for the time being.

[ChicagoGranny]

creating a seal by training their tongue to stay suctioned to the roof of their mouth.

Yep. That's the first line of attack to address the subject problem.

You could also tighten the lower straps on your FFM to help prevent "chipmunk cheeks". But, don't overtighten!

[Chris8243]

I believe that is actually fairly common. It started happening to me after a few weeks on cpap. I wear a scunci to keep my cheeks tucked in. Zonker has some great pictures he can share with you of his scunci setup.
Zonker... Where are you? This is your favorite question, isn't it?

good lord, woman! i'm not up at 7 o'clock in the morning!!

again, this will give me the chance to credit jay aitchsee for the method. unfortunately, i can't blame him for what i look like in his creation!

i'll spare off2sleep the gruesome visuals for the time being.

Zonker, I was shocked at that picture but I wouldn't mind seeing it again.

[RogerSC]

I dealt with this for a long time till I read on here someone telling about creating a seal by training their tongue to stay suctioned to the roof of their mouth. Worked on it diligently day and night till it became second nature. Also, be mindful of your sleep position and make gravity work for you rather than against you. As a side sleeper, for me that means a flat firm pillow. That assures there is little opportunity for jaw drop. Also, sleeping on the edge of the pillow where it slightly compresses makes your face tilt slightly downward, discouraging the tongue from relaxing backward into the throat and helping the tongue fall naturally into place to keep its seal. Hope that helps. Oh, don't get over zealous about the suction. Bruised up the my soft palate and had to lighten up. :lol:

Yep, this has worked for me for several years now. Haven't needed taping, etc. Haven't had the palate bruising problem, but the above has worked great for creating a seal.

[zonker]

Zonker, I was shocked at that picture but I wouldn't mind seeing it again.

you're a glutton for punishment!

[chunkyfrog]

When starting out, I too had chipmunk cheeks.
It went away with continued cpap use.

[Thumper68]

I dealt with this for a long time till I read on here someone telling about creating a seal by training their tongue to stay suctioned to the roof of their mouth. Worked on it diligently day and night till it became second nature. Also, be mindful of your sleep position and make gravity work for you rather than against you. As a side sleeper, for me that means a flat firm pillow. That assures there is little opportunity for jaw drop. Also, sleeping on the edge of the pillow where it slightly compresses makes your face tilt slightly downward, discouraging the tongue from relaxing backward into the throat and helping the tongue fall naturally into place to keep its seal. Hope that helps. Oh, don't get over zealous about the suction. Bruised up the my soft palate and had to lighten up.

Yep, this has worked for me for several years now. Haven't needed taping, etc. Haven't had the palate bruising problem, but the above has worked great for creating a seal.

This works very well for me also. It wasn't too hard to train myself to do this.

[Off2Sleep]

These responses are very helpful! I was relieved to learn that this is a "thing" -- and that it can be easily remedied. I am feeling a tad more comfortable with this whole CPAP crap now. So thank you for that.

Zonkers- regarding your comment: "could you do us a favor and keep your posts in one thread for a bit? this will help people keep better track of you and your journey."
I thought when you change subjects, you start a new thread. Otherwise, how do other people who might have advice know there's a new subject under the old posting?

[zonker]

These responses are very helpful! I was relieved to learn that this is a "thing" -- and that it can be easily remedied. I am feeling a tad more comfortable with this whole CPAP crap now. So thank you for that.

Zonkers- regarding your comment: "could you do us a favor and keep your posts in one thread for a bit? this will help people keep better track of you and your journey."
I thought when you change subjects, you start a new thread. Otherwise, how do other people who might have advice know there's a new subject under the old posting?

you change your topic on the one thread. obviously, you won't be doing that for the rest of your life. just the first month, say. after that, once you are known, then you can spread out all over like the rest of us apes.

mind you, it's merely a suggestion, not a rule.

[Off2Sleep]

Ah. Gotcha. That makes sense.

[zonker]

Ah. Gotcha. That makes sense.

<whew!> thank goodness, because i rarely make sense!!