Is it possible?

[babydinosnoreless]

Is it possible to sleep with your mouth open but not have air escape thru your mouth?

Yes.

Some people, maybe all people with practice, (I'm not sure) can put on a nasal mask, open their mouth, stick out their tongue, and not have any air escape, breathing through their nose. or they can 'flip the switch' in the back of their throat, and breathe through their mouth, cutting off their nasal cavity, blocking the flow of air from the cpap. ... or let the air rush in their nose and out of their mouth.

Nope not all. I open my mouth and air leaks out like crazy. I can't talk without sounding like daffy duck.

[Barbee]

So this afternoon I got the Dreamwear mask out of the pkg and fitted it to my face. Turned it on and no leaks. Tried to open my mouth and breathe. Yep I can. Can talk a little before it started squeaking and farting (I need practice). Tried sticking my tongue out and no way. I will report back tomorrow

[Pugsy]

Took me maybe 6 months of cpap therapy to learn the trick.
It wasn't something I did from the very start.

[zoocrewphoto]

There is a reflex valve thing that keeps air out of the mouth. I can't explain how I do it but I am not the only one.
Maybe that valve is why when we blow up a balloon we don't have air go out our nose at the same time.

Probably. I do the opposite. I can use an oral only mask with no airflow out the nose. No need for nasal plugs.

Also, when I am at the dentist, they will ask me to breathe through my nose even though my mouth is open. For me, that is especially hard since I am a mouth breather, even during the day some of the time. So, I have a hard time switching to my nose. They have to cover my mouth to get me to switch. But they don't want me breathing through my mouth when they are working. Once I do it (and I would assume most other patients during dental work), I am breathing through my nose while my mouth is open.

Obviously, this is harder for most people when the cpap is on. But many people here can do it.

[gzimmer]

I most definitely can open my mouth without CPAP air flowing from my nose and out my mouth.
The trick is to hold your tongue against the top of your mouth.

The purpose of CPAP is to hold your tongue forward so it can't block your throat.
That pressure can hold your tongue forward even when you're asleep.

So with a Nasal mask it's necessary to initially place your tongue against the top of your mouth.
After that the air pressure holds it there.


.....Zim

[Pugsy]

I most definitely can open my mouth without CPAP air flowing from my nose and out my mouth.
The trick is to hold your tongue against the top of your mouth.

The purpose of CPAP is to hold your tongue forward so it can't block your throat.
That pressure can hold your tongue forward even when you're asleep.

So with a Nasal mask it's necessary to initially place your tongue against the top of your mouth.
After that the air pressure holds it there.


.....Zim

Perhaps you missed my intent with my post.
I can stick my tongue out and blow raspberries at you and no air enters my mouth....obviously the tongue isn't stuck to the roof of my mouth.
I can talk normally with my mask and machine on....can't do that with tongue planted to the roof of the mouth.

Your ideas are a bit flawed.

[palerider]

I most definitely can open my mouth without CPAP air flowing from my nose and out my mouth.
The trick is to hold your tongue against the top of your mouth.

Not really, since I can stick my tongue out without losing air... or talk, though it does sound like I'm pinching my nose.

The purpose of CPAP is to hold your tongue forward so it can't block your throat.

No.. it's not that simple, might be part of the tongue, might be something else blocking the airway.
The purpose of CPAP is to *hold the airway open*.

So with a Nasal mask it's necessary to initially place your tongue against the top of your mouth.
After that the air pressure holds it there.

Uh, not really.

[Dog Slobber]

Put me in the camp of

Sorry Pugsy! In this respect, you aren't entirely unique

I am glad that am not unique in this respect which is why I always say that I am not alone in my ability in this regard.
No one would believe me if I was the only one claiming to do it....heck, it's hard enough now to get people to believe me.

I just wish I could put it into words....or you could put it into words or someone could put it into words...what we do to do what we do.

Add me to the list of those who can segregate their mouth pathway from their nasal pathway without leaking.

Not mouth breathing has never been a problem since starting CPAP, just comes natural. I just put my mask on and breathed solely through my nose. If I were try to describe the movement, I guess the best description would be clenching throat muscles, but less effort.

Hmmmmmmm, Kegels for the throat.

Last night after reading this thread, I tested some thing.

• Talking
• Opening mouth all the way
• Sticking tongue out as far as I can, up, down, side to side

No problem, no leaks.

kteague has talk numerous times about training her tongue to create a suction seal that helped her stop mouth leaks without leaking. I don't think this is the same "technique" that I and many use as this wouldn't allow the movement of my tongue.

I had puffy cheeks. For a while I put a stretchy head band around my face/head to help. The thing that helped me most over time was training my tongue to stay suctioned against the roof of my mouth providing a seal against the escape of air that puffs out the cheeks. Also helpful was sleeping mindfully, if that makes any sense. Think about gravity, and how to position oneself in ways that work with gravity to help and not hurt yourself. For me, a firm flat pillow helped, one where the chin is not lower than the head helped prevent a slack jaw. Also helped to let my head hang just slightly over the edge of the pillow so that the front of my face fell just a bit lower thus helping the tongue fall forward rather than back into the throat, which also helped with keeping the tongue sealed and prevented the tongue from falling back into the throat causing apneas. Good luck sorting through things and getting to where you can find a comfortable new normal.

[D.H.]

it's possible, especially at the higher pressure settings.

The pressure holding your airway open Is sealing the back of your throat. Not ideal, but I really don't have a great solution.

Since your machine records the mask seal and if the seal is good, then this is probably happening.

[Barbee]

First night observations.
I woke up at 3:45 with my mask all whopper jawed and blowing air in my face. Seems the back strap wiggled up the back of my head and broke the seal. I fixed everything and went back to bed about an hour later.
The hose hooking to the top of my head instead of the front felt weird. Cant say it was bad, just different.
At my middle of night wake up and again this morning, my mouth was a little dry. Just checked real quick on my air and my mask leak was less than 20L/min. Not bad for a first night.
So all said, it wasnt too bad. I think I can persist and make this work. It sure is a lot lighter than my hybrid. Dont know if this will be my forever mask but it sure is nice to have options.

[Zomby Woof]

So trying the Oracle doesn't interest me even one little teeny tiny bit.

I understand Pugs, you're disappointed.

Oral Maskers is a very select club - not everyone gets invited to join.

There are requirements as well; I had to give up leadership of MMAN™ just to qualify for consideration in OM

[Pugsy]

So trying the Oracle doesn't interest me even one little teeny tiny bit.

I understand Pugs, you're disappointed.

Oral Maskers is a very select club - not everyone gets invited to join.

There are requirements as well; I had to give up leadership of MMAN™ just to qualify for consideration in OM

Me thinks that maybe I should direct the aliens, who need someone to target/annoy, to a select few in the OM and MMAN clubs. Should keep the little buggers out of my hair for quite some time with some new fodder.

[Barbee]

Just a quick update.
Things are going well with the new mask. The chin strap I ordered works like a dream. Its made of thin mesh so its soft and cool. I look totally ridiculous when I go to bed with the anti snore pillow, the chin strap, and the mask but its comfortable sleeping and my leak rate last night was less than 3. Cant beat that with a stick.
P.S. I can stick out my tongue now

[chunkyfrog]

Yes, it is possible.

I can talk, yawn, open my mouth and stick my tongue out.....with mask and machine on....all without any air even entering my mouth much less escaping my mouth. Has nothing to do with tongue placement either. It's a reflex action that I can't describe.
So it can be done.

It is hard to describe, but I think it is a combination of the soft palate
and muscles in the passage over it.
I can feel when they are touching, and can open or close it at will.
I really feel sorry for people who let a scalpel-butcher cut on the soft palate.
It is the one thing that lets you talk while eating--that and your cool grandpa.