its been a month

[MartyR]

been on the bipap for a month. i have to say its been a struggle.

i have gotten used to the air prsssure but the mask is still rough some nights. i would say on avareage i am sleeping 2-4 hours a night with the mask.

aside from that my other problem is the dry mouth the air is causing. i tend to be a mouth breather. tough for me to breath through my nose, the air w/ the humidifier is too warm for me, w/o it its too dry...so its tough to just breath w/ the nose.

i am going to hang i there- but i long for the day when i can use this thing 6-7 hours a night and remain comfortable.

[Perchancetodream]

I can sympathize with your feelings about the warm air. I hate that about my humidifier, but I don't know any other way to keep the moisture level high enough.

What pressures are you using?

And are you a mouth breather by choice or do you have problems that limit your ability to breathe through your nose? I only ask because I started out as a mouth breather, but have seemed to switch more to breathing through my nose. Part of that may be due to the nasal pillows of the Hybrid mask I use. Although my next mask will probably be a Quattro, I may eventually switch to one of the nasal masks.

Congratulations on your first month. Hopefully next month will be better.

Susan

[MartyR]

i am on 21/17 i thin the ff mask is about the only way to go with pressure that high...i hope month is better as well

[ozij]

Try a passover humidifier, Marty. It will let more water into your system than an unheated "heated humidifier" since it has a much larger face surface, so more water will be picked up by the air passing over it.

A heated humidifier has a much smaller surface.

O.

[RipVW]

I've wrestled with mouth breathing/dry mouth for months, until a couple of weeks ago when I found (invented!) a chinstrap that actually works, holds my chin up without wrapping straps around my head.

Ozij, I've finally taken your advice and turned the heat off on my humidifier. I'm MUCH less congested, nasal passages are clear, but not getting enough moisture. So, I just ordered a passover humidifier from cpap.com, the LX Oasis Passover Humidifier. I see now that it has MUCH more water surface area. Thanks for the tip!!

[grumpygirl]

What is the chin strap you invented to help with mouth breathing?????? I am having trouble keeping my mouth closed even when I tape it shut. Somehow during the night it gets open enough to let air pass and it's sending my leak rate sky high. I hate the thought of a chin strap and I cannot find a ff mask that fits and is not too heavy on my face. Any suggestions would be great!!!!

[cflame1]

Something else that you might want to try... along with keeping water in your heated humidifier is to increase the humidity in your house/room. In the winter time I find that I need more room humidity, especially when it's bitterly cold, so I run a room humidifier and then leave the heat off on my heated humidifier (connected to my BiPAP). There is just something about furnaces that seem to take a lot of humidity out of a room.

[ozij]

[quote="RipVW"]I've wrestled with mouth breathing/dry mouth for months, until a couple of weeks ago when I found (invented!) a chinstrap that actually works, holds my chin up without wrapping straps around my head.

Ozij, I've finally taken your advice and turned the heat off on my humidifier. I'm MUCH less congested, nasal passages are clear, but not getting enough moisture. So, I just ordered a passover humidifier from cpap.com, the LX Oasis Passover Humidifier. I see now that it has MUCH more water surface area. Thanks for the tip!!