Opening mouth

[MacSleeper]

I will be using a trial BiPAP for the 4th night tonight. I have been initially given a ResMed Swift LT. It fits perfectly! The first two nights were met with some discomfort and I felt worse the following day. I worked with the fittings more yesterday and I slept all night, not getting up once. This is very rare since I usually get up 3-4 times a night. What I cannot understand is that my mouth opened several times in the wee hours of this morning. Probably in the 2-4 am time area. I would be awakened by the noise of air rushing from my mouth or parted lips. Closing my mouth I dropped right back off to sleep. I was not issued a chin strap but has anyone an idea if this is a reason associated with sleep disturbances? I am a strong nose breather and have never been known to open my mouth during sleep, except when snoring, I guess.

Thanks for your opinions.

James

BiPAP 10/7

[jweeks]

James,

Yes, opening your mouth will cause your effective pressure to drop, and then you start having events, which will either disturb your sleep or wake you up. The fact that you didn't get up your normal 3 to 4 times is evidence that the CPAP his helping. When you have events, your body generates a signal to wake you up. That signal is a chemical, which happens to be the same chemical that tells you that you have to go to the bathroom. I used to get up every 60 to 90 minutes at night, and since getting "on the hose", I don't get up at all.

A chin strap should help. Some say that where you place your tongue in your mouth can also make a difference. My tongue tends to rest on the roof of my mouth, which more or less blocks off my mouth. If you cannot find a way to keep your mouth closed, you can move to a full face mask. A lot of people have issues with full face masks, and end up doing something called mouth taping. That sounds dangerous to me, but some folks have had great luck doing it.

-john-

[harry33]

this is a common problem for neww users who are issued with nose only type masks

a chinstrap will not stop the lips parting, at best it will remind you to keep mouth shut

the only way to guarantee the lips stay sealed is to tape them, many do this

if taping teaches you to eventually keep mouth shut then stop taping, otherwise you will eventually need a full face type mask that covers both nose and face

best way to tape mouth


get a long length of tape, double back tape on both ends to form tear off strips, roll lips inward so tape goes on skin above and below the lips

[lazyace]

Mac,

I have struggled with the exact same problem from day one. I tried a chin strap and found that it was uncomfortable and didn't work. So, I moved on to taping my mouth closed with medical tape. I folded a corner over so I could easily remove it if necessary. This helped a lot, but I also ended up waking several times throughout the night, to release the air from my puffed up cheeks. The real problem lies with your tongue breaking the seal in the back of your throat as your muscles relax during sleep, which is also the cause of your mouth opening.

To remedy this problem, you can try sleeping on your side or belly, or switch to a full face mask. I am trying a Mirage Quattro mask and that has eliminated the problem with opening my mouth, but is leaving red marks on the bridge of my nose.

[rested gal]

LINKS to: Mouth leaks - Air Leaks - Tape - DIY Guard
viewtopic.php?t=8011

[Julie]

And a lot of people think FF masks are terrific - I would definitely not arbitrarily decide someone cannot use one without giving them a chance to try some. Everyone's different and for some taping, though not 'dangerous', is not the answer at all.