ideas to keep your mouth closed, opinions

[sleepymama]

ok so i know of the chin strap which i have learned comes in a variety of options. the one i tried sucks, not sure if my DME offers another kind. i know of tape that a few have recommended to me. feel free to recommend other tapes you use/bandages. there is also a papcap which i'm not sure if my DME offers it or if it's commonly used by some of you. i dont' want to pay out of pocket if it's not going to work.
different masks. i am growing fond of my nasal pillows and after trying the hybrid mirage ff mask last night before bed i am frustrated that i'll never find another one. will keep my pillows for now.

now i'm off to buy some nipple cream for my nares as they are tender from last night and are becoming irritated by the pillows.

[jdm2857]

Which chin strap do you have?

I'm wrestling with the Respironics Premium right now. Some members have said good things about it. I'm still undecided. I tried it because I got it at my doctor's office at a big discount.

The PAPCap is most often mentioned as the best chin strap available, but it's also the most expensive.

[Bearcat42]

Hi. I have a nsasl mask and I used to use some elastic, white chinstrap and I hated it. I finally got a Papap and I love it. Now I wont use anything else. For me the price was worth it.

[nanwilson]

Tried the papcap also tried chin strap, neither worked. The papcap was just way too big and cumbersome, the chin strap choked me. Soooooo I tape. One inch micropore tape, turned in at the edges for quick and easy grip. Works fine, I have even coughhed against it with no ill effects.
Nan

[elena88]

well YOU know what Im going to say!

anyway, stick with those pillows, those are good training wheels for the swift fx, or did you try that and it didnt work out?

[Tovi]

I tried several chinstraps. All the chinstraps were too large for me. The papcap strap hit my head at just the place where I wanted to sleep and REALLY bothered me. So for the past week, I'm taping my mouth shut. I use the method outlined here viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9653&start=0&st=0&s ... view=print So far so good.

[torontoCPAPguy]

I use 2" ductape... the grey kind. Two wraps around the head and I leave a little handle on the end. The stuff is expensive so I usually leave it on for a few days. Keeps the wife and kids happy as well. If the nasal pillows are inclined to come loose at night... guess what? Ductape. I Ductape them as well by running a strip across my face taking in just the tip of my nose and the pillows; I have tossed the headgear for the pillows as it was a pain and use... guess what? Ductape! Since I don't have any hair left to speak of since joining this forum and getting into CPAP/APAP I just run the hose up over the top of my head and ductape it in place. And again, I leave it in place for a few days to save money although I get some strange looks from the folks on the bus even though they know me already. They are great people... always get up and move over to make lots of room for me and my lunchbox and stuff.

Now, for those of you that are not aware, Ductape is always on sale at Walmart and along with a small pocket sized can of WD40 does the job well. The WD40 takes off any residue of the tape, failing which a little acetone or nail polish remover will finish the job (just don't be smokin' while your removin' right?).

A good friend of mine has a system using old panyhose to keep from mouth breathing; problem is I don't know if it is working very well. He gets out next Wednesday and I will ask. Seems he takes a different bus than I do and the other passengers were not as nice as mine.

We just got some Super Crazy Glue to fix a cup that the wife threw at me for no apparent reason the other night and I am fixin' to give that a try as well and will report back. In the meantime, stick with the Ductape. It's also good for hockey sticks. Except in Buffalo.

[sleepymama]

LOL

[Beachmeezer]

So sleepymama I guess you'll be trying the duct tape? lol

[sleepymama]

lol ya um i think i'll pass on that one. i would like to keep my hair and my lips for that matter lol

[OutaSync]

torontoCPAPguy,

Are you sure you are not adding something besides oxygen to your intake?

[JohnBFisher]

Another trick is to use a sports mouth guard to help train yourself to keep your mouth closed. You don't need it all the time, it just helps you train your body to keep it shut.

But eventually, I had to switch to a full face mask, as all those tricks no longer worked.

Oh, and taping the mouth shut was not a good option for me - just imagine trying to take off the tape from my mustache! Eowwwwch!

[Mount Snorius]

I wrote a while back ago that I was having leaking issues worse than 25 kids in the community pool. Thought about the taping the mouth idea, but just couldn't do it (too claustrophobic for me to handle mentally, guess my brothers tied me up one too many times as a kid). About fourteen days ago, I started using a self sticking ace bandage that I would wrap from the top of the head to around the chin area, making sure that the lips would seal without the teeth getting jammed together. The leaks went from maximums of 40 or more to well less than 1/3rd of that.

The strange part is that for the first part of that time, my AHI's were coming in at 5 to 15 a night. Now they seem to have settled back down to under 3, with the majority under 1 (where it was before when all the leaking was going on).

Still not feeling as good as I think I should, but definitely feeling a lot better than with all that dang leaking going on.

[M.D.Hosehead]

Toronto, you crack me up.

Some say that you only need two tools, duct tape and WD-40. If something moves and is not supposed to, use duct tape. If it should move but won't, use WD-40.

[kempo]

I sleep with three pillows. One for my head and one laying length wise on my left and right side. If I lay on my left side I shove the pillow on my left side up under my chin and lay my left arm over it to hold it in place. This keeps my mouth closed. If I sleep on my right side I shove the pillow on my right side under my chin and lay my right arm over the pillow. This works most of the time.

Probably once or twice a night I will wake up with air coming out of my mouth but the charts show this doesn't last more than five or ten minutes.

Any time I wake up during the night I will have anywhere from 2 to 6 central apneas. Taping and chin straps bother me so much that I wake up many times a night which means many centrals which equals higher AHI and not a restful sleep.