Swallowing Air using Mirage Quattro full face mask

[PaulaJ]

I am a new user of cpap machines. I am a mouth breather and snore loudly, so decided to try the full face mask. Works great except I think I am swallowing too much air and my mouth is totally so dry every morning. Am using Respironic heated humidifier. Does anyone else have this problem and what do you do about it? Would it be better for me to just use a Nasal Mask and a chin strap? Would appreciate any replies and help.

[Guest]

I am a new user of cpap machines. I am a mouth breather and snore loudly, so decided to try the full face mask. Works great except I think I am swallowing too much air and my mouth is totally so dry every morning. Am using Respironic heated humidifier. Does anyone else have this problem and what do you do about it? Would it be better for me to just use a Nasal Mask and a chin strap? Would appreciate any replies and help.

Someone just asked about this yesterday. Look down the first page for a thread titled "Swallowing Air."

[Pugsy]

Breathing through the mouth a lot with full face mask even using humidifier maxed can still lead to dry mouth.

Some people use added moisture like Biotene mouth wash. Some people use some sort of chin strap even with full face mask to try to limit mouth breathing.

Regarding using nasal mask and chin strap...can you easily breathe through your nose during the day without mouth breathing? Is there a physical reason for mouth breathing like deviated septum, polyps, heavily congested nasal airway?
Or is the mouth breathing at night just a habit.

[ameriken]

Breathing through the mouth a lot with full face mask even using humidifier maxed can still lead to dry mouth.

Some people use added moisture like Biotene mouth wash. Some people use some sort of chin strap even with full face mask to try to limit mouth breathing.

Regarding using nasal mask and chin strap...can you easily breathe through your nose during the day without mouth breathing? Is there a physical reason for mouth breathing like deviated septum, polyps, heavily congested nasal airway?
Or is the mouth breathing at night just a habit.

I'm a mouth breather as well, and I think it is just habit and I think the nasal congestion just adds to it. Even before BiPAP I would wake up with cottonmouth, but it's even worse now with the face mask. Been a mouth breather my entire life.

Paula, now that I'm on the machine I'm trying to train myself to breathe through my nose and little by little I think it's working. Just gotta keep making myself do it when awake and hope it carries over to sleep. Not always successful but again, I think it's starting to work. Good luck!

[bayourest]

I have long been a mouth breather but I have been trying to train myself to breathe through my nose because I literally cannot go to sleep when I am breathing through my mouth.
sinus and nasal congestion is a big problem and I have found that flonase helps a lot.
I also now have started to use a homeopathic nasal spray made my bioAllers and sometimes an oil called super nasya oil in addition to neti pot. I use flonase every day and the others according to how I feel.
I taped my mouth for a while and I think that really helped me to reduce mouth breathing. If you search the archives you will find a lot on mouth taping.
So be sure you can breathe though your nose first and then you might try other means to eliminate mouth breathing.
I do find that I swallow air sometimes and it is an annoying feeling. But I kind of think it's not THAT bad compared to no xpap etc. I can usually deal with that better than I can deal with stuffy nose.