Taping mouth in hospital

[puppo]

In a few weeks I will be hospitalized for knee surgery. I plan to tape my mouth during cpap but I'm concerned that hospital personnel will frown upon this practice to say the least. Has anyone had experience with this?

[Julie]

Every place and professional and policy (plus education on OSA) is different - you must talk to the nurses and anesthesiologists and MD's you'll be dealing with... the charge nurse who'll be on the night(s) you're in, etc. etc.

[cosmo]

Wear a surgical mask over it and hide it?

[khauser]

Also, make sure the anesthesiologist knows about your OSA ... he or she will be your lungs while you're under (that assumes you WILL be under).

[Kitatonic]

I assume you're having a knee replacement surgery, not arthroscopy, so you will have potent pain medications which might make you nauseated, hence the staff's concern with the mouth taping. Maybe try ChunkyFrog's horseshoe/bullfrog taping beneath the lip, to see if this could be an option before your hospitalization.

Also, remind the nursing staff to be vigilant for desats.

[quietmorning]

I assume you're having a knee replacement surgery, not arthroscopy, so you will have potent pain medications which might make you nauseated, hence the staff's concern with the mouth taping. Maybe try ChunkyFrog's horseshoe/bullfrog taping beneath the lip, to see if this could be an option before your hospitalization.

Also, remind the nursing staff to be vigilant for desats.

I couldn't agree with this more. . I was all set up after surgery with my cpap on and things were fine. . .one minute. . then the floor and the bed were absolutely COVERED the next - that anesthesia can really mess things up a bit.

[Cavmdc]

OSA is a big deal in most hospital intake questions.

I'm sure you can bring your own unit also.

[Sir NoddinOff]

Maybe the'll be okay with a chinstrap, if you can get that to work for you

[old64mb]

I really wouldn't recommend taping in a hospital setting for a couple reasons.

First, taping only works when there's absolutely no risk of nausea. If there's even a slight chance because of medication or recovery from surgery, you can't tape.

Second, outside of sleep medicine, nobody in the medical establishment is going to be familiar with taping. This is particularly acute with the internal medicine hospitalists who are in charge of your day-to-day care. They are generally not cooperative with anything but very straight-line-by-the-book medicine, and short of a specialist intervening they tend not to brook much interaction from other doctors or nurses - even primary care types who are responsible for your care outside the hospital will have to push to get things done.

Use a hybrid for those occasions. It's not perfect, but for a few days it'll be fine.