Air still escapes out of my mouth, even with tape!

[scarny]

Since my pressure recently increased from a 6 to a 10, I noticed my mouth opening up during the night (I use the Aloha mask with nasal pillows). So I started taping my mouth with white medical tape. It has improved, but sometimes air still escapes out of my mouth! I also wake up with a dry mouth more often than not. I have my System One turned off, and the humidity set to a 3. The water in the humidifier tank does decrease, but not all the way, which is good. Please help!! Any suggestions?

[oak]

Hi, do you know if you are mouth breathing all night or just a bit? if you haven't tried sleepyhead you might want to consider installing it (free) on your computer so you can look at and post your leak and AHI data here. you will get alot of help and suggestions here. there are many who tape and use chinstraps here so hang on and more ideas will be coming. good luck!

[Stormynights]

This helped me and it is cheap to try. I bought 2 boil and bite youth mouth guards and molded one for my top teeth and one for the bottom. These are not stuck together. YMMV

[LinkC]

Exactly my situation 5 yrs ago... even the boil n bite! For me, the answer was a Hybrid mask.

Hybrid and Liberty are similar designs. One or the other should help.

[biker]

Exactly my situation 5 yrs ago... even the boil n bite! For me, the answer was a Hybrid mask.

Hybrid and Liberty are similar designs. One or the other should help.

This Fitlife is driving me crazy. I'm going to have to try a hybrid.

[avi123]

Since my pressure recently increased from a 6 to a 10, I noticed my mouth opening up during the night (I use the Aloha mask with nasal pillows). So I started taping my mouth with white medical tape. It has improved, but sometimes air still escapes out of my mouth! I also wake up with a dry mouth more often than not. I have my System One turned off, and the humidity set to a 3. The water in the humidifier tank does decrease, but not all the way, which is good. Please help!! Any suggestions?

Question,

How do you know that the air drying your mouth enters from the front and not from the back (pharynx)? We usually swallow our saliva during sleep too. So if air can't come into the mouth to replace the swollen saliva volume, from the front b/c of taping, would it not come in from the pharynx and thus dry the mouth?

[lastlib]

Ever since my wife sewed my mouth breathing has stopped. there is the added benefit that I no longer argue or mouth off. I am tired of being fed by tube through my ear but that seems to be the only downside.
On another subject how do I put my machine and nose piece on the bottom of my posts like every other post has?

[oak]

Ever since my wife sewed my mouth breathing has stopped. there is the added benefit that I no longer argue or mouth off. I am tired of being fed by tube through my ear but that seems to be the only downside.
On another subject how do I put my machine and nose piece on the bottom of my posts like every other post has?

Ha To put your equipment in, go to control panel on upper left of the page right below the search box, and navigate to equipment. You can put your pressure in the comments section.

[robysue]

if you haven't tried sleepyhead you might want to consider installing it (free) on your computer so you can look at and post your leak and AHI data here.

Unfortunately, the OP's signature shows a PR System One Plus. Hence there is no useful data recorded. Hence SleepyHead will show nothing but usage data.

[Bucco]

For many years I successfully used nasal cushions. Then a few years ago I started mouth breathing (as indicated by extreme dry mouth in the morning). I just didn't like the idea of taping my mouth so I started using a chin strap (search "chinstrap" on cpap.com) which helped for a while, but then I had to start making the chinstrap so tight it was uncomfortable. I very reluctantly decided to try a hybrid mask, which didn't work very well for me (I also had to make it so tight to stop the leaks it was too uncomfortable). Finally, and very reluctantly, I tried a full face mask. And after kissing a few frogs, I finally found one that worked for me. I think this whole mask thing is just finding the lesser of evils - just try to get as close to perfect as you can (wearing a mask can never be perfect!)

One strong suggestion I have for a hybrid mask or full face mask is a mask liner. Stops a lot of leaks and is much more comfortable (check out RemZzzs and Padacheek).

[Becky at RemZzzs]

For many years I successfully used nasal cushions. Then a few years ago I started mouth breathing (as indicated by extreme dry mouth in the morning). I just didn't like the idea of taping my mouth so I started using a chin strap (search "chinstrap" on cpap.com) which helped for a while, but then I had to start making the chinstrap so tight it was uncomfortable. I very reluctantly decided to try a hybrid mask, which didn't work very well for me (I also had to make it so tight to stop the leaks it was too uncomfortable). Finally, and very reluctantly, I tried a full face mask. And after kissing a few frogs, I finally found one that worked for me. I think this whole mask thing is just finding the lesser of evils - just try to get as close to perfect as you can (wearing a mask can never be perfect!)

One strong suggestion I have for a hybrid mask or full face mask is a mask liner. Stops a lot of leaks and is much more comfortable (check out RemZzzs and Padacheek).

Hi!
My name is Becky. I work for the company that makes the RemZzzs CPAP Mask Liners. I would be more than happy to provide a free 6 Night Sample to anyone who cares to PM me.
I hope that you have a great day and will soon be able to find an answer for your PAP woes.
Becky

[scarny]

Well, here I am, 9 months after my initial post in this thread, and I'm still having mouth-breathing issues.

I was getting headaches every day for 2 months. I had a CT scan of the brain (that detected no problems), and I saw an ear, nose & throat (ENT) doctor. He said I had partial sinusitis, and in January of 2014, he performed a turbinate coblation sinus surgery on me. This is a minimally invasive (it took 20 minutes) procedure, in which he cut away some of the sinus tissue with a laser. My headaches immediately stopped!

Now, 5 months after the surgery, my sinuses (especially the right one) seem partially blocked again. But the ENT said it did not look bad, and no further surgery is needed. Even though the headaches are gone, I still wake up feeling very tired, and with a very dry mouth (even with the humidifier on 5, the highest level). The humidifier is almost entirely void of water every morning, so I know it's working. My AHI 7 day and 30 day averages are 1.0, which I'm told is very good, and my CPAP does not report any leaks.

Does anyone have any suggestions about what I should do now? I've tried the full face mask (Quattro), but I have to keep it so uncomfortable tight to avoid air leaks into my eyes. And I have dry mouth, even when I use the chin strap or tape on my mouth. I think I need to try the Hybrid, because I've heard good things about it. But I think I need a prescription for that, and it's so hard to get in to see my Doc. He's a neurologist, and the only one in my HMO that treats sleep apnea. So it's hard to get an appt. with him. I've got to wait 2 more weeks to see him.

Is there anyone else with sinus issues, or similar problems? Any suggestions would be really appreciated. Thanks, and may everyone get restful sleep!