New Member and new user of Bipap machine

[ajsmith]

Hi Y'all, I've already learned much from reading messages here. I have spent three full nights with the nasal cannula (?)Air Fit N30. BTW I haven't been able to find where I can fill out a profile. I am using a Resmed AirCurve11 ASV. My score during the night at the sleep clinic was 18.1. I don't have all these abbreviations memorized yet. Last night with the unit I had 13 episodes. My questions is that when I first put the nose thing on my ears fill with air and my mouth too which is uncomfortable! Sometimes when I start to exhale air poofs out my mouth. Is this normal? Later on in the night I don't notice it happening. I sometimes wonder if I even need to do this. The cardiologist recommended the sleep study because of afib which I have. I get very tired in the morning and my Apple iWatch tells me I get little REM sleep. Maybe I am in denial. Forgive me for jumping all over the place in this first message. I am an 85 year old woman who sometimes struggles with technology. I am hoping that dealing with apnea will give me more energy to play golf and exercise. Thank you for any responses.

[Miss Emerita]

Welcome! It's just fine to jump around, though it'd be helpful if you'd stay in this same thread so that people can see what your questions have been.

Could you try an experiment? This is without your mask on. Put the back of your tongue up against the roof of your mouth and let the rest of your tongue extend forward on the roof of your mouth with the tip of your tongue behind your front teeth. Let the sides of your tongue spread out to the insides of your top teeth. Now give a little suck or swallow to make a seal. You should now be able to breathe exclusively through your nose, with no air going in or out of your mouth. You can test this by opening your mouth and still breathing only through your nose. Does that work for you?

If it doesn't work, can you describe what doesn't make sense or work for you?

If it does work, then here's the next step. (Do this during the day or evening, not when you're going to bed.) Put your mask on without hooking it up to your machine. Do the tongue thing. Breathe only through your nose. Next, connect your short hose to your long hose and turn your machine on (or maybe it's set to turn on automatically). Keep breathing only through your nose. Are you having any air bothering your ears or coming out your mouth?

[ajsmith]

Thank you for the suggestion on the tongue seal. I certainly will try it tonight.