Mouth breathing

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
smick
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2007 3:19 pm

Mouth breathing

Post by smick » Wed Oct 03, 2007 4:49 pm

Just curious if people here knew they were mouth breathing or had to figure it out by looking at their leak rate/AHI numbers?

My leak rate and AHI have been low, but my mouth has been a little dry in the mornings... was wondering if it was obvious or not.


Thanks,
Smick


Sleepdeprived
Posts: 325
Joined: Mon May 14, 2007 3:07 pm
Location: Florida

Re: Mouth breathing

Post by Sleepdeprived » Wed Oct 03, 2007 5:08 pm

[quote="smick"]Just curious if people here knew they were mouth breathing or had to figure it out by looking at their leak rate/AHI numbers?

My leak rate and AHI have been low, but my mouth has been a little dry in the mornings... was wondering if it was obvious or not.


Thanks,
Smick


User avatar
MickeyBaby
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2007 7:35 pm
Location: NW Indiana

Post by MickeyBaby » Thu Oct 04, 2007 11:35 am

I was experiencing dry mouth in the middle of the night. It was horrible. To try and remedy this I first purchased a high quality chin strap. Earlier, I was given a lower quality chin strap by my RT but it kept slipping off. I use the Respironics Premium chinstrap. This kept my mouth shut during the night although I was still experiencing some dry-mouth in the mornings. My machine is a Respironics M series with A-flex. It has a built-in humidifier. I had been keeping the humidifier setting at 0 or 1. When I upped the humidifier to 2 my dry mouth went completely away.

This is my experience with dry-mouth. It may or may not work for you. Good luck!

"I don't suffer from insanity...I enjoy every minute of it!"

smick
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2007 3:19 pm

Post by smick » Thu Oct 04, 2007 5:07 pm

Hmmm... I guess I'll try a chin strap if it isn't obvious for most people or can be tracked via leak rate.

I just got a bit of a head cold and my nose was stuffed the last two nights. My AHI climbed a bit from 4 to 10, but I don't really know how accurate that is because I don't have the software for the M Series. Leak rate seems the same at 27. I guess it could just be nasal congestion that caused my AHI to spike.

Thanks,
Smick