Bad Dry Mouth with taping

[Gilley]

Well the title says it all. After uping my pressure to 15 it seems to force air out my lips after I fall asleep. So after trying the chin strap and sweat band over the lips. I have started taping. Problem is I wake up about 3am with bad dry mouth, and have to remove the tape...
I did get my best leak rate numbers yet at 1.8 but it was only for 3 hours (taping)
I have the humidifier set as high as I can go without rainout. (a setting of III) Any suggestions

Thanks,
Gilley

[Julie]

Just curious - why did you raise your pressure to 15? Doing so of course would cause leakage somewhere, if only microscopically, never mind that you remove the tape anyway. If you raised it because you were trying to counteract leaks, you likely created new ones because of the higher pressure (and a mask that maybe couldn't keep up with it). If your MD, knowing all this, still told you to keep it high, or you know that you can't control apnea without it, maybe you need to rethink your machine altogether in terms of a possible bipap, but I would first backtrack to see the sequence of events and how each might have contributed to the others. Have you been able to track what happens during the time before you removed the tape - whether or not you still had leaks, or events, or ???

[Gilley]

Just curious - why did you raise your pressure to 15? Doing so of course would cause leakage somewhere, if only microscopically, never mind that you remove the tape anyway. If you raised it because you were trying to counteract leaks, you likely created new ones because of the higher pressure (and a mask that maybe couldn't keep up with it). If your MD, knowing all this, still told you to keep it high, or you know that you can't control apnea without it, maybe you need to rethink your machine altogether in terms of a possible bipap, but I would first backtrack to see the sequence of events and how each might have contributed to the others. Have you been able to track what happens during the time before you removed the tape - whether or not you still had leaks, or events, or ???

Thanks for the reply Julie,
I started CPAP 3 months ago. My pressure was 11. in an attempt to get my AHI under the Magic # 5 My doc raised it to 13 after the first month. Then 15 after the second month. Every time it goes up I struggle to fix leaks and adjust my head and ears, masks, etc to the new pressure. I was doing well with leak management at 13 but my AHI was still 6.5 -7. Since he moved me to 15 I have had real problems with controlling leaks and overall it I have reduced my use time from an average time of 6 hours a night to just over 3 hours a night. I have really tried to adjust to the increase in pressure over the past 90 days but it has all become to much of a hassle.
I have also tried EPR of 1,2,3 while this helps it lower the median pressure to 13 or 14 and causes my AHI to increase.
My last ditch effort is to try taping and that has helped but the dry moth is effecting my therapy time.
I do have a full face mask its the right size but the pressure is so strong it blows my mouth open and I cant sleep with it. Sorry for the extended answer but thats what I'm facing

[Julie]

I thought so ! The problem is that when starting Cpap, all of a sudden a lot more air is being forced in, and has to go somewhere, so your mouth begins opening up when you sleep. What happens next is that your numbers look lousy (and you may feel worse) so your MD, or DME, or whoever says to raise the pressure, not understanding that by doing so, the problem is made worse! I now suggest you try lowering it just a bit at a time, and see if you can find that magic place (give each change a couple of days at least to be sure of what's what) where the pressure isn't so high it blows your mask off, or dehydrates you, or causes new leaks, but is still effective enough to do the job (most of us tend to end up around 10, with pressures set at 8 to 12 (on Apaps). You may still very well need a FF mask, but I think things will otherwise calm down when the pressure's 'off'. Also, don't make your mask, whichever you use (tho' I would suggest a FF well fitted and sized one) too tight, as that can cause leaks in new places along with discomfort.