"labia flatulence" insomina... Any advice?

[mikeinstlouis]

Last night my AHI 4.8 which I know is not bad but it's the worst night I've had so far. Last night was bad enough to make me question whether or not I want to continue trying this therapy. I am beyond frustrated. I'm getting depressed. Granted it hasn't even been two weeks since I've been using my cpap but it seems like my nights are getting worse rather than better.

It seems like the problem started when I tried to increase my baseline pressure to get rid of the hypopnea episodes. My issue is that whenever I start to fall asleep, my tongue relaxes and I start blowing air out of my mouth to the point that it wakes me right back up. The closest thing I can think of is labial flatulence. My mouth is closed but the air is blowing out my lips. It wakes me up as soon as I start to fall asleep. I am using Nuance Pro Nasal Pillows.

Eventually I fell asleep only to be awoken by a lot of noise from my mask at about 3:30 a.m. I think what was happening was that I was having an apneic event, the pressure of my APAP increased, and I think it was a combination of the intentional air leak and air blowing out of my mouth that woke me up. I had a hard time falling back asleep.

I only had my baseline rate set at 7 which I know is nothing compared to most people. My concern and frustration is that I'm still tired during the day, and if I can't set the pressure high enough to get rid of anything I won't be able to use this machine. When I turn the pressure up it wakes me up. I don't know if a full face mask will help me, I'm a side sleeper and it makes me nervous that I won't be able to sleep on my side and I know I will never be able to sleep on my back.

Has anyone else ever heard of this problem before or know things that I could try? I'm even thinking about taping my mouth shut but I don't know how good of an idea that is.

I think I would be fine as long as I could keep the air from blowing out of my mouth and waking me up. Just in case I did not say I'm using a Respironics system one a-flex and I have Nuance Pro nasal pillows. I did put this in the comments of my profile but for some reason it does not show up on my post. Thank you so much for all of your help. I know other people get frustrated with this so hopefully someone can help. Thank you so much!

[Stom]

I think you may mean "bilabial fricative".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless ... _fricative

[Jay Aitchsee]

https://www.bing.com/search?q=mouth+tap ... 2523fd07d5

Edited to remove a link to what some might consider offensive or "NSFW"

[realshelby]

There are several mentions here of "taping your mouth shut" so that might be an option. There are also straps you can buy that go over your head and under your chin to help keep your mouth shut better.

Then there is the option of a full face mask.

While I was able to use a nasal pillows mask even though I was told I was a mouth breather and they wouldn't work, I would use a full face if I had to. That is because once you get this all settled down you WILL feel better. Enough to be worth what it takes to make it work.

[Hartemed]

https://www.bing.com/search?q=mouth+tap ... 2523fd07d5

https://www.bing.com/search?q=labial+ad ... lang=en-US

Might want to put a big ol' NSFW on those links, Jay.

[chunkyfrog]

Yep, queef is so OT.

[zonker]

well, jay was here with links and he missed an opportunity to post this-

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=112758&st=0&sk=t&sd ... i#p1086296

the link shows an alternative to mouth taping. while people here report on mouth taping all the time (and their success with it.), i never really wanted to try it. so was glad to try jay's idea mentioned in the link above.

it works well for me, though your mileage may very and so on.

i use the hairbands in conjunction with a foam cervical collar. the two things together keep my big yap shut!

good luck!

[mikeinstlouis]

To those people who were offended by the term labial, labial refers to lips. Get your mind out of the gutter

[Pugsy]

To those people who were offended by the term labial, labial refers to lips. Get your mind out of the gutter

You will find that many of the forum members never miss a chance to crawl down in the gutter. It's just their nature.

You might consider taping for a period of time and see if you can learn to keep the back door closed and not let air enter the mouth when on its way down the airway. I taped for about 3 months because of this and eventually learned how to keep that back door shut.
Now I can open my mouth wide...yawn...stick out my tongue and even talk without air entering my mouth all while wearing the mask with the machine blowing. It's more of a reflex thing and I can't tell you how I learned it but I am not the only one.

[palerider]

To those people who were offended by the term labial, labial refers to lips. Get your mind out of the gutter

YOU said, right there in the title: "labia".

la·bi·a
noun
plural noun: labia

1.
Anatomy
the inner and outer folds of the vulva, at either side of the vagina.
2.
plural form of labium.

Then you used the phrase "labial flatulence" (which is different than what you put in the title.)

https://www.google.com/search?num=100&s ... QPyuzIg744

Perhaps YOU should be more careful in your choice of terms, and quit trying to sound like you're highly educated or something.

[Fetou]

To those people who were offended by the term labial, labial refers to lips. Get your mind out of the gutter

She's not wrong!

[Muse-Inc]

I ended up having to go to this pillow mask when my lips started flapping: https://www.cpap.com/productpage/RespCa ... -Mask.html

[mikeinstlouis]

Medical Definition of Labia
Labia: Lips, the fleshy folds that surround the opening of the mouth (oral labia) or the vagina (the labia majora and labia minora).

Going forward can we please just focus on my post?

[Cpapian]

You might try keeping your tongue to the roof of your mouth, teeth together and tongue together. Practice during the day and your body will learn it at night. A little suction to keep the tongue at the top will help get it there.

This seems to close the gap between the mouth and nose. Not a scientific explanation I know, but it works.

Do that with some taping for a while until you have it down pat.

I find when I wake up in the night it is harder to keep the air out of my mouth. So I shut the machine off and let it restart at the beginning pressure.

[palerider]

Medical Definition of Labia
Labia: Lips, the fleshy folds that surround the opening of the mouth (oral labia) or the vagina (the labia majora and labia minora).

Going forward can we please just focus on my post?

We *ARE* focusing on your post... and your farty labia.

Interesting the way you're just digging in with the way you expressed yourself.