djam's therapy thread

[DreamDiver]

A double sided boil and bite mouth guard (without the breathing hole in the middle) is often recommended as something to keep air from leaking out the mouth.

Early on I tried a couple different brands of athletic B&B mouthguards. I was unsuccessful. Air coming in from the nasal mask would creep out over the bite plate at the corners of my mouth and leak/fart between my lips. Sometimes it would be a slow hiss. Sometimes it would be more tuneful.

[Bookit]

Sorry Dreamdiver, but Zonker's photo clearly wins the cpap style show.

[zonker]

Sorry Dreamdiver, but Zonker's photo clearly wins the cpap style show.

yes, but he certainly wins the talent contest!!

[djams]

Update on the pillow mask. I'm finding it pretty frustrating troubleshooting the mouth leaks. No amount of tests and trials and scheming and planning during the day can simulate what goes on while sleeping. I know that this is nothing new.

I'm definitely going to give on my "no extra gear" statement. I'll do this gladly now, because this mask is SO comfortable, and I really like what I'm seeing in SH while using the pillows.

Last night, I decided to see if lowering my min pressure would help. I dropped it 3cm (to 9), and turned off EPR. I also discovered during afternoon testing yesterday that if I drop my mouth open and just let my tongue drop, it blocks off the back-flow. So I tried going to sleep this way. On my back, mouth open, tongue relaxed in the back of my mouth, blocking the back wash. I started nodding off almost immediately. But of course, as I'd nod off, my tongue would move a bit, my lips would close some, and there'd be the gentlest of hissing sound. And I'd wake up. It's the most frustrating thing. I've got no idea why this gentle hissing wakes me up. I let this go on for 30 minutes, and switched back to my F30 FFM, as I didn't want another 2-3 hour falling asleep period.

Here's those 30 minutes, so you can see the sort of minimal leaking that is waking me up. The areas in the flow rate chart where the breaths get dense show when I was asleep(so does the respiratory chart, but maybe only for me). I'll specifically point out the wakeups right before 21:24 and right after 21:42 - note the leak rate at this point. It's next to nothing, and the hiss woke me up...

30 minutes with pillows.PNG (60.32 KiB) Viewed 5169 times

And here's the entire night. Man I wish I'd stuck with the pillows longer. I woke up around 5:40, and it felt like my homemade mask liner had shifted, so I pulled it out from the side and went back to sleep. Looks like I should've checked the mask seal after doing this. I woke up with a headache(never happens), and I think it's related to the 45 minute cluster at the end of the night. I'm starting to believe that when the leaks are very large, the machine decreases pressure trying to get the leak stopped - regardless of what's going on at the time event-wise. Is this true?

[DreamDiver]

Sorry Dreamdiver, but Zonker's photo clearly wins the cpap style show.

yes, but he certainly wins the talent contest!!

[djams]

i was broadly speaking. in actuality, it was that perforated plastic piece that is part of the packaging on the baby wipes many of us use to wipe our masks with.

Hah! That's funny, I was thinking about going to home depot and looking around for something, any type of material I could use to fashion a blocking device.

And, sign me up for that newsletter!

[djams]

A double sided boil and bite mouth guard (without the breathing hole in the middle) is often recommended as something to keep air from leaking out the mouth.

Thanks. I've seen you recommend this many times. I have problems with mouth guards, but even so, it's on my list of things to try. Somewhere near the bottom.

If there's a specific style/brand you recommend, I'd love to know what it is. Was looking at them earlier today. There's a lot of them.

[Jay Aitchsee]

The Scunci alone works well for me, but I've thought that these adult pacifiers show promise.
Zonker?

[zonker]

The Scunci alone works well for me, but I've thought that these adult pacifiers show promise.
Zonker?

erm, yeah....someone posted something similar before.

squint.gif

now, i'm willing to try new things, but that just kinda squicks me out. not sure why...

[palerider]

A double sided boil and bite mouth guard (without the breathing hole in the middle) is often recommended as something to keep air from leaking out the mouth.

Thanks. I've seen you recommend this many times. I have problems with mouth guards, but even so, it's on my list of things to try. Somewhere near the bottom.

If there's a specific style/brand you recommend, I'd love to know what it is. Was looking at them earlier today. There's a lot of them.

I don't have any recommendations, but you might be able to get thelankylefty27 to recommend something over on his forum... he might have done so on youtube, I think he's done a video or two on them.

[Jay Aitchsee]

adult pacifiers

now, i'm willing to try new things, but that just kinda squicks me out. not sure why...

I dunno, the manufacturer seems to make a case:

Recent studies have also shown that pacifier use among adults may cut down or completely eliminate snoring... It uses the same principle as swallowing...the tongue rests behind teeth...the tongue remains motionless [the] soft palate no longer vibrates...[and] the person is not inclined to open his mouth.

and the thing is only eight bucks!

[zonker]

and the thing is only eight bucks!

as the old commercial went "hey, let's have mikey try it!".

[palerider]

and the thing is only eight bucks!

as the old commercial went "hey, let's have mikey try it!".

Wuss.

[djams]

The Scunci alone works well for me, but I've thought that these adult pacifiers show promise.

Appreciate this Jay. Everything is on the table here. And this is something I never would have thought of on my own. Now I've got to decide is this goes above or below the mouthguard on the list. It'd sure be interesting to see my 3 yo granddaughters reaction to Pops getting a mimi. Given that I'm always snatching hers - "big girls don't use mimi's".

I AM musing over the "frequently purchased together" items I see in that link. *headscratch*

[zonker]

and the thing is only eight bucks!

as the old commercial went "hey, let's have mikey try it!".

Wuss.

absolutely! every chance i get.

besides, it looks like it just may be "hey, let's have djams try it!"