I'm a dentist treating myself! CPAP Results... Advice please?

[zonker]

Decent results last night with the Bleep!

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lets hope this condition prevails!

[slowriter]

FWIW, I used to use mouth tape with the Bleep, but then decided to try this approach in conjunction with a soft cervical collar. I've had zero leaks (yes, 0) since adopting that approach, and I find it more convenient and comfortable than using mouth tape, AND more effective.

[Pugsy]

FWIW....I quit using anything to deal with potential mouth leaks/breathing a long time ago.
As long as I don't make a bad habit of doing a lot of it to the point it is prolonged with a potential negative impact on my therapy and it doesn't wake me up...I just don't give a rats behind if I do a little mouth breathing here or there.
For me...sometimes the cure is worse than the disease meaning to do something to NEVER mouth leak messed up my already fragile sleep more than the rare mouth breathing ever caused a problem.

Good job on the good night with the Bleep last night.
It's really a pretty sweet little mask and I finally have got to the point I don't even look in the mirror to attach anything but the ports to the skin. I just never could master the frame attaching backwards in the mirror very well. Took me a while to get to this point but I finally got there.

Did you know you can turn on the red line thing in the leak so you can see easily how much you go over it?
Hover your mouse cursor over the words "leak rate" on the left side of the graph....right click mouse....choose "dotted lines" from the expanded menu...put a check mark in the "leak rate upper threshold" line.

[zonker]

FWIW, I used to use mouth tape with the Bleep, but then decided to try this approach in conjunction with a soft cervical collar. I've had zero leaks (yes, 0) since adopting that approach, and I find it more convenient and comfortable than using mouth tape, AND more effective.

+1

catfistbump.gif

[slowriter]

FWIW....I quit using anything to deal with potential mouth leaks/breathing a long time ago.
As long as I don't make a bad habit of doing a lot of it to the point it is prolonged with a potential negative impact on my therapy and it doesn't wake me up...I just don't give a rats behind if I do a little mouth breathing here or there.

I don't have a huge problem with mouth leaks, but when I do, they're disruptive. I'm woken up less by the leak than by the extreme dry mouth and throat I end up with.

[Pugsy]

FWIW....I quit using anything to deal with potential mouth leaks/breathing a long time ago.
As long as I don't make a bad habit of doing a lot of it to the point it is prolonged with a potential negative impact on my therapy and it doesn't wake me up...I just don't give a rats behind if I do a little mouth breathing here or there.

I don't have a huge problem with mouth leaks, but when I do, they're disruptive. I'm woken up less by the leak than by the extreme dry mouth and throat I end up with.

I totally understand. We do what we have to do to reduce the wake ups from whatever the cause.
For me it was simply the annoyance of tape or some sort of something to keep the mouth shut that caused me to have more wake ups than the occasional mouth opening issues caused either a wake up or impact on my therapy. I sleep better without going to extra ordinary measures to keep the mouth closed and it very rarely is ever a therapeutic issue....for me anyway. I got enough other stuff messing with my sleep (totally unrelated to apnea or equipment) to deal with....sure don't want to do something that I really don't just have to do anyway.

Another one of those YMMV sticker things. We pick our poison.

[nee]

FWIW, I used to use mouth tape with the Bleep, but then decided to try this approach in conjunction with a soft cervical collar. I've had zero leaks (yes, 0) since adopting that approach, and I find it more convenient and comfortable than using mouth tape, AND more effective.

+1

Went and got myself this thing!

Also had my appointment with Dr. Zaghi (ENT) today. After looking at my CT scan and evaluating the nose and airway, he said I should just get SFOT (Surgically Facilitated Orthodontic Treatment) along with myotherapy and see how I feel after that. MMA surgery may not be required.

I purchased a Myobrace, which will train my tongue to stay up on the roof of my mouth, and he said to wear it in conjunction with the CPAP. I'll receive it on Wednesday, so until then I'll try the headband and see how that goes.

[zonker]

Went and got myself this thing!

Also had my appointment with Dr. Zaghi (ENT) today. After looking at my CT scan and evaluating the nose and airway, he said I should just get SFOT (Surgically Facilitated Orthodontic Treatment) along with myotherapy and see how I feel after that. MMA surgery may not be required.

I purchased a Myobrace, which will train my tongue to stay up on the roof of my mouth, and he said to wear it in conjunction with the CPAP. I'll receive it on Wednesday, so until then I'll try the headband and see how that goes.

good on ya!

you know, it's been a real pleasure to read this thread. you aren't afraid of trying things. and you listen well to the experts here.

that can be kind of rare around here.

[chunkyfrog]

As a past and current client of the UNL college of dentistry,
I am encouraged by the quality of new dentists being "released" each year.
All the new toys--beyond cool!

[nee]

Went and got myself this thing!

Also had my appointment with Dr. Zaghi (ENT) today. After looking at my CT scan and evaluating the nose and airway, he said I should just get SFOT (Surgically Facilitated Orthodontic Treatment) along with myotherapy and see how I feel after that. MMA surgery may not be required.

I purchased a Myobrace, which will train my tongue to stay up on the roof of my mouth, and he said to wear it in conjunction with the CPAP. I'll receive it on Wednesday, so until then I'll try the headband and see how that goes.

good on ya!

you know, it's been a real pleasure to read this thread. you aren't afraid of trying things. and you listen well to the experts here.

that can be kind of rare around here.

It's been a real pleasure receiving you guys' advice. It's rare to find such helpful people! How can we learn without keeping an open mind?

[palerider]

How can we learn without keeping an open mind?

Far too many aren't interested in learning, these days.

I echo what Zonker said.

[nee]

Hmm... last night I had my SD card in the whole night, but Oscar only imported 15 minutes of data. Any advice?

It says "Imported 3 CPAP session(s)" but I don't see it.

[Pugsy]

Purge last nights data and import again.

[Pugsy]

Purge is under "data" top menu and then "advanced".

[nee]

Thank you Pugsy, you're amazing!

So the leaks are pretty much a non-issue...sweet! Thank you for the headband suggestion, slowriter! I wore the cervical collar and mandibular advancement device as well, and here are the results.

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And here is that nasty cluster of OA's...

Screen Shot 2020-01-29 at 8.34.09 AM.png (93.64 KiB) Viewed 855 times