Will I know if my mouth opens up at night with a nasal mask

[Aprilia]

Hello!!

2 days ago, I decided to try a nasal mask. I'm usually using a full face mask, however, I'm producing too much saliva at night and I wake up because my mask is wet .
Because of that, I ditch the CPAP in the middle of the night... which is not ideal.
As soon as I touch the pillow, I'm a mouth breather and I know that mouth breathing with a nasal mask makes a strange noise, however, I'm not sure it would wake me up as I'm excessively tired. Yesterday I did a test: I mouth breathed while wearing my nasal mask to see if it would flag a leak or anything specific on my Oscar report ... it does not

So I'm wondering how I can make sure I'm breathing through my nose when wearing the nasal mask?!

[Miss Emerita]

It's quite possible to breathe through your nose with your mouth open. You kind of stop up the route from your nose to your mouth at the back of your throat. Maybe that's what you did during your test? If you straight-out breathed through your mouth, it should show up in Oscar as a leak. Try another test, but this time hold your hand up in front of your mouth to make sure you're actually breathing through it.

If you did a lot of mouth breathing throughout the night, your mouth would be very, very dry.

You might try a mask liner to blot up the saliva in your FFM if you like the FFM except for this one problem.

[Aprilia]

Thank you, I didn't know that there were mask liners, I might try that instead of the nasal mask. I'll try my test again to see if there is a leak or not.

[iNeedis]

I as well have started out with a full face mask and also had same problem as you. I would sleep on my side and mouth would be wide open and I would drool and this would break the seas with the mask and wake me up with a puddle of drool in the mask. I tried the nasal pillows for a few nights and for some reason had very low AHI, great seal, but I woke up exhausted for some reason. So I went back to the full face mask but I also put on a resmed chin strap on top to prevent my mouth from opening in my sleep. This has fixed the problem! Even if you are a mouth breather, you can still breathe from your mouth. This chin strap only prevents your jaw from opening wide. Try it out. It worked for me.

[Miss Emerita]

Good suggestion from iNeedis. You can also close an open jaw from below, by using a soft cervical collar.

[Aprilia]

I as well have started out with a full face mask and also had same problem as you. I would sleep on my side and mouth would be wide open and I would drool and this would break the seas with the mask and wake me up with a puddle of drool in the mask. I tried the nasal pillows for a few nights and for some reason had very low AHI, great seal, but I woke up exhausted for some reason. So I went back to the full face mask but I also put on a resmed chin strap on top to prevent my mouth from opening in my sleep. This has fixed the problem! Even if you are a mouth breather, you can still breathe from your mouth. This chin strap only prevents your jaw from opening wide. Try it out. It worked for me.

Thank you, It's been 5 days with the nasal mask and I'm as tired as I normally am, except I have to stay conscious of closing my mouth during the night ... it doesn't help. I'll try to DIY a mask liner and will go back to my full face. If it doesn't work I'll resort to the strap.

Breathing with my nose, I feel like I'm breathing too fast because not enough air comes in, it's difficult to explain.

[Aprilia]

I patented my own kind of liner (using the fabric of a t-shirt), however, my mask makes so much noise that I couldn't tolerate it. So I went back to the nasal one for the night and I realized that during the night I was breathing through my nose but the air was going in my mouth (if that makes sense), so I removed it for the rest of the night
I feel like nothing is working :/ it's upsetting.

[Miss Emerita]

Hang in there! Is the idea that you breathe air in through your nose, but then air sneaks into your mouth and goes out through your lips?

If that's it, I'd suggest you work on getting your tongue to do a better job. Try putting the tip of your tongue behind your upper front teeth. Then position the main part of your tongue up against your upper palate. Finally, give a little suck or swallow to create a bit of suction. You should now be able to open your mouth while breathing entirely through your nose. Practice this during the day, and see if you can get it grooved in deeply enough to help while you are asleep at night. For some people, this is really all it takes to avoid mouth leaks.

[Aprilia]

Hang in there! Is the idea that you breathe air in through your nose, but then air sneaks into your mouth and goes out through your lips?

If that's it, I'd suggest you work on getting your tongue to do a better job. Try putting the tip of your tongue behind your upper front teeth. Then position the main part of your tongue up against your upper palate. Finally, give a little suck or swallow to create a bit of suction. You should now be able to open your mouth while breathing entirely through your nose. Practice this during the day, and see if you can get it grooved in deeply enough to help while you are asleep at night. For some people, this is really all it takes to avoid mouth leaks.

This is exactly it, I'm doing what you recommend but at some point during the night I'm no longer able to manage it, I'm not sure why. It's pretty much always between 3 and 4 am (after about 5h of therapy) that I give up.

[clownbell]

Another strategy is mouth taping. I recommend the MedVance 2" width product, which I buy on Ama***. For ME, it provides a good seal and is not hard to remove in the morning, versus some other products that remove a layer of skin.

[dataq1]

If you straight-out breathed through your mouth, it should show up in Oscar as a leak.

Is your mouth breathing showing up in your OSCAR leakage graph?

[chunkyfrog]

I like the design of chin up strips.
I made my own from good quality painter's tape for a while.
The modified U-shape pulls the lower lip up over the upper lip. (Think bulldog)
Breathing, coughing, etc. through the mouth is possible,
but awkward enough to reduce oral airflow, and assist in good habituation.