How to win the battle against a mouth breathing preventing you from sleeping ?

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
Albatros
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Location: Le Vesinet Paris France

How to win the battle against a mouth breathing preventing you from sleeping ?

Post by Albatros » Sun Nov 20, 2022 4:29 am

Hello, I am a Newbie for 5 weeks. Diagnosis 34 IAH/h.
I spent my first 4 weeks with a face mask, pressure 8 -10, AHI level 3 - 5, but mask leakage of more than 35 l/min. So questionable results? (not yet on OSCAR sw).
These 5 weeks taught me that:
-after a few hours I had mouth breathing
-that this mouth breathing prevented me from sleeping
I was advised on the forum, among other things, to block the air leakage by putting the tongue on the top of the palate. This works very well, but I can't stay permanently and in my sleep thinking to keep the tongue on the palate ?
I have also tried to seal the mouth with a mouth tape. This works, but after a few hours, the barrier gives way.
So I had to switch to an FFM, the F20 Resmed. It solves the problem of mouth breathing. But requires a more difficult adaptation. I will do the job to adapt.

But, I would like to ask two questions:
-Is there anything I missed ?
-There are thousands of happy users of the light, nice, nasal pillow masks. Does it mean that they don't have mouth breathing ? Or that they are able to control it ? How ?

Thank you

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shimon
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Location: Skagit County, WA

Re: How to win the battle against a mouth breathing preventing you from sleeping ?

Post by shimon » Sun Nov 20, 2022 3:54 pm

I was a mouth breather and then I started taping my mouth shut at night...after about a year, I stopped using the tape and I think I've kicked the mouth breathing habit. I just use a tiny piece of 3M Nexcare micropore tape. It's about 1" long by 1/2" wide...I just tear a piece off and stick it on. I don't think you want a big piece because you want to be able to overcome the tape if you really need air. Of course, you will have to experiment to find what works for you.

I sleep much better now without mouth breathing and I guess many other do too: there was just an article in the NYT about this: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/17/well ... sleep.html

Albatros
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Location: Le Vesinet Paris France

Re: How to win the battle against a mouth breathing preventing you from sleeping ?

Post by Albatros » Mon Nov 21, 2022 3:42 am

Thank you Shimon.

Three additional questions, if I may:
-did your mouth breathing prevented you from sleeping ? Or was it only a dry mouth problem, when you woke up ?
-are you, now, thanks to your regular taping, close to have no problem, any more, with the mouth breathing ? Or that you can solve it, now, with a simplified taping ?
-does it mean that, thanks to your mouth taping, you have been able to avoid a FFM vs a nasal or pillow nasal mask ?

Thanks

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shimon
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Location: Skagit County, WA

Re: How to win the battle against a mouth breathing preventing you from sleeping ?

Post by shimon » Mon Nov 21, 2022 8:15 am

Albatros wrote:
Mon Nov 21, 2022 3:42 am
Thank you Shimon.

Three additional questions, if I may:
-did your mouth breathing prevented you from sleeping ? Or was it only a dry mouth problem, when you woke up ?
-are you, now, thanks to your regular taping, close to have no problem, any more, with the mouth breathing ? Or that you can solve it, now, with a simplified taping ?
-does it mean that, thanks to your mouth taping, you have been able to avoid a FFM vs a nasal or pillow nasal mask ?

Thanks
I started with a full face mask but found it cumbersome and prone to leaks. I had read about mouth breathing contributing to poor sleep and it caused me to wake up with a dry and soar throat. Can't say that it prevented it me from sleeping but it contributed to poor sleep along with my apnea. So I bought a Wisp nose mask and started taping and after a couple of nights I noticed an improvement in the mask sealing and my restfulness. I taped for a little over a year and then went without tape and I'm pretty sure I've kicked the mouth breathing. Although I think it does come back once in a while...and I tape for about a week and then I'm good again. No way to know for sure if I'm mouth breathing other than self-diagnosing symptoms such as dry mouth. I much prefer the nose mask over a full face mask... more comfortable and less mask-to-skin sealing area which makes achieving a good seal easier.

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Miss Emerita
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Re: How to win the battle against a mouth breathing preventing you from sleeping ?

Post by Miss Emerita » Mon Nov 21, 2022 11:58 am

I tape all the time. For a while, all I needed was one strip of tape. I liked Somnifix, but 3M Micropore also worked fine.

But then I started finding that saliva would loosen the adhesive over the course of the night. I started using extra pieces of tape to buttress the piece that went directly on my mouth. But putting all that tape on was time-consuming, and it sometimes didn't work.

Now I am back to using one strip of tape PLUS a stretchy band over it:

viewtopic.php?p=1089718&f=1&t=112758&p= ... s#p1086296

To keep enough tension on the band, I use a couple of bobby pins in back.

Although the tape alone, or the band alone, wouldn't stop my mouth leaks, using both together makes mouth leaks a thing of the past, at least for me.
Oscar software is available at https://www.sleepfiles.com/OSCAR/

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zonker
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Re: How to win the battle against a mouth breathing preventing you from sleeping ?

Post by zonker » Mon Nov 21, 2022 4:44 pm

Miss Emerita wrote:
Mon Nov 21, 2022 11:58 am


To keep enough tension on the band, I use a couple of bobby pins in back.

Image

i...i...i....i never thought of THAT. a very elegant solution. i've been using tinier stretch bands. i dunno what they are called but they are akin to what one would use to bundle up a pony tail, but much longer. however, they too eventually lose their stretch.

if'n i remember, i'll try to incorporate bobby pins.
Image
people say i'm self absorbed.
but that's enough about them.
Oscar-Win
https://www.apneaboard.com/OSCAR/OSCAR-1.5.1-Win64.exe
Oscar-Mac
https://www.apneaboard.com/OSCAR/OSCAR-1.5.1.dmg


Albatros
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Location: Le Vesinet Paris France

Re: How to win the battle against a mouth breathing preventing you from sleeping ?

Post by Albatros » Wed Nov 23, 2022 11:19 am

Thank you all.
Extremely useful...