What reasons are there for mouth breathing. I don't know weather to get a full face mask or regular mask. How do know ?
Butch
How do you know if you're a "Mouth breather"
Do you wake up feeling like you've eated a whole bottle of kindergarten paste in the night?
Do you sometimes wake up with a sore, dry throat?
Do you regularly have congestion or difficulty breathing through your nose?
If not, then you probably aren't. And even if you are, I found that I was generally pretty able to change when I started using the Swift. Heated humidifiers do a good job of keeping your sinuses open, as does the positive pressure.
Liam, off the Swift and back to mouth-breathing...
Do you sometimes wake up with a sore, dry throat?
Do you regularly have congestion or difficulty breathing through your nose?
If not, then you probably aren't. And even if you are, I found that I was generally pretty able to change when I started using the Swift. Heated humidifiers do a good job of keeping your sinuses open, as does the positive pressure.
Liam, off the Swift and back to mouth-breathing...
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Re: How do you know if you're a "Mouth breather"
Hi Butch,Butch wrote:What reasons are there for mouth breathing. I don't know weather to get a full face mask or regular mask. How do know ?
Butch
Have you had the sleep test? Have you started with a cpap machine yet? I'm guessing not. During the test they can tell how you deal with the mask, whether or not you can keep your mouth shut during sleep and with use of the regular nose mask. I'm guessing that if you can't handle breathing all the time through your nose only, you wouldn't be able to sleep at all with a cpap machine and nose mask. When your mouth is open, air rushes in or out in very odd ways. Everyone is different. Hopefully you'll get more responses here. But welcome to the forum!
Good luck to you. Keep in touch with the forum.
Linda
Re: How do you know if you're a "Mouth breather"
During my titration study I was awakened and told "my mouth flopped open like an old fish". Well wasn't that an attractive sight? ha.
So I use the chin strap (which is a pain in the a--), but it helps to keep my trap shut. I'm not brave enuf to tape it closed. I have to be very careful of skin issues, with diabetes, so it's a chin strap for me. The one I first had with the hole in the chin was AWFUL. Now I have the chin strap with the sewn in material cup-like thingy where your chin goes. I don't know what someone would do with a big fat chin, as this gizmo is not very large, and the straps are pathetically short. So I'm gonna sew an extra length of velcro on it.
I did notice a change when I went from size medium to the large nasal pillows on my swifty, seals much better, no hissing, air leaking sounds now.
So I use the chin strap (which is a pain in the a--), but it helps to keep my trap shut. I'm not brave enuf to tape it closed. I have to be very careful of skin issues, with diabetes, so it's a chin strap for me. The one I first had with the hole in the chin was AWFUL. Now I have the chin strap with the sewn in material cup-like thingy where your chin goes. I don't know what someone would do with a big fat chin, as this gizmo is not very large, and the straps are pathetically short. So I'm gonna sew an extra length of velcro on it.
I did notice a change when I went from size medium to the large nasal pillows on my swifty, seals much better, no hissing, air leaking sounds now.
Butch wrote:What reasons are there for mouth breathing. I don't know weather to get a full face mask or regular mask. How do know ?
Butch
Liam1965 wrote:Do you wake up feeling like you've eated a whole bottle of kindergarten paste in the night? ...
Liam,
Is this an experience with which you are intimately familiar??
Did you have to eat the WHOLE bottle?
Linda, who ate the stuff, but wasn't about to scarf down the whole bottle.
??
If someone lives with you and actually watching you sleep, it'd be hard to find out. Best way is usually the way your mouth feels in the morning, dry, pasty, gross, stuffed up, ICK.
With my auto pap and htd humif. my mouth is not that dry anymore.
Something else I have found helps me, is to also have a room humidifier going in the bedroom (cool mist) it does help during heating season, and if the room is generally dry anyway. Might be worth a shot. Can usually find a cheap humidifier in Walmart, places like that.
How can your dr. set a range for you on the apap, without a study? But in my opinion, you are on the right track with a auto....You will not be getting the blast of pressure so problematic for others.....................................
My thoughts anyhow.
With my auto pap and htd humif. my mouth is not that dry anymore.
Something else I have found helps me, is to also have a room humidifier going in the bedroom (cool mist) it does help during heating season, and if the room is generally dry anyway. Might be worth a shot. Can usually find a cheap humidifier in Walmart, places like that.
How can your dr. set a range for you on the apap, without a study? But in my opinion, you are on the right track with a auto....You will not be getting the blast of pressure so problematic for others.....................................
My thoughts anyhow.
Butch wrote:I have not had a sleep study. My Dr. is convinced that I have apnea. I don't have insurance. He is willing to write a prescription for a autotitrating cpap. I want to get the mask right the first time since funds are limited.
How do I know if I'm a mouthbreather.
Butch
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Butch
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Hi Butch,
Check out a home sleep study. It's much less expensive than a hospital one. Then, if you have OSA, an autopap is a great idea. Mouth breathing can be overcome using a chin strap, neck brace, or (gulp) tape. I would try those measures before going for a full face mask. The nasal masks are, in my opinion, much moer comfortable. I hope this was helpful. Best of luck to you.
Check out a home sleep study. It's much less expensive than a hospital one. Then, if you have OSA, an autopap is a great idea. Mouth breathing can be overcome using a chin strap, neck brace, or (gulp) tape. I would try those measures before going for a full face mask. The nasal masks are, in my opinion, much moer comfortable. I hope this was helpful. Best of luck to you.
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Butch
Well my Dr says to purchase a Puritan Bennett 420E . Its the least expensive. He says it will treat my apnea and record my sleep. He says I can also purchase software to download the data . We can make adjustments based on this data. Does this sound like a good plan ?
Butch
Butch
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nodding off
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If and only if you have sleep apnea. Otherwise you are just pumping a bunch of air up your nose for nothing! There are a lot of reasons to not sleep well besides OSA. Diagnosis and treatment without an examination really don't make a lot of sense. I just hope for your health's sake (and your wallet's sake) that your doc is right.
mouth breathing
Some people, me included, were partial mouth breathers before CPAP, but have learned to breathe only through our noses while on CPAP. The CPAP helps keep my nasal passages clearer, even when I have a cold or allergies. Personally, I can't stand any mask, and use only nasal pillow style CPAP interfaces.
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Butch
I had a pulse oximeter for a few nights. It showed reduced oxygen levels. This along with my symptoms and sleep questionair suggest moderate sleep apnea acording to my Dr. I have no insurance . I want to get this right the first time. My Dr. says he can adjust the machine when he sees my data after a few weeks of use. Is this a good plan ?
Butch
Butch
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Butch, I'm not a doctor, but I think your doctor sounds like he has a lot of common sense and has come up with an excellent plan for you. It's not that difficult for a savvy doctor (and they don't have to be a "sleep doctor", imho) to diagnose obstructive sleep apnea from the patient's symptoms.
Sure, there could be other sleep disorders playing a role, but it could just as well be plain vanilla OSA, exactly as your doctor suspects. If it walks like a duck, and snores like a duck.... Since OSA is what your doctor thinks you have, then going straight onto a auto-titrating machine, with software to see if the treatment is effective, is a very, very good idea. Especially when a person does not have insurance.
Here's a link to a powerpoint presentation given by a board certified sleep doctor who thinks the way your doctor thinks--regarding the benefits of skipping an expensive sleep study and starting right out on an autopap for some people:
Powerpoint presentation at a meeting of the American Lung Association of the Central Coast - November 2004
You asked about a mask. If I were you, not knowing yet whether you mouth breathe or not, I'd get the ResMed Mirage Activa nasal mask (covers the nose) as my first one. You'll get others, believe me....but that's as "sure" a start as you can get, imho, and would be more comfortable to wear than a full face mask.
If you can breathe fine through your nose but do turn out to be one of the many of us who flop our mouths open and lose treatment air out the mouth, or puff air out from between closed lips, there are ways to deal with that and still be able to use your Activa. If you normally have a lot of nasal congestion, especially when you lie down for awhile, then you should make a full face mask be your first mask.
As a second mask just as soon as you can afford it, get yourself a full face mask (ResMed Ultra Mirage FF is a top notch one in the full face line) for times when you have a cold or nasal congestion and just cannot breathe through your nose.
Later (figure around Christmas time) put the name of a nasal pillows mask on your wish list to give relatives an idea of something you really, really want as a gift...heheh! By then maybe the Aura nasal pillows mask will have Extra Large pillows available. Your nickname sounds like you're a guy, so that's the size "pillows" you'll want in that particular mask. Or put the Swift on your list, or the Breeze. Those are two more really good nasal pillows masks. If you buy your equipment online from cpap.com, you can get plenty of help about what size mask to order from the very experienced people that take the phone orders.
It's good to have several completely different style masks to rotate among. Rotating, from time to time, the type of mask you wear will keep any one mask from always pressing on the same spots on your face or bridge of your nose. Masks are darned expensive experiments, but they are crucial to getting good treatment. A mask that turns out to be comfortable AND as leakproof as possible is worth its weight in gold. Even if the machine and pressure don't bother you, an uncomfortable mask can keep disrupting your sleep just as surely as apneas/hypopneas can.
Good luck! You and your doctor are doing the right thing absolutely, in my opinion!
Sure, there could be other sleep disorders playing a role, but it could just as well be plain vanilla OSA, exactly as your doctor suspects. If it walks like a duck, and snores like a duck.... Since OSA is what your doctor thinks you have, then going straight onto a auto-titrating machine, with software to see if the treatment is effective, is a very, very good idea. Especially when a person does not have insurance.
Here's a link to a powerpoint presentation given by a board certified sleep doctor who thinks the way your doctor thinks--regarding the benefits of skipping an expensive sleep study and starting right out on an autopap for some people:
Powerpoint presentation at a meeting of the American Lung Association of the Central Coast - November 2004
You asked about a mask. If I were you, not knowing yet whether you mouth breathe or not, I'd get the ResMed Mirage Activa nasal mask (covers the nose) as my first one. You'll get others, believe me....but that's as "sure" a start as you can get, imho, and would be more comfortable to wear than a full face mask.
If you can breathe fine through your nose but do turn out to be one of the many of us who flop our mouths open and lose treatment air out the mouth, or puff air out from between closed lips, there are ways to deal with that and still be able to use your Activa. If you normally have a lot of nasal congestion, especially when you lie down for awhile, then you should make a full face mask be your first mask.
As a second mask just as soon as you can afford it, get yourself a full face mask (ResMed Ultra Mirage FF is a top notch one in the full face line) for times when you have a cold or nasal congestion and just cannot breathe through your nose.
Later (figure around Christmas time) put the name of a nasal pillows mask on your wish list to give relatives an idea of something you really, really want as a gift...heheh! By then maybe the Aura nasal pillows mask will have Extra Large pillows available. Your nickname sounds like you're a guy, so that's the size "pillows" you'll want in that particular mask. Or put the Swift on your list, or the Breeze. Those are two more really good nasal pillows masks. If you buy your equipment online from cpap.com, you can get plenty of help about what size mask to order from the very experienced people that take the phone orders.
It's good to have several completely different style masks to rotate among. Rotating, from time to time, the type of mask you wear will keep any one mask from always pressing on the same spots on your face or bridge of your nose. Masks are darned expensive experiments, but they are crucial to getting good treatment. A mask that turns out to be comfortable AND as leakproof as possible is worth its weight in gold. Even if the machine and pressure don't bother you, an uncomfortable mask can keep disrupting your sleep just as surely as apneas/hypopneas can.
Good luck! You and your doctor are doing the right thing absolutely, in my opinion!