How can I keep my mouth closed?

[higha56@gmail.com]

I am a new user and fighting a battle every night. I would like to use the nose pillow rather than the full face mask but can't keep my mouth closed. I have the headgear and have tightened it all the way. Has anyone tried taping their mouth shut? Any suggestions? Thanks

[squid13]

Put taping in the search box at the top and be prepared to do some reading.

[Cindy Lou Who]

higha56, welcome to the forum. You've come to a good place to get answers. You can go to cpap.com and look under masks at the hybred masks offered there.
https://www.cpap.com/cpap-masks/hybrid-cpap-mask.php

For myself I use a cloth and Velcro thing called a 'chin strap'. You can search for those on cpap.com to get an idea what they look like and price. Your DME will have some too, usually. It's not un-common for people to mouth leak.
Yes...you can tape. Cloth medical tape works well. Others here use the blue painter's tape. Be sure to turn both ends back on themselves a little bit to aid in removing the tape quickly. Some people's lips get irritated from tape glue. You may want to start by rolling your lips inward, upon themselves, before taping to prevent that. It also gives a better seal.
Be prepared to wake up with drool wetting the tape. That will happen sometimes.
Good luck and hope it works for you!
Cindy

[RogerSC]

I'm going to venture to offer my solution...I'm a side sleeper now, I trained myself to sleep on my side to decrease snoring. I'm pretty sure that if I sleep on my back my mouth would just fall open *smile*. However, I have one of these CPAP pillows:

https://www.cpap.com/productpage/papill ... cover.html

it's a firm pillow with the sides so you can rest your head on the side and the tube from your mask just falls down with no interference. I find that having my head resting on one side or the other keeps my mouth closed. This would probably help for side and stomach sleepers.

If you're a back sleeper, this most likely wouldn't help at all *smile*.

[jweeks]

I am a new user and fighting a battle every night. I would like to use the nose pillow rather than the full face mask but can't keep my mouth closed. I have the headgear and have tightened it all the way. Has anyone tried taping their mouth shut? Any suggestions? Thanks

Hi,

I am 4 years in, and I still fight this battle from time to time. I use the Puresom Ruby chin strap. That alone doesn't do the trick. I also use 3M micropore tape (2 inch wide), and that alone doesn't do the trick. I end up having to do both. I am a little concerned at times about mouth taping, but the ability to use a nasal pillow mask is worth the risk to me. I simply haven't found any mask other than the Swift LT that works for me. Without CPAP, I am all but disabled, so I have to do what I can to make this work.

If you do try this, here are 2 tips...(1) double the tape over at the ends to create small flaps at each end of the tape to make is easier to get ahold of when you want to remove it, (2) put something on your lips to keep the tape from sticking, such as heavy lip balm or gasoline (to avoid having the tape tear skin off of your lips). Males will want to shave before doing this, otherwise the tape will not seal well.

-john-

[BigLou]

Not trying to hijack thread but thanks John for the confirmation. I am a newbie only 2.5 months in and have tried several type masks (thanks to CPAP.com) but have determined that the Swift LT has been the best for me. I also use the Ruby chin strap but am not sure if the leaks I get are from the pillows or just air escaping out of my mouth at my higher pressures. Best of luck to the OP.

[Chikorita]

Thanks for asking this question.
A follow on question is what happens if for some reason the machine fails and your mouth is taped/strapped closed?
Can you still breath through the mask although with difficulty?

[jweeks]

A follow on question is what happens if for some reason the machine fails and your mouth is taped/strapped closed?
Can you still breath through the mask although with difficulty?

Hi,

That is an excellent question to ask. Masks have an anti-asphyxiation valve (or similar feature) to keep you from getting in trouble if you have a power outage or the machine fails. This is often a little spring tab by the exhaust that will open if there is no air pressure from the machine, and it closes when the machine does provide air. You probably would not breathe quite as easily, and that would likely wake you up sooner or later.

It might be a good idea to have a power outage alarm in your house to help wake you up when there is a power outage. I have a little alarm in my bedroom that beeps and lights up when the power goes out. I also have a few office style UPS units around the house that beep pretty loudly if I lose AC power. Fortunately, I live less than a block away from a major power substation that gets power from three different transmission lines, so I lose power about once a decade.

-john-

[markk]

I've had intermittent trouble with that, and for the reasons mentioned I absolutely will not tape my mouth shut, nor use a chin strap. No way do I want to wake up unable to open my mouth to breath, should something go wrong.

So, after much angst, and waking up a lot of times with a terribly dry mouth, I have found a couple of answers for me, no idea if it'll help you.

1. Avoid stress before bed. I found that I move my mouth if I'm stressed and of course, then it opens.
2. I lay on my back, and if my head is too far forward or too far back, it opens.
3. As I'm getting relaxed, after the mask is on, pressure's up to normal, I don't have any reason to move or anything, I shove my tongue up against my front teeth, pull a "sucking" effort on it, as if I had a cough drop or something in my mouth, and make sure my face is relaxed and normal position. It generally works.

When I first started, falling asleep was a horrible ordeal with the mask on, but I've gotten more used to it. Along with getting used to it and being more casual, I began to not do these things, and so I began to have a LOT more failures. Now, it happens once every week or two. I wake up, get my mouth wet again, go through the routine to ensure I have a positive seal with lips and tongue generating a vacuum and go back to sleep. For me, however, it's just a matter of a small amount escaping through my lips. It's so small I'm mostly unable to see it anywhere in sleepyhead.

BTW, if my lips are dry for some reason, I can never keep it from happening. I've actually gotten up, gotten a drink, gone to the bathroom, etc, and then try to re-seal things up again, and mostly, that works for me.

[Chikorita]

Silly me, I had never thought of having a drink beside the bed to rehydrate. Thanks.

[Julie]

LOOSEN your mask - the tighter you make it beyond what's needed to hold it in place, the more microleaks you create in odd places that you can't even keep track of, and add to your loss of therapy that you already have from not wearing a FF mask.

[Maxie]

I've taped and it worked well as the tape is more of a reminder to keep my lips closed than an actual restraining device. I figured out how to pull up the deluxe chin strap over my mouth and that worked well but basically I hate chin straps and they still let you open your lips so air flows in or out. Now I fold a bandana and tie it around my mouth at night and it works well. It holds my lips together but I can move my mouth around and again, I wear it mainly as a "reminder" to my mouth/lips to stay closed. With the Bella Loops this works well for me and I don't have to wear anything over my head.

[higha56@gmail.com]

Wow. So impressed with the responses to my question. Thanks for taking the time to offer your suggestions to my problem. I feel like I've discovered a new "family." Is there a cpap users dating site? Just kidding, married.

[nanwilson]

Higha
If I were you I would not post my email address as my signature.......you will be getting a ton of spam. Just pick a new name and hope like h#$%ll that no one has picked it up.
By the way....WELCOME to the best forum for us cpap users...you will get a pile of help and advice here and hopefully once you have your therapy down to getting good sleep..you will stick around and pay forward to others what you have learned here.
Cheers
Nan

[poppi2]

Thanks for asking this question.
A follow on question is what happens if for some reason the machine fails and your mouth is taped/strapped closed?
Can you still breath through the mask although with difficulty?

I too was worried about power or machine failure while taped and using a nasal pillow. Here is how I minimized the problem to my satisfaction viewtopic.php?f=1&t=75419&p=692388#p690334. Let me know fi the links to the photos are broken.

Earl