Air escaping or mouth breathing?

bhoffman57 · Post by **bhoffman57** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 10:22 am

I am fairly new to CPAPs (a month) but I have what may be a very silly question...
When I use my nasal mask (Mirage Activa), there are times when the CPAP air comes out of my mouth. This happened a few times during my sleep study, but the study results still showed a marked improvement in my sleep.
My question is - is this normal and OK? I've read a lot about mouth breathing and know that this is somewhat different, but I also read that any air coming out of the mouth is a bad thing. It was worse when I switched to nasal pillows (Mirage Swift) - the air seemed to be at a higher pressure and shot out of my mouth more.

I have a FF( you guessed it - Ultra Mirage) , but there are many leaks.

Thanks

Linda3032 · Post by **Linda3032** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 11:01 am

bhoffman57 wrote:I am fairly new to CPAPs (a month) but I have what may be a very silly question...
When I use my nasal mask (Mirage Activa), there are times when the CPAP air comes out of my mouth. This happened a few times during my sleep study, but the study results still showed a marked improvement in my sleep.
My question is - is this normal and OK? I've read a lot about mouth breathing and know that this is somewhat different, but I also read that any air coming out of the mouth is a bad thing. It was worse when I switched to nasal pillows (Mirage Swift) - the air seemed to be at a higher pressure and shot out of my mouth more.

I have a FF( you guessed it - Ultra Mirage) , but there are many leaks.

Actually, one is mouth breathing and one is mouth leaks - both allow air pressure to escape from your mouth. You have to correct the problem. With your full face mask, tape, or polygrip strips.

Here these great threads posted by RG.

viewtopic.php?t=8011

krousseau · Post by **krousseau** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 1:58 pm

Can you actually mouth breath while on the machine?? Or does the air pressure cause the air to rush out the mouth when you open your mouth to mouth breathe or if your mouth drops open when you get deeply relaxed.

MandoJohnny · Post by **MandoJohnny** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 2:54 pm

I was just going to post a question on this, but mine has a slightly different spin. I have tried mouth breathing on my machine intentionally, while I was still awake, just to see what would happen. I get a huge, loud rush of air in my nose and out of my mouth. It is startling! I can't imagine not being woken up by it if I did it during sleep, yet that has never happened and my machine is reporting acceptable leakage stats, as well as AHI's consistently under 2.

So my question is, could I still be mouth breathing and not know it? Are there people who could actually sleep through that startling rush of air? Or am I just missing something here.

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 4:37 pm

MandoJohnny wrote:I have tried mouth breathing on my machine intentionally, while I was still awake, just to see what would happen. I get a huge, loud rush of air in my nose and out of my mouth. It is startling! I can't imagine not being woken up by it if I did it during sleep, yet that has never happened and my machine is reporting acceptable leakage stats, as well as AHI's consistently under 2.

So my question is, could I still be mouth breathing and not know it? Are there people who could actually sleep through that startling rush of air?

Yes, there are people who can sleep through that. Unfortunately, I can.

I agree that it's very noticeable...startling is the right word!...when one does that while awake. All bets are off when we get into deep sleep. Since your leak stats and your AHI are staying down so nicely, I don't think you have anything to worry about. You're one of the lucky ones who isn't plagued with mouth air leaks/mouth breathing!

bhoffman57 · Post by **bhoffman57** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 5:07 pm

krousseau wrote:Can you actually mouth breath while on the machine?? Or does the air pressure cause the air to rush out the mouth when you open your mouth to mouth breathe or if your mouth drops open when you get deeply relaxed.

The air rushes out when I get deeply relaxed

RedThunder94 · Post by **RedThunder94** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 7:00 pm

i'm actually pretty good at not allowing mouth leaks when i use my comfortgel nasal, i first tried with the chin strap but it left horrible marks on my chin when i wake up in the morning so i tried it without and did fine, i just haven't been using it because i have some congestion so i'll stay with my cf2 until i clear up.

Air escaping or mouth breathing?

Air escaping or mouth breathing?

Re: Air escaping or mouth breathing?

Curious about this also

Re: Curious about this also