Moving from full mask to nasal pillows

I've been using cpap with a Mirage full mask since November. Now that it's summer, I'm asking my home medical technician to help me try an OPUS nasal pillow mask. My face sweats and I get so warm and the seal breaks several times a night. Has anyone moved from a full mask to nasal pillows with success? I have always tended to breath through my mouth when I'm sleeping, so I'm wondering if there's any chance at all that this change will work. Thanks for any help.

Yes, I went thru several FF before finding my Optilife. The only ones that sealed gave me Rudolph-nose.

You will probably need to address the mouth-breathing. There are several options. I prefer taping (my sleep doc cringes when I tell her that...so we don't discuss it any more!). Chinstraps work for some (but not me.) Some use Poligrip strips (tried it. yuck!)

You will find the pillow mask MUCH less claustrophobic, very lightweight, and much more comfortable. After a FF, it's like not wearing a mask at all.

Good luck!

im new to the cpap world. I started out on the swift pillows with a chin strap. Found out pretty quick that my mouth leaked through the night giving me extreme dry mouth plus causing a breathing issue every once in awhile. A few days ago, I switched to the mirage liberty mouth mask with nose pillows. My DME told me I would not need the chin strap with this one, but I do. Without the chin strap I find my jaw relaxes falling down and in breaking the seal.

some people will tape their mouths or use the polident to seal their lips using the pillows and like it, I tried tape once, but I didnt like it personally. it works out, good for some.

good luck

I too went from a FF mask to a Headrest. Taping is not as scary as some think. I found it was easier to open my mouth with tape on it than with a chinstrap.

Get busy, searching and reading. Learn how to plant your tongue on the roof of you mouth. That's how I did it. Still get dry mouth on occassion but I keep a bottle of Propel by my bed for that.

Long live the Headrest

Just wondering - do you mouth-breathe because of allergies or nasal congestion? I have found that a combination of Flonase (nasal steroid spray) and Astelin (fairly new - an antihistamine nasal spray) improves my nasal breathing considerably. These are both prescription meds, but have very low side-effects and can be used long-term.

Thanks Twasbrillig (in the slithy toves, did gire and gimbol in the wabe, all mimsy were the borogroves...love it )! Will add a sample/script for Astelin at doc's appt tomorrow...who knows but that it might help.

I went for 14 mos with no mouth leaks, now I have 'em. At first occasionally (maybe several a wk), right now multiple leaks that create events nightly...tho last night I tightened the mask's chin support and had fewer. I must admit I also have worse allergies/congestion. Seems to me, if my exhale pressure were less (seems as strong & disconcerting now as it did in the sleep study, even tho I'd learned to expect it), perhaps I'd leak less.

Muse - about the expiratory pressure relief - THAT IS MY THINKING EXACTLY! I am trying to get BiPAP or Auto BiPAP or something that gives me a considerable relief on expiration. I feel like that is what causes my leaks at higher pressure.

I use a chin strap (and have used full face) but the problem is not my mouth, but the seal between my tongue and palate. Does yours get fluttery at high pressure? I noticed on my last sleep study last week that I was doing this funny thing with my mouth -movement almost like swallowing - when I was half awake. I think I was trying to re-establish the seal inside my mouth over and over again, as the high pressure kept making it give out.

Twasbrillig, my pressure's only 11. Since my pressure's not high, no tongue flutters. I wore a bite plate to move my jaw forward many yrs ago and trained self to hold tongue on roof of mouth between front teeth.

I do not...as far as I can tell...release CPAP air anymore (did in the beginning); it's just small puffs of air as I breathe out with my lips slightly pursed so my mouth dries out. Those puffs of air wake me up BUT my pulse rate is increased which decreases following multiple long, slow, deep breaths -- seems like desaturation to me and hypopneas with desaturation was my biggie in the sleep study. I pulled off piece ot Micropore tape and applied it to half my mouth (thought it might reduce leaks), then took it off remembering that one or the other nostril gets completely blocked (congested) overnight...I might suffocate if both were blocked and my mouth taped was an all too possible scenario for me.

Tomorrows' my visit with doc, so will learn more. I want a full data-capable device so I know what the heck is happening with all this...will have to see what happens