Mouth Taping--Consequences?

krousseau · Post by **krousseau** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 12:24 am

And initial results are that you don't want to search for mouth taping on the world wide web. It takes you to places you do not want to go.

dcpap · Post by **dcpap** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 12:42 am

I tried to put it all together, do I have it in the right order.
1. Taped my eyes shut so I wouldn't poke them out.
2. Vomited into my full-face mask.
3. Coughed and spread it all over the place.
<Grins>
Acutally, I use a full face mirage AND ALSOI tape vertically the center 1/3rd of my mouth with one-third of a Chin-up Strip..
Be Well.

krousseau · Post by **krousseau** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 8:46 am

Oh....given the results of the web search last night there could be a connection in some minds between taping and foul play or sexual games. It can interfere with research & inquiry-shouldn't but can.
Maybe tapers should leave a note at their beside that they do not do this for fun & games and no family members had any part in it.

This is getting terribly morbid for tapers so lets do a thread on safety tips and support for those who ran out of other options.

ehusen · Post by **ehusen** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 7:43 am

Funny thing for me is when I mentioned to my doc. that I was mouth taping and was a little concerned about maybe vomitting in my sleep, his response was "When was the last time that ever happened to you?". Thinking about it I had to say "we'll never." So, at least in my case, my docter was pretty much unconcerned about it. (Of course he didn't recommend it to me, I decided to try it after nothing else would work for my mouth breathing)

barbyanny · Post by **barbyanny** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 11:13 am

I would be more worried of desating than vomiting. Has anyone done a O2 sat test, with tape/without tape? Your CPAP machine numbers might show fewer leaks but what is your O2sat? By losing the mouth as an entrance for airflow that leaves two nostrils. What if one becomes clogged during sleep? Then you have one nostril to work with. Is this enough flow to give the body adequate oxygen? Will you need to use accessory thoracic muscles to breathe? Will a desat cause your brain to wake you, repeatedly, but you just keep falling back asleep because your CO2 is building? When our bodies get in these dangerous states we have autonomic responses such as "agonal gasping" which is the brain's last ditch effort to get air through the mouth.

It's really about risk vs. benefit. I personally would never feel comfortable with this pratice. I base that on my knowledge of the way the brain works in situations of low O2 levels in the body.

beneyw · Post by **beneyw** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 3:04 pm

No problem for me re: taping and oxygen. I had an oximetry study twice while using tape and results were 96-99% all night.

CollegeGirl · Post by **CollegeGirl** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 3:09 pm

Now I'm curious. Some day maybe I'll borrow an oximeter and use it one night with tape and my Aura, and the other night with my UMFFM. Since I'm getting better tiredness results with the aura/tape method, there's obviously something going on there. I'd just like to confirm that there's no difference in oxygen levels for me.

snoregirl · Post by **snoregirl** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 3:16 pm

Barbyanny

How is this scenerio you describe any different than the power going off in the house and you trying to breath with the full face mask still attached? I know I have a lot of trouble breathing with a full face mask on attached to a tube without the machine running. I am pretty darn sure I would wake up, same with a clogged nostril. Less air = I wake up.

barbyanny · Post by **barbyanny** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 4:20 pm

You have just described the scenario I am talking about. Yes, it is uncomfortable to have on a full face mask with the power off! That feeling is your body telling you your O2 is low and you need more, you wake up and remove mask for relief. Now if you were under the influence of a sleeping medication and groggy, your CO2 rising, you might not wake up in time to break the cycle. But the fact still remains that you would have two nostrils and an open mouth available to pull O2 in through the ventilation system built into the mask. Your thoracic muscles would have to pull hard, but you would have all three to allow flow through.

I would hope that the manufacturers have study this specific occurence as you describe and we should be able to see their research data. Anyone have a source for this kind of data? Mouth breathing is an important part of our survival system. Unfortunately for us our we have periodic obstructions that prevent this mechanism from operating 100% of the time. But if we need to mouth breath it should be available to our system when in crisis.

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 5:14 pm

barbyanny wrote:By losing the mouth as an entrance for airflow that leaves two nostrils. What if one becomes clogged during sleep? Then you have one nostril to work with. Is this enough flow to give the body adequate oxygen?

Interesting question. Normally, one of my nostrils or the other is pretty stuffy, sometimes complete clogged during the day and when I go to bed. I've been taping my mouth for almost 4 years. Even when I start out with one nostril completely stuffed up, the slightly heated, slightly humidified airflow from the machine opens it somewhat, but never entirely. I prefer nasal pillows interfaces.

Occasionally I've noticed that while one nostril is fairly stuffed up, that one becomes unblocked when I turn over, and the other takes its turn at being stuffy.

What I'm getting at is, almost every night I'm getting my cpap treatment through only one nostril or the other...never completely freely through both at the same time.

I have a recording pulse oximeter. I already did more than a week's worth of recordings, using cpap with mouth taped. I'm quite sure at least some of those nights were with one nostril essentially closed. My O2 sats stayed well up in the mid-nineties all those nights.

I think I'll try a couple of nights of recording pulse oximetry without mouth taped.

And, in the interests of lab-rattery, I'll try one night taped and one night untaped, but with this twist -- with a nose plug crammed firmly in one nostril to be absolutely sure of getting airflow through only one nostril those two nights.

Will be interesting to see the oximetry results. Won't apply to anyone else, but at least that will be one anecdotal test of overnight O2 sats while getting cpap treatment through only one nostril...and with mouth taped.

Now, lemme get a pen and paper....who should I leave each machine to?

Snoozin' Bluezzz · Post by **Snoozin' Bluezzz** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 5:51 pm

rested gal wrote:
And, in the interests of lab-rattery, I'll try one night taped and one night untaped, but with this twist -- with a nose plug crammed firmly in one nostril to be absolutely sure of getting airflow through only one nostril those two nights.

Will be interesting to see the oximetry results. Won't apply to anyone else, but at least that will be one anecdotal test of overnight O2 sats while getting cpap treatment through only one nostril...and with mouth taped.

Now, lemme get a pen and paper....who should I leave each machine to?

Laura you are one hard-core OSA Geek! I've never seen the like. You do great honor to geekdom of all sorts. Without such efforts we would all be so much more ignorant. I am grateful!!!

David

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 10:55 pm

Snoozin, you're just saying that 'cuz you want my l'il Aeiomed machine!!

"hard-core OSA Geek" heheh. Yeah, I guess so. I actually enjoyed the sleep study I finally got.

NightHawkeye · Post by **NightHawkeye** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 6:06 am

rested gal wrote:I have a recording pulse oximeter. I already did more than a week's worth of recordings, using cpap with mouth taped.

So, RG, what kind of oximeter have you got? Is it bought or borrowed?

Inquiring geeks need to know.

Regards,
Bill

birdshell · Post by **birdshell** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 8:44 am

Rested Gal, you take the term 'andecdotal' to a whole new level!!

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 8:48 am

Borrowed BCI "FingerPrint Sleep" oximeter.

I don't have software for it. I just print out the overnight results on the little roll of tape inside it.

Mouth Taping--Consequences?

Taping Sequence, maybe I got the order wrong?

O2 sat

full face mask