Thank you Pugsy.Pugsy wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 6:39 pmChipmunk cheeks can happen even at lower pressures...actually at any pressure but you could certainly try reducing the pressure and see what happens.
Bear in mind that when you reduce the pressure then the pressure may not be able to hold the airway open and prevent airway collapses so you may see an increase in the AHI should that happen.
Full face masks come with their own leak baggage...up to you if you want to go down that road. They don't necessarily stop chipmunk cheeks either but will allow you to simple release the pressure by opening your mouth without losing therapy pressure. Might also still wake you up though which of course is unwanted because it messes with sleep quality.
Not my job to make decisions for you.
That's your job.
My job is only to explain the options available and pros and cons to those options.
I do almost always go for the cheapest and easiest experiment to be trying though. Worst thing that could happen is you learn it wasn't a good option and you move on to a different experiment. I always learned something though from all my experiments. Sometimes all I learned was what a stupid idea I tried.
When I first started cpap therapy I was doing some mouth breathing out of habit....so I opted to tape my mouth because it was cheap easy experiment to try. Now I have never had a problem with chipmunk cheeks and I routine saw pressures in the mid teens (still do sometimes). I quit taping after about 3 or 4 months....broke the mouth opening habit.
Every now and then I might see evidence of very brief mouth opening....I ignore it since it doesn't wake me up and it never lasts long enough deep in large leak territory for it to really have a negative impact on my therapy.
Getting to sleep and staying asleep and getting enough hours of sleep has always been my primary goal because without sleep none of the good numbers mean much.
I tried chin strap last night. It's a home-made one made from one of my ankle straps. I decided not to use tape this time.
I do not recall having chipmunk cheek last night. But I do recall occasionally I was waked up and had to open my lips to let the air out.
Not surprisingly the OSCAR showed major leaks last night.
The homemade strap did not work, I ordered another one online and will give it a try.
Pic OSCAR (Homemade strap. No tape)
- 截屏2021-10-02 上午7.56.32.png (529.19 KiB) Viewed 912 times
