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BuckarooBanzai wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 13, 2022 9:22 pm

Are there any tips for nasal and pillow users?

you need to keep those lips together. here is what i use-https://www.cpaptalk.com/viewtopic.php? ... s#p1086296

that plus a foam firm cervical collar will do the trick.

good luck!

I know you are going to think I am a crazy old lady but eventually you could learn to close off the back door from your airway into your mouth and it won't matter if you yawn, or talk, or whatever....and no air will "whoosh" out your mouth.
I can do it (many others as well)....I can talk, open my mouth wide, even stick out my tongue and blow raspberries with mouth wide open...all with mask and machine on...without any air from the airway entering my mouth.
There's a reflex action that shuts the door in the back of the mouth. I can't describe how to do it on purpose though.
It's sort of similar to what happens when we blow up a balloon and no air comes out the nose....we don't know just how we do it but we do it.

I can't guarantee that you will learn or have your body learn to do this reflex action....but it is possible.
I think it took me about 6 months to realize that I could talk normally and not have air rush out.

And yes, sometimes the mouth drops open but that doesn't mean air will rush out or you are mouth breathing....it's just that little reflex action practicing on you.

In the meantime....if you need to yawn then yawn. Most yawns are in the head anyway....I know that when I type the word "yawn" it makes me have a really strong urge to yawn and I am not the least little bit sleepy. Ever watch someone yawn and in just a short time you have to join in???

Unless the mouth opening leaks are big or waking you up a lot....don't worry about them for right now.
My mouth comes open occasionally but it's short lived. I probably do a little mouth breathing at times but I learned a long time ago that sometimes trying to fix little problems ends up creating bigger problems.
Give yourself a bit of time before worrying about mouth openings unless you are having major problems sleeping with it.

Oh....just to prove that not all mouth openings equals massive mouth breathing or leaking so bad your therapy is in the toilet.
Some time ago I woke up early and I was mouth breathing. It was a nice slow gentle mouth breathing and there was no tornado of air flying out my mouth. I had a bit of time and it was time to get up anyway so I decided to just lay in bed and continue the mouth breathing so that I could see it on the leak graph and evaluate it.
Below is the leak graph. I circled the known awake breathing time in red. I only did it for about 10 minutes because I needed to get up and go pee.

So before you go worrying about having to do something to keep your lips closed...make sure you even need to worry.

I will think about the cervical collar and such. But I suspect that, as Pugsy said, perhaps I don't need to worry about it just yet. If I were mouth breathing, I'd need to find a solution, but right now...I think I'll just give myself a few nights to see what happens. Was sleeping propped up on pillows, and I wonder if that's why my lips parted a bit. Will sleep 'flat' with just one pillow tonight and see what happens.

Don't know whether I can learn your technique, Pugsy.

The only thing that bugs me about the yawning and the lips parting is the way air whooshes out of my mouth when it happens. That wakes me up.

Will give it a few days. I mean, I just started with the new mask last night.

I can say this: I felt more awake, aware and rested today than I have in years. Something is going right. I slept 9 hours last night on CPAP and only woke once. Even with the 'whooshes,' my leak rate was only 7. Events = 1.9

Well, another great night! A full 8+ hours of sleep with CPAP. Love the new P10 mask. I can even sleep on my stomach. Numbers are excellent. No jaw drop while sleeping flat with a CPAP pillow.

Woke up feeling like a human being. Remarkable!

Hey Buckaroo! Congratulations. You did it! So glad to hear you are having success and feeling the benefits.

Pugsy said:

I know you are going to think I am a crazy old lady but eventually you could learn to close off the back door from your airway into your mouth and it won't matter if you yawn, or talk, or whatever....and no air will "whoosh" out your mouth.
I can do it (many others as well)....I can talk, open my mouth wide, even stick out my tongue and blow raspberries with mouth wide open...all with mask and machine on...without any air from the airway entering my mouth.

Remember when you were a kid playing in the swimming pool. Maybe only girls did this but we would hold "underwater tea parties" where we would pretend to drink tea (pinkies up!) and converse. We could open our mouths and talk under water, and water would not enter the airway because we knew how to close off the airway from the mouth by tightening the muscles in the back of the throat. Nobody taught us how to do this. It was kind of instinctual. That's exactly what we need to do to open our mouths while the CPAP is running. Same thing.

Absolutely fascinating, Janknitz! Unfortunately (fortunately?), I never had the pleasure of underwater tea parties as a child. Never learned that skill. But, the problem seems to be taking care of itself.

Buckaroo, great to read that you’re getting good sleep!

Thanks! I cannot believe it!

Hope it doesn't take too long for me to catch up on my sleep. I mean, I know the neurons take up to a year to regenerate significantly, but if I can get to the point where I just plain feel rested and well, I can wait one year for the rest of it.

Oh, get this! My nose is NOT irritated! I have not been forced to open the embarrassing violet tube of lanolin that Pugsy made me buy. J/K, Pugsy.

Another perfect night. Well, CPAP is now everyday, as easy as a PBJ. I feel spoiled rotten. Thank you, all!

Amazing what finding the right mask will do for things isn't it?
Glad you found yours early in the cpap journey.
As others have mentioned....the right mask is critical to success.
The rest of it is going to get boring and routine and that's a good thing.

Yup, at this point, boring is good.

I don't really believe there's such thing as "paying a sleep debt" but I found myself tired and eager to go to bed once I got my CPAP therapy dialed in. My body really craved a good sleep for a long time.

Anybody seen the new Medlock? It is a set of magnets that quickly connects your CPAP tube to your mask tubing. Really fast and easy. Very nice for those middle of the night disconnects. Went to buy one but, do you know, they cost $100?!

https://medlockusa.com/?ref=aliyp9ay40