Mouth Breathing solution?

ResMed AirSense 11
Chin strap
Gel Eye Mask
Nasal pillow (switched from full face)

When I wake I can’t even speak. My AHI has gone up from .2/hr to more than 5 in some cases. I use the chin strap, and also goggles to keep my eyelids from everting. I’ve lost 60+ lbs this past year, so weight loss mixed with CPAP causes floppy eyelid syndrome for me. Still repairing damage from that.

Question is: I think my lips are parting. Are there any good solutions for that? I hear lip tape works, other sites are saying this can somehow cause a coma due to CO buildup. That does seem far fetched to me.

As I write this, I feel like I may have posted in the wrong thread. Please forgive me, I belong to a lot of forums. If I need to move this, let me know.

MewsikMaker wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 26, 2022 8:45 am

As I write this, I feel like I may have posted in the wrong thread. Please forgive me, I belong to a lot of forums. If I need to move this, let me know.

No problem as to where this is posted. We really only have one main forum. Everything goes here. There are no sub forums.

MewsikMaker wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 26, 2022 8:45 am

Question is: I think my lips are parting. Are there any good solutions for that? I hear lip tape works, other sites are saying this can somehow cause a coma due to CO buildup. That does seem far fetched to me.

It is far fetched. Lots of people here use some sort of lip taping to keep the lips shut and they don't have any problem.
Think about it....if keeping the lips shut caused some sort of carbon dioxide build up then a lot of people who simply don't open their mouths would have that problem. If someone can breathe comfortably through just their nose there isn't going to be any problem clearing the carbon dioxide out of the blood stream.

What makes you think your lips are parting?
Are you using available software to see just how much leaking from mouth breathing is going on?
What are you leak numbers when you have that higher AHI?

Before going to extraordinary means to stop any mouth breathing maybe you should first make sure that you have a problem that needs fixing. Not all mouth breathing (if it is even happening) means that the therapy is totally in the toilet.

Use available software and see exactly what is going on.
To fix a problem one first has to identify the problem.

OSCAR software will give you the detailed data to help identify the problem.

OSCAR https://www.sleepfiles.com/OSCAR/
http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph ... stallation
http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph ... rpretation

viewtopic/t158560/How-to-post-images-for-review.html

Just on the general subject of the safety of taping. Some people avoid it, for two main reasons.

(1) If you suddenly need to vomit in the night, the tape could lead to your aspirating some vomitus, which would be bad. With some products, though, you can easily pull you mouth open in an emergency using only your jaw muscles. (I'm thinking especially of Somnifix strips.) But honestly, I haven't had a sudden need to vomit in the night since I was a child, so I don't spend any time worrying about this.

(2) If there is a power failure and your machine goes off while you're sleeping, you won't be able to do the natural thing and open your mouth to breathe. As for that, out of an abundance of caution, I've put a circuit alarm in a plug on the same circuit as my machine. It wakes me up immediately if I lose power to the machine. I use the alarm made by Reliance, which you can find on Amazon.

Miss Emerita wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 26, 2022 10:55 am

(2) If there is a power failure and your machine goes off while you're sleeping, you won't be able to do the natural thing and open your mouth to breathe.

You can breathe through any of the CPAP masks even if the machine is off. Try it - you can. I've had to do it multiple times during power outages before I put together my battery system.

I wouldn’t quite say my therapy is lost due to air leaking through my mouth, but the ahi is higher on nights there is a lot of leakage. I’m thinking of using the somnifix tape, but I am so incredibly frustrated with my setup.

I use the nasal pillows, the chin strap to keep my mouth closed, eye goggles to keep my eyes from getting cluttered with stuff and scratched up, and sometimes eye lid tape. That’s an enormous amount of crap to have to wear every damn night at 32 years
Old. Even at my thinnest, I will never not have apnea. My throat is so large it just collapses. This is just my life.

MewsikMaker wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 26, 2022 3:48 pm

This is just my life.

Yep. I too have floppy eyelid syndrome. I fought with eye issues for two years, with the doc giving me multiple treatments including eyedrops made from my own blood. It went away five days after I started CPAP because I could no longer sleep on my stomach.

It stinks. Stomach sleeping is so satisfying for me, but I gave it up for being able to breathe at night. I used to dread going to bed. Now it's the best part of my day.

loggerhead12 wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 26, 2022 4:26 pm

MewsikMaker wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 26, 2022 3:48 pm

This is just my life.

Yep. I too have floppy eyelid syndrome. I fought with eye issues for two years, with the doc giving me multiple treatments including eyedrops made from my own blood. It went away five days after I started CPAP because I could no longer sleep on my stomach.

It stinks. Stomach sleeping is so satisfying for me, but I gave it up for being able to breathe at night. I used to dread going to bed. Now it's the best part of my day.

So eye issues got better after you started CPAP? I’m hoping I won’t be dealing with eye issues for two years…

Miss Emerita wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 26, 2022 10:55 am

As for that, out of an abundance of caution, I've put a circuit alarm in a plug on the same circuit as my machine. It wakes me up immediately if I lose power to the machine. I use the alarm made by Reliance, which you can find on Amazon.

Instead of an alarm, my solution is using an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS-used mainly for desktop computers). In an event of a power failure it will continue operating my CPAP for several minutes (depending on the UPS' capacity) plus the intermittent beeping (to indicate a power failure) gently wakes me up. No need to jump out of bed! All for about 2.5X the cost of an alarm.

jas32 wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 27, 2022 1:49 pm

Instead of an alarm

Instead of an alarm I use a DC cord and jump start battery to sleep right thru any power outage. Before the battery I would wake right up anytime the cpap stopped but IMO there is nothing else to do when the power goes out in the middle of the nite so why not sleep thru it?

I have several UPS systems but those alarms would wake me up - then what would I do - try to go back to sleep?

SleepGeek wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 27, 2022 7:39 pm

Instead of an alarm I use a DC cord and jump start battery to sleep right thru any power outage. Before the battery I would wake right up anytime the cpap stopped but IMO there is nothing else to do when the power goes out in the middle of the nite so why not sleep thru it?

I have several UPS systems but those alarms would wake me up - then what would I do - try to go back to sleep?

Sounds good to me!

In my house, I probably cannot sleep thru a power outage anyway as 3-4 other UPS' will be beeping. Good thing it seldom happens where we live so no big deal.

loggerhead12 wrote:

MewsikMaker wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 26, 2022 3:48 pm

This is just my life.

Yep. I too have floppy eyelid syndrome. I fought with eye issues for two years, with the doc giving me multiple treatments including eyedrops made from my own blood. It went away five days after I started CPAP because I could no longer sleep on my stomach.

It stinks. Stomach sleeping is so satisfying for me, but I gave it up for being able to breathe at night. I used to dread going to bed. Now it's the best part of my day.

Sorry this is so much later. I am now on the verge of having to do extreme treatments to solve the eye issues. It looks like it’s cpap, as this all started within two weeks of starting therapy. Did you ever have luck getting your dry eye under control? I’m trying to get my life back. Thanks for any advice or information.


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MewsikMaker wrote: ↑

Mon May 02, 2022 12:18 pm

Sorry this is so much later. I am now on the verge of having to do extreme treatments to solve the eye issues. It looks like it’s cpap, as this all started within two weeks of starting therapy. Did you ever have luck getting your dry eye under control?

Yes. CPAP solved my dry eye/floppy eyelid syndrome issues. CPAP forces me to sleep on my side or back, so my eyes no longer rub on the pillow at night.

Hi - hate to mention this, but on the extreme off chance that your eyelid(s) drooped pre-Cpap and forum fixes aren't working, you might want to ask your GP for a neuro consult as a quite rare but serious condition is often first noticed as a result of the problem... just in case, but don't be too frantic as it is rare.

I have less FES and more dry eye than anything else. I can’t keep them open very long. I think it has to do with CPAP therapy in general. I’m going to start sleeping 4-5 hrs with CPAP and see if anything gets better. But thank you!


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MewsikMaker wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 26, 2022 8:45 am

Question is: I think my lips are parting. Are there any good solutions for that? I hear lip tape works, other sites are saying this can somehow cause a coma due to CO buildup. That does seem far fetched to me.

Have you tried a soft cervical collar? I tried chin straps and tape but didn't like either. The soft collar did the trick for me.