Mouth leaks prevent the sleep (not dry mouth)

Hello,
I have started CPAP 2 weeks ago (34 apneas) with a Resmed Air Sense 11 and a FX nasal mask. Humidifier.Pressure 8.
My problem is the following:
after some time, air gets out of my mouth. I feel it and it prevents me to sleep.
To fix it, I used a mouth tape: the mouth stays closed, the air doesn't come out anymore, but it inflates and deflates my cheeks, which prevents me from sleeping.
And I am back to square one.
What would be your experience and advice ?
Great thank you.

Park your tongue behind your upper front teeth. That will stop the air from escaping with a little time, you can train your tongue.

The next step after that might be a discussion about humidity settings and heated hoses for nasal congestion that might be forcing your body to mouth leak.

And if all else fails - as it did for me at a certain point - switch to a full face mask.
There were long periods in my cpap therapy when that relaxation of the valve between my nose and throat simple could not be controlled. My blowing up cheeks would jolt me out of falling asleep and that was that.

Recently - and again, don't ask me why - I can go back to pillows masks.

Only 2 weeks in--I promise it will get better.
This is still way too new for all the pieces to fall into place easily.
Almost everybody has some weirdness during the first month, or two . . .

Thank you for your nice advices. I will experiment as you said.

May I bother you again?

After 4 weeks of bad night:
ResMed sense 11. Nasal mask . Pressure 7 or 8 (doctor said 10). Humidifier at 4.
I am ok during 4 hours, then the storm comes: great air pressure coming in the mouth that wakes me up and prevents me from going back to sleep. Even with a tape on the mouth.
I tried to place the tongue as you indicated, but the air pressure is much too strong against it, and I find it useless ?
I will try to switch to an FFM. Will it get better?
If not, how can I stop the air?

Albatros wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 08, 2022 2:42 am

May I bother you again?

After 4 weeks of bad night:
ResMed sense 11. Nasal mask . Pressure 7 or 8 (doctor said 10). Humidifier at 4.
I am ok during 4 hours, then the storm comes: great air pressure coming in the mouth that wakes me up and prevents me from going back to sleep. Even with a tape on the mouth.
I tried to place the tongue as you indicated, but the air pressure is much too strong against it, and I find it useless ?
I will try to switch to an FFM. Will it get better?
If not, how can I stop the air?

are you sleeping on your back when this is happening?

Albatros wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 08, 2022 2:42 am

May I bother you again?

After 4 weeks of bad night:
ResMed sense 11. Nasal mask . Pressure 7 or 8 (doctor said 10). Humidifier at 4.
I am ok during 4 hours, then the storm comes: great air pressure coming in the mouth that wakes me up and prevents me from going back to sleep. Even with a tape on the mouth.
I tried to place the tongue as you indicated, but the air pressure is much too strong against it, and I find it useless ?
I will try to switch to an FFM. Will it get better?
If not, how can I stop the air?

A pressure of 7 or 8 is not much pressure, it just feels strange as you are not used to it. It just takes time to adjust. Same for anchoring your tongue on the roof of your mouth. Consider a soft cervical collar as well.

FFM will feel totally different and requires a different adjustment. If you do go FFM don't winch it down on your face so tight you leave marks. It needs to sit just tight enough to stop air leaks and will fill out with air expanding the silicon (unless you go with memory foam) to fit it to your face.

It is not unusual for it to take 6 months or more to really get comfortable with it, though some take to it like a duck to water.

Thank you.

My problem: (air flowing through the mouth) happens as I sleep on the side.
If I go FFM I would like to try a new hybrid full face from Philips (Dreamware) or ResMed. Good idea ?

A big thank you to all.
Your advice to place the tongue on the top of the palate to stop the air from coming out of the mouth, worked very well and I was able to sleep this night.
I will, maybe, be able to use a nasal pillow mask.
The sky is getting bluer .... thanks to you

Kudos!

Well done.