CPAPtalk.com

For years I used a DreamWear nasal gel cushion mask but I never knew that the mouth has to be shut

I'm not sure if there's any leakage while being asleep but I can see that there's none while I'm awake as far as I can tell and the therapy goes both ways through the nose and I don't notice a jaw drop but my lips aren't always shut due to my lower jaw being smaller and having kind big teeth on the top

I also never thought about any statistics even as simple as the AHI until recently this year

The AHI on the dreamstation menu is roughly 6-8 a day
The leak numbers on the dreamstation while awake are 30ish-50ish I think

The question is if I there's leakage while asleep and to figure that out if someone knows and thanks in advance to anyone who helps.

Theusertravel0 wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 28, 2025 11:33 am

my lips aren't always shut due to my lower jaw being smaller and having kind big teeth on the top

welcome to the zoo!

yes you can get leaks that way. I took have some misaligned front teeth. I've found that using denture cream on my lips keeps them from parting and for me, no mouth leaks.

Theusertravel0 wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 28, 2025 11:33 am

The question is if I there's leakage while asleep and to figure that out if someone knows and thanks in advance to anyone who helps.

Do you get dry mouth at night but not in the day?

You could sleep with your lips taped closed for one night and check the leak level the next morning.

Theusertravel0 wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 28, 2025 11:33 am

The leak numbers on the dreamstation while awake are 30ish-50ish I think

Philips includes the intentional flow through the vents in this statistic. This could easily be 30 to 50, depending on the pressure and model mask used.

If the machine isn't flagging large leaks then I don't know that I would worry one way or another where the leaks are coming from as long as I was sleeping decently, the leaks didn't wake me up and I felt decent during the day.

ChicagoGranny wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 28, 2025 3:18 pm

Theusertravel0 wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 28, 2025 11:33 am

The question is if I there's leakage while asleep and to figure that out if someone knows and thanks in advance to anyone who helps.

Do you get dry mouth at night but not in the day?

You could sleep with your lips taped closed for one night and check the leak level the next morning.

Philips includes the intentional flow through the vents in this statistic. This could easily be 30 to 50, depending on the pressure and model mask used.

For the tape part, I have a severe scoliosis in my back and neck also drooling a lot is another factor. It's kind of risky?

This is also why I struggle with the Philips standard full face mask, it doesn't seal properly on my curved spine in the neck and the drool leaks to eventually start making noises when the air leaks from the parts that get wet by the drool. Also it makes it harder to swap positions while laying down and the part that contacts the chin keeps moving above sometimes especially when sleeping on my back. Not to mention that it hurts my neck sometimes.

I woke up tonight once with kinda a dry mouth but again it's about 30+ degrees Celsius so I'm not sure but when I removed the mask in the morning I didn't notice an especially dry mouth but again I don't think I get a good sleep

About the pressure, my original settings were high but due to some circumstances they got lowered:
PC mode
15 IPAP max
9 IPAP min
1.2s Ti
Avaps
12 BPM

By a new doctor claiming that a nasal only mask doesn't work with bilevel and that I have to use a full face mask, and this was done without a sleep study nor checking my original stats on the therapies done the past years.

For years I had an AHI lower than 5 on nasal mask but I longer do now so maybe there was merit to what the doctor said about the nasal mask?

I couldn't sleep well in the hospital on the new mask and I was discharged with no good sleep after 3 days I think and I could no longer fall asleep easily anymore.
At home I also couldn't sleep.
The claim was it has nothing to do with bilevel therapy I suppose.
With no other options but going back to the nasal mask on my own. 1.2s Ti would wake me up so maybe it was kind of short? So it's now 1.3s.

But despite sleeping I don't feel that well in the head nor the chest and the AHI in the dreamstation day avg at least is 6.5ish and like that

Last night I tried the DreamWear full face mask on medium size in place of the the large gel cushion I use. it was easier to seal than the standard but still not easy overall, the leaks appear from time to time and drooling still is causing leaks with noise so I couldn't sleep despite the ahi reading on the device being below 5 at 2.5 or a bit higher.

Then I started looking for mouth leaks or breathing in the nasal mask and this brought me here.

Is there anything less harsh than tape, what about medical mask but only on the mouth? Is the point keeping the mouth shut or is the point to prevent leaking? Just a random idea

Theusertravel0 wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 29, 2025 10:51 am

Is there anything less harsh than tape, what about medical mask but only on the mouth? Is the point keeping the mouth shut or is the point to prevent leaking? Just a random idea

viewtopic/p1089718/viewtopic.php?f=1&t= ... s#p1086296

I take it it's a pass on the polygrip or fixodent?

I use that plus the procedure shown in the link I provided.

good luck!

zonker wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 29, 2025 11:32 am

I take it it's a pass on the polygrip or fixodent?

I use that plus the procedure shown in the link I provided.

good luck!

I was thinking about using such method without sealing as in keep the mouth slightly open if it doesn't completely shut on its own by a tight normal medical mask and hope the mask would prevent air from escaping and inhaling too

Do leaks from the mouth appear on Oscar?

Theusertravel0 wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 29, 2025 12:41 pm

Do leaks from the mouth appear on Oscar?

If they are big enough they will show up. All leaks (mask movement, mouth opening, hole in the hose) will show up in the OSCAR report data as long as the machine is reporting leak data.

Now not all mouth opening leaks are going to be large enough to show up.

Here is a report where I woke up and I was mouth breathing a little (not a lot and not a tornado coming out the mouth) so I decided to just continue to gently mouth breathe and see just exactly what that leak looked like on a report.

I circled the known awake time at the end of the night where I know I was mouth breathing. I did it for about 10 minutes then I got up. Not real impressive....and why I say that not all mouth breathing is going to throw the therapy straight into the toile.
BTW...the other bigger leaks you see...I have no idea if they are mask movement or mouth breathing but it didn't wake me up so I don't really care.

Theusertravel0 wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 29, 2025 9:37 am

By a new doctor claiming that a nasal only mask doesn't work with bilevel and that I have to use a full face mask,

Either he misspoke or was misunderstood or doesn't know WTH he's talking about.

Theusertravel0 wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 29, 2025 10:51 am

Is there anything less harsh than tape, what about medical mask but only on the mouth? Is the point keeping the mouth shut or is the point to prevent leaking? Just a random idea

The point is to keep the pressure from dropping so low (due to pressure loss out of your mouth) that your airway patency is not maintained.

As a next step, it would be good if you opened a free account at SleepHQ.com, uploaded your SD card, and posted the link in this thread.

Theusertravel0 wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 29, 2025 12:41 pm

Do leaks from the mouth appear on Oscar?

no. leaks are leaks as far as oscar knows.

zonker wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 29, 2025 9:29 pm

Theusertravel0 wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 29, 2025 12:41 pm

Do leaks from the mouth appear on Oscar?

no. leaks are leaks as far as oscar knows.

Yes! Leaks are leaks as far as Oscar is concerned. The correct question is "Does Oscar discriminate between mouth leaks and other leaks?" to which the answer is No. Oscar will show all leaks recorded by the machine, but doesn't discriminate.

Respirator99 wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 30, 2025 4:26 am

zonker wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 29, 2025 9:29 pm

Theusertravel0 wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 29, 2025 12:41 pm

Do leaks from the mouth appear on Oscar?

no. leaks are leaks as far as oscar knows.

Yes! Leaks are leaks as far as Oscar is concerned. The correct question is "Does Oscar discriminate between mouth leaks and other leaks?" to which the answer is No. Oscar will show all leaks recorded by the machine, but doesn't discriminate.

ChicagoGranny wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 29, 2025 1:51 pm

Theusertravel0 wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 29, 2025 9:37 am

By a new doctor claiming that a nasal only mask doesn't work with bilevel and that I have to use a full face mask,

Either he misspoke or was misunderstood or doesn't know WTH he's talking about.

Let make it clear, here in this "country" we only have access to like 2 places that have a doctor at least capable of assessing CPAP/Bilevel matters to some extent. One is likely unreachable and the other is hard to reach and even if you go there you only see the doctor a few minutes a day hoping you'd get some help.

I went to the 2nd place hoping to get better bilevel assessment and hopefully a new sleep study and also to figure out the side effects I've been going through from the therapy.

The doctor saw the nasal mask and told me It doesn't work and he asked to use a full face mask which was the Philips standard one you get with the device that I had at hand back then. Then he changed some settings and I got discharged within a couple of days around mid may last month without a proper sleep study either and since then I'm pretty much sleep deprived.

I tried full face masks as I mentioned before but I just can't fall asleep with them and I barely sleep well with the nasal mask too anymore.

Right now I'm left with nothing to do but hope it will fix itself somehow.

This is the link you asked for
https://sleephq.com/public/teams/share_ ... 5eb24bae90
I think the timezone is not correct in the machine but the last long session which probably registered as 29th of June I tried to use a medical mask to cover my mouth to try and reduce or prevent leaks if they occur.
The session before it I tried the DreamWear full face mask for like 3 hours then another hour or so then went back to the nasal mask to get a few hours of sleep at least.

Theusertravel0 wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 30, 2025 10:14 am

ChicagoGranny wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 29, 2025 1:51 pm

Theusertravel0 wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 29, 2025 9:37 am

By a new doctor claiming that a nasal only mask doesn't work with bilevel and that I have to use a full face mask,

Either he misspoke or was misunderstood or doesn't know WTH he's talking about.

Let make it clear, here in this "country" we only have access to like 2 places that have a doctor at least capable of assessing CPAP/Bilevel matters to some extent. One is likely unreachable and the other is hard to reach and even if you go there you only see the doctor a few minutes a day hoping you'd get some help.

I went to the 2nd place hoping to get better bilevel assessment and hopefully a new sleep study and also to figure out the side effects I've been going through from the therapy.

The doctor saw the nasal mask and told me It doesn't work and he asked to use a full face mask which was the Philips standard one you get with the device that I had at hand back then. Then he changed some settings and I got discharged within a couple of days around mid may last month without a proper sleep study either and since then I'm pretty much sleep deprived.

You're not making anything clearer, and that fact that there are only two doctors available to you, is not relevant.

As Granny said, they either misspoke, were misunderstood, or don't know WTF they're talking about.

Nasal masks work perfectly fine with BiLevel. Put on some mouth tape, fix the leak. If you have to see any of these Drs again just tell them you're using a FF-mask.