Lip Sealing (and Mask Sealing)

I've been reading and learning a lot on these boards. Someone had suggested using the silicone earplugs to seal your mask, so I tried that last night. It worked great! Thank you so much for such a wonderful solution.

I've been on CPAP therapy for about 6 months; I've felt a little better, but not really great. Two weeks ago I remembered about the mouth taping you all had talked about, and I tried it. Wow. It was the first time in years I felt actually well during the next day.

The next week with taping went pretty well. But then problems started to creep in.

1) I have gone back to needing a nap during the day.
2) I just about cannot stand the tape any more because my skin gets so wet beneath it.

I've tried every variation of tape on the the shelf, visiting 4 different drugstores in my quest.

Anyway, more research on this forum let me to try the denture adhesive strips last night for the first time. It's too early in the day to tell how I feel, but so far I'm thinking it was probably good.

I used the method of cutting a poligrip strip in two, and fitting one at each end of my lips, leaving a small gap in the middle.



Here's my question; maybe one of you has some insight. If the point of sealing your lips is to keep the pressure up internally, why is it OK to leave a gap in the middle of your lips? Do you know what I'm asking? I have no idea if air escaped through my lips or not last night, but I can only assume it did. It would seem that that is still "therapy lost."



Oh, another great tip I got here was to lower my humidifier setting. I'm now down to passover mode only, and it seems to be working great with much less condensation on my skin around my nose. Thanks! We'll see what winter brings. I absolutely cannot get to sleep if my nose is cold.

Thanks for all of your great help.

LoQ, I use polident strips also, but don't cut them in half - just bend & insert! So I have more of an exposed area I'd imagine. I don't think after you get used to them that you do leak much - occasionally I'll wake up doing that - but the remaining strips tend to train your mouth to stay shut. But I check my leak rate & AHI regularly, and if these are okay then I'm presuming all is good. Your leak rate on your machine data should indicate if there is excessive mouth leaks through the exposed areas. I'm not up on the machines & their capabilities, but presuming you can obtain your data, I'd be using this to monitor.

It should be noted that polident strips can be difficult to get used to - too wet and they separate, too dry and the same. But they can be dried out if too wet just by opening the mouth & waiting or fanning, and if too dry just moisten. I've also found that once you get used to this, they can be opened e.g. to speak, and then resealed.

An additional side benefit is that I've found you do tend to get used to breathing through your nose rather than mouth breathing, which is all good.

Good luck with it - IMHO polident strips are far less invasive/intrusive if you can get them to work.

My view is that the strips keep your mouth closed and your lips do the sealing. And I think your jaw needs to drop to create a mouth leak, and the strips help prevent that as well.

I agree with Grandmma (and doesn't everyone!) that once you get used to managing the strips you can open your mouth and then easily reseal. I also just bend the strip, but on occasion I do destroy the first strip (too wet, too dry, wrong position) and have to use a new one. In the morning they wipe off with a kleenex.

Thanks for the tips! Last night I tried the method you suggested of using the strip whole, just bending it slightly. I have to say that it was much, much easier to get it "installed." Unfortunately, I noticed I was still doing some leaking out my mouth. Yesterday I did take a short nap. We'll see how I feel this afternoon.

I may experiment with the grip strips and a small piece of tape. I might be able to endure a smaller piece of tape that doesn't cover my entire lip area, and maybe the combination will be enough. We'll see.

I seem to need just a little "reminder" to keep my mouth shut! I use a 1" strip of medical tape and apply it vertically from about half way between the nose and the mouth, over the lips and end just under the chin. For me, it works well. Might work for you.