LEAKS!!!! HELP!!!

I don't know what is going on but I need help, obviously!

I am on the Remstar Auto with CFLEX and have a Swift mask. My Encorepro software is telling me, for the last 8 nights average, my leak is 43. How bad can you get? I don't hear it at night, and I can't imagine what it could be from.

How accurate is this software when it comes to leaks? I am reading posters saying they have 0.4 or .12. I have 43!!!!! Yet I feel wonderful. What the heck is happening?

Feedback, please! I am going nuts right now. Thought everything was fine. Obviously, not.

Do you have dry mouth/throat when you wake up? You could be having mouth leak.

Hey, Will. Thanks for the reply. I know I have been waking up a few times lately to this loud noise, and it's my machine because my mouth is open. I don't wake up dry mouthed, but I just went out, between when I wrote that thread and now, and bought some supplies to tape my mouth tonight. What do people normally use to do that? I bought the wrong stuff, the medical paper tape, and it is way too thin. I also bought some more mole skin (was going to try it on the Swift straps to try to stop the swoosh lines), but was thinking of using it on my lips. Is that a bad idea? Don't know what is normally used...

My guess would be you're gushing treatment air out the mouth from time to time, Lori.

An experimental night with lips securely taped might reveal that's been happening -- if the leak rate settles down considerably when using tape. If leak rate stays up even though the tape was still holding securely (hadn't worked loose at an edge) then you can look at the mask as the probable culprit.

I suppose you've already checked all the connections and have examined the hose for tears or puncture holes.

I consistently get my lowest leak rates using the DYI device to keep the tongue pushed back, blocking treatment air from detouring into my mouth. My next lowest leak rates are with mouth taped, keeping detoured air from exiting out the mouth.

The very best tape I've ever used is Tegaderm -- thanks to a friend giving me quite a bit of it. That really stays put. But Tegaderm is expensive. Johnson & Johnson waterproof adhesive tape works well, however tends to work loose a bit at an edge sometimes. Even a slight leak from a taped edge is better than air pouring out the mouth. The bedroom doesn't need the treatment pressure. The throat does.

RG, hi! Thanks for your input. Silly, uninformed me bought all the wrong stuff. I will try some mole skin tonight and will probably rip my lips off with it in the morning, but will look for that Tegaderm tomorrow. With no lips any longer, I won't be able to ask the pharmacist for it if I don't see it, but I'll bring a paper and pencil.

As usual, thanks for your suggestion. I hope it's not the mask. I bought it online from an auction and not my DME, so I'll just be out the money if that's the case, although it was in a sealed box and then in the sealed plastic bag inside, so it wasn't tampered with beforehand. Then again, I feel the nasal pillows are tougher on the nose and the mouth, for some reason, and I have just gone back to straight CPAP with Cflex and noticed some open mouthed noises so loud, they've awakened me. So who knows how long the mouth was open??? Must be the problem when you think about it.

With the start of cpap a few days away, and considering the prospect of mouth leaks, I ask in all sincerity: why would folks rather tape their mouths or wear mouthguards than just use a full face mask?

I understand why I'd rather use a nasal mask than a full face if I could, but if there are mouth leaks is the tape and mouthguard approach really more comfortable than an Ultra Mirage?

n0trab, good questions:

why would folks rather tape their mouths or wear mouthguards than just use a full face mask?

if there are mouth leaks is the tape and mouthguard approach really more comfortable than an Ultra Mirage?

I can answer only for myself... nasal pillows interfaces are much more comfortable and less prone to leak for me than a FF mask. Getting to use other interfaces was worth it to me to look for ways to control my night time habit of mouth breathing.

I have a ResMed Ultra Mirage FF mask. I do like it. I use it occasionally even now for nights when I just want a complete change to breathe through my mouth, and I'd use it if I had congestion from a cold (can't remember the last time I had to use it for that.)

Different interfaces feel different on each person. The Ultra Mirage FF was "ok" feeling. I used it every night for months back before I tried tape. Once I tried taping my mouth, I found that for side sleeping the Aura, Breeze, and Activa were much more comfortable (for me) than the FF masks were. I had used a Respironics ComfortFull full face mask for months before I switched to the ResMed Ultra Mirage FF, which I liked better.

After several "re-makes", I have no discomfort wearing the DYI homemade mouthguard. As for tape, the only discomfort I have using tape is during the few seconds it takes to remove the patch in the morning. For me, either method beats wearing a FF mask every night. Of course if I couldn't breathe well through my nose at all, I'd happily wear the Ultra Mirage FF all the time. It really is a good mask.

Sleepless on LI wrote:....I will try some mole skin tonight and will probably rip my lips off with it in the morning, but will look for that Tegaderm tomorrow. With no lips any longer, I won't be able to ask the pharmacist for it if I don't see it, but I'll bring a paper and pencil....

ROTFL!!!! You crack me up!!!

Lori, I love your attitude, your spirit, your willingness to help others...and your GREAT sense of humor! "Paper and pencil", indeed!!! ROTFL!!

Hey, while you have that paper handy, be sure to leave a note on your nightstand, so no one will get arrested:

"To Whom It May Concern:

I chose to put this tape over my mouth myself. No one is to blame...not even RG!!!"


Do please get it witnessed and notarized before you turn on the machine.

You guys are so funny

I tried taping my lips closed....uhm...I couldn't deal with the drool that kept coming out under the tape *ick* I gotta say, after all the foolin' around I did with tape, chin straps, Afrin, saline spray (both to try to keep my nose unplugged - to just put the FF mask on and sleep is just so much easier for me. Also, the ComfortFull fits without excessive leaks, even having the straps relatively loose. The Mirage FF mask leaked so much for me LOL Amazing how different we all are

Restedgal & Neversleeps:
I'm glad you have the kind of sense of humor that appreciates my warped personality. If I can make people laugh, then I'm contributing a small something to society in my own way. IMHO, it's the only thing in my whole life that has kept me going. I had a very, very bad year (at least by my standards) in 2003 and that was the one thing that my friends commented on, was how did I manage to keep joking throughout it all. It's the only thing that saves me from insanity most of the time. But I am glad you got a smile out my lip-less situation.
Which brings me to the next paragraph. If you look at the time this message is being posted, perhaps you can tell how well my night went with mole skin across my mouth. It started out fine, until I was up every hour and was waking with literal dreams that had to do with taping my mouth, even one where I was in a building way high up that had a CIRCUS underneath on the first floor, and all I was worried about was if the building was constructed well enough that it wouldn't collapse and we'd have a mini 9-11 all over again, sans the planes and terrorist attacks. Even through that craziest of dreams, part of it had to do with making sure the mole skin was still adhearing to my face. But I woke up so alarmed, it was horrible. I did have a new method of "padding" my Swift straps, too, so I was not used to two different things last night.
Anyway, at about 4:45, I got tired of the last hour or so of trying to keep the mole skin, which (this is so gross) had gotten soggy during the night, attached to my lips without having a leak/breathing incident now. So I got up at 4:45, recut a new piece but couldn't fall back to sleep.
So here I am, checking my email and am about to see the leakage report on my Encorepro/MyEncore and see if mouth leaks were the culprit. I know now that I do defintely have a problem after being so conscious of it all night and having to re-tape at 4:45; which, btw, did hurt like you-know-what to rip off 20 mins. later.
The only wonderfullly good news I have is, the strap rigging I did on the Swift worked, no lines this morning. Will post that under the appropriate thread. This last one I just wrote is already a miniseries.
Will post in a few with the results. Good morning.

[quote="Sleepless on LI"]I don't know what is going on but I need help, obviously!

I am on the Remstar Auto with CFLEX and have a Swift mask. My Encorepro software is telling me, for the last 8 nights average, my leak is 43. How bad can you get? I don't hear it at night, and I can't imagine what it could be from.

How accurate is this software when it comes to leaks? I am reading posters saying they have 0.4 or .12. I have 43!!!!! Yet I feel wonderful. What the heck is happening?

Feedback, please! I am going nuts right now. Thought everything was fine. Obviously, not.

DSM,
Good morning, early bird. I just checked the leak report and it is down to 32, but only shows about two times where it peaks on the graph. Did I not read someone say that 28 is even okay on Encorepro because it takes into account the air exhaust, too?

In any event, why do you think the CFlex option could be contributing to this? I noted when I used the 1 setting in the first couple of days, it was a 20 or so. When I kicked it up to a 2, it made the leakage report higher. You may have something there.

I need to know what the acceptable standards are of leakage with this software. This mouth taping was a horror, although I really think I need to do it.

Thanks for your input. Will try w/out CFlex tonight and tomorrow.

Good morning to you, too, Lori!

Anyway, at about 4:45, I got tired of the last hour or so of trying to keep the mole skin, which (this is so gross) had gotten soggy during the night

Hey, soggy dogs aren't all that pleasant (I groom dogs, so that means dog bathing.) Can only imagine the feel of a soggy mole!!! j/k

Your dream sounded straight out of Cpap du Soleil !!

P.S.
Johnson & Johnson waterproof adhesive tape - the 2" wide size...two strips of it placed overlapping to make a big patch. Be sure to turn down the ends of each piece for "grab tabs". In the morning, take a deep breath (through your nose, of course! ) and...pull. Have pencil and paper ready.

I just checked the leak report and it is down to 32, but only shows about two times where it peaks on the graph.

32 isn't bad. The peaks are likely where the mole was trying to escape with its skin. Lower twenties and sometimes the high teens are the leak numbers I get when all holds well. I consider mid-to-upper twenties to be a nice, relatively "leakless" numbers.