Reality check on mouth breathing - yr input?

My MIL has just been fitted with a CPAP (hooray!).

Her sleep doc (not my doc) set her up with a nasal mask. When she asked about mouth breathing, he said, "mouth breathing is a reaction to OSA. Once your OSA is being treated [with CPAP], your body will no longer feel the need to breathe through your mouth, so you won't have any problem with mouth-breathing. Or, if you do, you will learn over time to breathe through your nose only." He added that he uses a nasal mask and it "works fine for him."

When my husband told me this earlier today, I said, "no way." And she doesn't have a data-capable machine (argh!), so she won't be able to see how well her therapy is or is not working.

Thoughts? Input? I can see that mouth-breathing *might* be a reaction to OSA. But I know that I haven't stopped since getting treatment...although I use a FF mask. Is mouth-breathing really something that you learn not to do?!

I agree with YOUR assessment. Why compromise a person's therapy in the very beginning? I've read that people can train themselves to not mouth-leak/breathe, but why start off on the wrong foot? Just because it works for HIM......doesn't mean it's going to work for everybody else. I believe that many OSA patients have the roots of their problems in their nasal passages and too much humidity can make it worse......which exacerbates the situation by continuing the mouth-breathing. How many users (new or old) do you see coming to the forum complaining that their therapy isn't working.......and then admit that they're using a nasal mask. DUH!


Den

Hi MoneyGal

I reckon the Doctor is talking nonsense. For him to equate his own experience as something that would automatically work for someone else is very unprofessional. And wrong.

I used to breath through my mouth but taught myself to keep my mouth closed whilst sleeping long before I was diagnosed with sleep apnea. When on the machine the mouth being closed (or taped over) does not make any difference if the pressure is still able to force air out of the mouth.

So if the Doctor thinks mouth breathing is the only consideration he is seriously ill-informed.

Your MIL really needs a data capable machine as a priority, no matter what else you can achieve for her. Even if you have to check the data for her, that would be better than nothing. A better sleep doctor would be useful too.

Good luck.

cheers

Mars

MoneyGal wrote:Thoughts? Input? I can see that mouth-breathing *might* be a reaction to OSA. But I know that I haven't stopped since getting treatment...although I use a FF mask. Is mouth-breathing really something that you learn not to do?!

I think it is possible to break the mouth breathing habit IF it was solely related to the OSA events. When I first started therapy the last of May I was having some mouth leakage issues so I use tape and polygrip and even a chin strap. The tape seem to work best for me. Somewhere towards the end of June and first of July I started "forgetting" to tape and surprise of surprises, my leak rate didn't suffer. In my case I seemed to have broken the bad habit of mouth breathing for the most part. Bear in mind I don't have any nasal congestion issues at all.

It is very rare that I have any significant mouth leaks now. I rarely wake up with dry mouth. When I do I can usually see where it happened and most often very late in my night. Probably in REM sleep when I relax more.

I don't think I was ever a full fledged mouth breather. I never did it during the day. I think my mouth breathing was more gasping associated with events. I do have the software for validation... since your MIL doesn't have data capable machine that makes it hard. Anyway she can get one or borrow yours for a short time??

Two words: and the first one starts with B !

LinkC wrote:Two words: and the first one starts with B !

And, I'll bet that the second one starts with an "S".....

(as in male bovine excrement)


Den

My experience with mouth breathing: 17 months CPAP (compliance-only device), 100% compliant, wore my beloved OptiLife pillow mask with no mouth breathing, not even when the power went out for an hour! By then, I'd lost about 45#s and had noticed I occasionally released little puffs of air from my closed lips (picture super-slowmo flapping lips ). I was clueless what this was and meant, so months passed as I backslid and apnea symptoms recurred as recovery reversed. Joined here, self-educated, had many tell me I was mouth leaking. Sleep doc noticed I had a significantly thinner face and thoat (we looked at my beginning face & profile pics) which he said likely meant I'd also lost airway tissue and could no longer maintain the velolingual seal (back of thoat). He wanted to do another PSG, but on unemployment meant there was no co-pay funds, so he loaned me an APAP and recording oximeter to gather data...upshot: reduced pressure and Hybrid mask as the losing therapy air fix. All my confusion & frustration, decline in my physical health, decline in recovery of apnea-caused brain damage -- all due to mouth leaking.

If I were your mom, I'd get insist on a fully data-capable xPAP to track nightly events and effectiveness of therapy and order the Hybrid mask, for backup and congestion if nothing else. She might not mouth breathe but without someone observing her or noting morning indicators of mouth breathing, that's a guess...one I wouldn't take with my health now that I know better.

Wulfman wrote:

LinkC wrote:Two words: and the first one starts with B !

And, I'll bet that the second one starts with an "S".....

(as in male bovine excrement)


Den

Yup! (couldn't decide if it was one or two words tho... lol)

For me, I've never been able to break the mouth breathing habit. I'm seven months into therapy, so I may try again in the future. I currently wear a PAPCap chinstrap which solves that problem for me, and I also have a FullLife FF mask as a backup in case of severe nasal congestion (knock on wood... haven't needed it yet).

It probably depends.
If you only mouth breathe because apneas, then proper therapy will help you keep your mouth shut.
If, however, you mouth breathe because you can't maintain that velolingual seal - then you need another solution.
O.