The Blowfish Follies: Adventures in Taping

I started noticing in the last week that my mouth seemed drier than usual in the mornings. My suspicion was that I had begun mouth breathing, or perhaps just increased it. My average leak was 26 to 28 according to the reports, which is higher than when I started in mid-February 2011.

Then I noticed waking up a couple of times in the night when my mouth popped open and I gasped--I think I may have also been having an apnea at the time so the struggle for breath might have been what woke me up.

I already wear a nightguard (a two-dollar boil-and-bite football mouthguard). I have been sleeping exclusively on my back because my neck and shoulders got very sore early on.

Because I haven't had a chance to buy painter's tape yet, I taped my mouth with a large waterproof bandaid (Nexcare) the last few nights. Unfortunately, the adhesive is very hard on my skin. If I do this one more night the red ring around my mouth will make me look like Sad Clown for sure. The bandaid is very damp in the morning (humidifier set to 4). I don't think I can be effectively breathing in through the bandaid, so I'm not sure how I can be breathing out. My leak rate has not seemed to be affected by the taping, but I'm not waking up doing the blowfish any more.

Tonight I think I'll try putting a sweatband across my mouth. Next, Ace bandage. A chinstrap may be in my future if these DIY solutions don't work.

DD

I can highly recommend 3M 2" Blue #2080-EL Painter's Tape. It's an improved version of the previous model (#2080).

Use a 10" strip with each end folded down 1/2". Tape side to side.

Remove by pulling the tape over itself.....parallel to your face.....slowly and firmly. Don't pull directly away from your face (90-degrees...perpendicular) because it will be uncomfortable.

I've been testing this new #2080-EL version for about a month....and I love it. It is superior to the previous version (*2080) which I used for about 3-years.

Tape provides better therapy (Lower AHI) and more comfort.

G

2080-EL, got it.

I figured duct tape was probably not the best idea.

DD

Drowsy Dancer wrote:
Because I haven't had a chance to buy painter's tape yet, I taped my mouth with a large waterproof bandaid (Nexcare) the last few nights.

Tonight I think I'll try putting a sweatband across my mouth. Next, Ace bandage. A chinstrap may be in my future if these DIY solutions don't work.

DD

I have used 3M Microfoam tape. It really works well and comes off easily with no marks. I bought a whole box of it and would sell a roll cheap + postage if you want some to try. PM me.

I bought a Respironics chin strap but don't like it all that well. My best work-around for a chin strap is 3M Self Adhering Ace Bandage - it is 2" wide. I make a loop with two "rounds" of the ace bandage. Safety pin it together at the top (so you won't lay on it). It's really great because it is a little "sticky" and won't move on the top of your head or on your chin. One roll was $2.58 at my grocery story or Walmart.

Good luck1

By yesterday evening my skin was too irritated to consider any kind of tape so I used a headband wrapped from the crown of my head to underneath my chin. My leak rate dropped from 27 to 25, and my AHI dropped a point. Correlation may not imply causation, but this is promising. Wasn't very comfortable though.

DD

The struggles continue. Headband is prone to slip (which I observed when I woke up doing the blowfish two nights ago).

Tried carefully positioning a large (non-waterproof) bandaid last night to miss any already-irritated skin, seemed to work. Had a great night, possibly for other reasons, but believe the taping to be a contributing factor to optimizing therapy.

Waterproof bandaids are death to the skin on my face. Have been using sensitive skin lotions to encourage healing (I still have a mark on my nose from an early tangle with the Comfort Gel Blue).

DD

You seem to be "struggling".....Again, I urge you to experiment with 3M #2080-EL (Edge-Lock) 2" painter's tape. Remove by pulling tape over itself...parallel to your face. No discomfort....great seal.....best value.....

Imagine yourself to be a "fine piece of furniture" as you remove the tape. It's designed to not damage what it's applied to....

G

Drowsy Dancer,

Please, please PLEASE...
Don't try the Ace Bandage.

Gerald wrote:You seem to be "struggling".....Again, I urge you to experiment with 3M #2080-EL (Edge-Lock) 2" painter's tape. Remove by pulling tape over itself...parallel to your face. No discomfort....great seal.....best value.....

Imagine yourself to be a "fine piece of furniture" as you remove the tape. It's designed to not damage what it's applied to....

G

It's on my shopping list...unfortunately I had dance class after work this evening and will have to go to the hardware store tomorrow. Still need to improvise for one more evening...

DD

DreamDiver wrote:Drowsy Dancer,

Please, please PLEASE...
Don't try the Ace Bandage.

DD

If tape of any kind irritates the skin...

viewtopic.php?p=345797#p345797

birdshell wrote:

"Another tip, which is probably buried in the links: smear some milk of magnesia on your skin, allow it to dry, and then tape over it. This old RN's trick helps to protect the skin while maintaining enough tack to do the job. Skim milk reportedly works well, too."

Googling "milk of magnesia" plus "skin irritation" led me to this site: http://www.athletictapeinfo.com/kinesio ... rritation/.

the following products have been found to be helpful when applied to the skin prior to taping: Liquid Milk of Magnesia, Benadryl Itch Stopping Gel, Maalox, Skincote and Tens Clean Coat Skin Wipes.

Kinesiology tape looks dandy (the volleyball players of the Summer Olympics wore it fetchingly on muscled shoulders IIRC), and much more expensive than painter's tape.

Speaking of which, Lowe's being Lowe's, I now am the proud owner of one roll of 2080 2" tape, and one roll of 2080-EL (for "Edge Lock") 1.5" tape (what I wanted, but could not find, was two-inch Edge Lock tape. No go). This seems like a lifetime supply.

I dug up an old bottle of milk of magnesia, so I am set for tonight. Thank goodness my spouse is out of town tonight. We'll see if I need to branch out later into exotica like Skincote. The big band-aid didn't work so well last night.

DD

I'm still finding the PAPcap chinstrap pretty effective. The only problem is, the cap tends to creep forward on my head so the chinstrap loosens and doesn't work. At least half of the nights, I have to get up, remove the cap, and put it back on correctly (in the dark). Of course, that involves removing my mask (not that big of a deal). Still, I have to go in the bathroom and shut the door so I don't wake my wife up with the loud sound of velcro being pulled apart. And, tightening the thing enough to be effective verges on being uncomfortable, not to mention what it is doing to my face wrinkle-wise.

Taping is by far the most effective method. I still do that sometimes. However, I don't like the fact that I can't talk, yawn, cough, or get a drink of water. I wish there was a better solution like the chinstrap. I also have one of those high-dollar, Respironic chin straps. I hate that thing. It looks nice until you connect the velcro once. Then, it gets all fuzzed up. The velcro hook absolutely shreds the strap. It works pretty good. But, I can tell it won't last.

I had the wet tape thing happen to me last week too. I suppose I was drooling? I don't know. The tape was wet and coming loose. I was so tired. I just pressed the tape back down....wet and all. I didn't care. It stayed and I slept the rest of the night. I was using the "gentle" paper tape. Most people don't find it all that gentle. I will get a roll of the blue stuff you are talking about. At least I'll be a little more colorful.

Thanks for bringing the topic up. I think the discussion helps us get this stuff figured out. I'm hopeful we will find a good solution.

First night of taping with #2080 tape (the two-inch width). Observations:

(1) It takes more time than one would think to let milk of magnesia smeared on one's face dry. It seems to have worked, however.

(2) I didn't center the tape properly on the vertical axis. The bottom of the tape was too close to the edge of my lower lip.

(3) Because there wasn't enough tape anchoring my lower lip, it came loose on my lower lip. (This makes me think that prospects for the 1.5" tape are not rosy, but I'll give it a go.) I had the impression that I was only breathing OUT through my mouth some, not in, but I have no idea whether that impression was correct.

(4) The suggestion of using a longer (ten inch) strip of tape is a good one.

(5) My AHI was great! 1.3! but my average leak rate was 32. Which is at least better than the last night with the band-aid, which was 34. Here's a thread suggesting that my leak rate may not be so bad, and also confirming my impression that this number can be somewhat opaque: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=61806&p=578843&hili ... cs#p578843

This is how it looked. To my possibly ignorant eye I don't see a correlation between the higher patches of leak and any events:



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Reporting from the field,

DD

As much as I hate the thought of taping, I tried it ONCE, and unless I use industrial strength duct tape, completely covering my mouth, there is NO WAY taping stops ME from expelling air that the XPAP pushes up my nose.

I'm sure it stops mouth breathing, but that doesn't seem to be my problem as much as air in my nose, same air out my mouth without being used as it should be.

I'll stick with the chinstrap and 'willing' my tongue to stay put on the roof of my mouth behind my teeth

Cheers,
xena