A question about mouth breathing

I use a True Blue nasal mask and chin strap (when it stays in place). The other night I woke up and noticed that my lips were slightly open with no big rush of air out of my mouth. I really don't know if prior to that I was or was not breathing out of my mouth--my question is this--with the lips partially open do you negate the positive effects of the CPAP even if no air is gushing out of your mouth?

I was very skeptical when my tech at my sleep study handed me a nasal mask. When I asked if I needed a chin strap, she told me that for most people, if they can train themselves to keep their tongue lightly sealed to the top of the mouth it separates the nasal passage from the mouth. She told me that it usually helps to suck a little of the air out from on top of the tongue, and it will "suction cup" your tongue to the top of your mouth and help hold it there. I have been using a nasal mask without a chin strap since I started CPAP a couple months ago. A few times a week, I loose the separation, and get the "Whoosh" out the mouth, but it just barely wakes me, and I get it back very easily.

According to my tech, if your lips are slightly open, and no air is coming out of your mouth, your tongue is in the right position to maintain the separation of the nasal passage from your mouth, and your CPAP is working as it should.

I can open my mouth wide open and do a great big yawn with my mask on and machine under full pressure and not have one tiny bit of air escape. If the tongue is in place it can do a great job of blocking the air from entering the mouth. Zero therapy pressure is lost so yes, it is possible not to lose any pressure and have the mouth open if the tongue is acting as a barrier.

While awake it is easy to judge if any air escapes but not so easy while asleep. Be sure to check the leak line graphs to see if there was some mouth breathing going on while asleep. Minor mouth breathing may not even show up and is not going to impact therapy much if any. Large amounts of mouth breathing can impact therapy. All depends on how much and for how long.
I know that I probably have some evidence of mouth breathing show up on my reports occasionally. It is rare for it to even exceed past the large leak line in the sand and when it does it doesn't stay there very long. Maybe 15 minutes and out of 8 hours of sleep that is not something I worry about.

Pugsy,
I don't really understand the S H data on the graph "Leak" and where mouth breathing is shown. Is it the head and shoulders pattern on the line?
The two data lines seem to correspond. I can post Leak line if necessary
Thanks

Hi - you wrote me privately for some reason rather than replying to my note on the forum, and have now started this thread about the same issue... it's really best to stay with the same thread so everyone can follow what's happening. I did respond to your PM though before I realized what was going on.

I suspect that mouth breathing has the plateau effect. I am pretty sure that the 5:00 AM to 5:30 level plateau is mouth breathing.
Not so sure about the spikes though.
My nasal pillows don't move around enough usually to account for sustained leaks that seem to sort of be level on the reports.
I am pretty sure that when I see leaks other than momentary spikes that they are mouth breathing leaks. The short lived spikes...I don't know. I sleep right through all of these little spikes and plateaus 99% of the time. On a rare occasion I will wake up with my mouth open and it be dry...sometimes I see it on a report and sometimes I can't even see a spike in that time frame.



And this one at 2 AM area.



Or this little jewel where I just had the main single episode.

jzap wrote:I was very skeptical when my tech at my sleep study handed me a nasal mask. When I asked if I needed a chin strap, she told me that for most people, if they can train themselves to keep their tongue lightly sealed to the top of the mouth it separates the nasal passage from the mouth. She told me that it usually helps to suck a little of the air out from on top of the tongue, and it will "suction cup" your tongue to the top of your mouth and help hold it there. I have been using a nasal mask without a chin strap since I started CPAP a couple months ago. A few times a week, I loose the separation, and get the "Whoosh" out the mouth, but it just barely wakes me, and I get it back very easily.

According to my tech, if your lips are slightly open, and no air is coming out of your mouth, your tongue is in the right position to maintain the separation of the nasal passage from your mouth, and your CPAP is working as it should.

I'm having difficulty mastering this skill. I have, however, mastered the "don't fall out of bed while sleeping" and "keep tension on your sphincters while sleeping" tasks.