Does your brain learn not to mouth breathe?
I'm really struggling to mitigate mouth breathing, but I'm thinking a short term hellish struggle may be really worth it for the long term, namely, after a period of time your brain adapts, and you don't mouth breathe any more.
I'm wondering what your experience is with this.
Can I expect not to have to use tape/collar/jaw lift forever? Once your body gets used to breathing entirely through the nose instead of the mouth you don't need any of that stuff?
[My back story on this is that I'm using the P10. I love this mask! It doesn't bother my face or my jaws, it's comfortable, and I get no leaks. It's easy to take on and off for water in the night or a nap in the afternoon. The problem is I'm going berserk trying to come up with a way to stop my jaw from flopping open. I actually have no problem breathing through the mask (unless maybe the pressure doesn't go high enough?), but still my mouth finds a way to open.
I'm not able to do SleepyHead yet, because I've had to order a new SD card reader (the first was defective). But my "treated" event number last night, per the A10A 4Her, was 15. No matter what I did with the mask set up. Ummm, right-y-ho....]
RE: Does your brain learn not to mouth breathe?
If you find you are unable to conquer mouth breathing, a full face mask may be in your future.
I can't answer your question, about the brain learning not to mouth breathe, but many of us have successfully found something that works. (Soft Cervical Collar, Chin Strap, or learning the Tongue Suck Technique)
Your "treated" AHI of 15 is too high. I realize you are waiting for an SD card reader, but in the meantime, you could look at the data in #SleepyHead and give us a bit more
information.
What is the breakdown of your AHI? Hypopneas, Obstructions, Clear Airways.
What is your leak rate?
What is your 95% pressure reading?
Do you have EPR on? What setting?
The above information may give us some insight besides mouth breathing as to why your AHI is so high.
RE: Does your brain learn not to mouth breathe?
I think OpalRose meant you can get some of the above information off your Airsense under reports. You don't need a card reader for that.
RE: Does your brain learn not to mouth breathe?
You may need to go into the clinical menu and set 'Essentials' to 'Plus'...
For ResMed, essential means minimal...
RE: Does your brain learn not to mouth breathe?
(10-09-2017, 12:52 PM)Walla Walla Wrote: I think OpalRose meant you can get some of the above information off your Airsense under reports. You don't need a card reader for that.
Thanks WW, I was thinking she had SH installed, but of course she can't access data without a card reader. 
RE: Does your brain learn not to mouth breathe?
(10-09-2017, 12:01 PM)HalfAsleep Wrote: I'm really struggling to mitigate mouth breathing, but I'm thinking a short term hellish struggle may be really worth it for the long term, namely, after a period of time your brain adapts, and you don't mouth breathe any more.
Once adapted, some people do stop mouth-leaking. Things like a chin strap are a training device for them, and they no longer need it after awhile.
I wasn't so lucky, and after a couple of years of grimacing when looking at my leak rate graphs I finally switched to a full face mask. I thought it would be a difficult switch but it turned out to be easy. I felt a lot better, too, as I'm getting better quality sleep.
Sleepster
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
RE: Does your brain learn not to mouth breathe?
(10-09-2017, 12:01 PM)HalfAsleep Wrote: I'm really struggling to mitigate mouth breathing, but I'm thinking a short term hellish struggle may be really worth it for the long term, namely, after a period of time your brain adapts, and you don't mouth breathe any more.
I'm wondering what your experience is with this.
Can I expect not to have to use tape/collar/jaw lift forever? Once your body gets used to breathing entirely through the nose instead of the mouth you don't need any of that stuff?
[My back story on this is that I'm using the P10. I love this mask! It doesn't bother my face or my jaws, it's comfortable, and I get no leaks. It's easy to take on and off for water in the night or a nap in the afternoon. The problem is I'm going berserk trying to come up with a way to stop my jaw from flopping open. I actually have no problem breathing through the mask (unless maybe the pressure doesn't go high enough?), but still my mouth finds a way to open.
I'm not able to do SleepyHead yet, because I've had to order a new SD card reader (the first was defective). But my "treated" event number last night, per the A10A 4Her, was 15. No matter what I did with the mask set up. Ummm, right-y-ho....]
I'm not sure my mouth flopping open had anything to do with breathing through it. I take it as just relaxation of my jaw muscles with sleep. If that's the case, you'd have more luck training a cat than teaching my mouth to stay shut.
RE: Does your brain learn not to mouth breathe?
(10-09-2017, 12:54 PM)pholynyk Wrote: You may need to go into the clinical menu and set 'Essentials' to 'Plus'...
For ResMed, essential means minimal...
Curious, since I don't use a ResMed, can she see the information if set to Plus? Not just total AHI, but breakdown of AHI, 95% reading and leak rate?
RE: Does your brain learn not to mouth breathe?
(10-09-2017, 12:52 PM)Walla Walla Wrote: I think OpalRose meant you can get some of the above information off your Airsense under reports. You don't need a card reader for that.
Yes, thanks. I wondered there for a moment. I have indeed been using my A10A 4Her control panel for guidance. Problem is, half the panel is for averages for the month.
If I'm lucky, if I have a sleep symptom and am with it enough, I can reach over, press the home button, and it will tell me what the AHI is at that particular point averaged over the day's sleeping. During a 25 minute nap yesterday, I generated an AHI of 8 (which presumably means I have rapid-onset apnea). For the whole 24 hours, my AHI was 11.4. For a specific moment when I woke up half way through the night, it was reading 15.
The pressure has been averaging 10.5.
A10A 4Her seems to construe mask removals as leaks and the time the machine runs for Smart Start as mask leaks. So, this is a very unhelpful number.
You guys are being sol helpful. I really appreciate it.
(Moderator: if this data belongs in a separate data thread, please move it! THX)
RE: Does your brain learn not to mouth breathe?
Working up from the bottom of the sleep report, we see Central AI, Total AI, AHI, Leak, Pressure, and Used Hrs. I set the Period to 1 Day, so that I always see last night's sleep. Obstructive AI is Total AI minus Central AI, and hypopneas is AHI minus Total AI. I'm not sure if the pressure is 90% or 95%, and I think the Leak rate is 70 percentile, not 90 or 95.
I hope this helps.
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