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04-22-2023, 03:07 AM (This post was last modified: 04-22-2023, 03:23 AM by Apnea23.)
RE: Mouth Breathing and Spontaneous Arousals
(04-22-2023, 02:37 AM)Old Mike Wrote: Here's a short segment of what I think was a mouth breathing episode from last night. The breathing pattern is very different to that of exhale puffing but also has a much sharper exhale than normal asleep nasal breathing. What intrigues me is that it is very "clean" and consistent and went on for some thirty minutes without waking me. I've tried to replicate it while awake but cannot. My only explanation is that REM sleep changes the way the the throat/mouth behaves compared to when awake. The giveaway that it's some type of mouth breathing is the combination of leak rate and low tidal volume.
That's a very consistent leak - I think the experts (I am not one) would suspect a consistent leak from one of your nasal pillows due to positioning on your bed pillow.
I know if I applied slight pressure to my left nasal pillow (when I used them briefly, I no longer do) from a certain angle, it would give off a very slight hiss/leak.
*** Actually ignore me, I realise that's a very close up view and short time period!
Hi Old Mike, I looked over the graph where you mentioned the exhale flow rate steeper than the inhale flow rate. Reading all the posts in this thread, you mentioned that you use an ERP of 3. That may have something to do with the rapid exhale curve in the graph. I'm also using the Cover-Roll tape that Jason suggests. I don't have a full beard, but I have let the whiskers grow to a healthy 5 o'clock shadow, and that Cover-Roll tape still holds and comes off without too much effort. I do dog-ear one corner and position the tape the same every night. Just in case I need to remove it quickly, I know where to reach for the dog-eared corner.
Just clarifying that I use the Resmed nasal cushion, not the pillows. When I added the info to my initial profile, it only offered FFM, Nasal or Pillows. The cushion style is somewhere between nasal and pillows I suppose.
I have a similar weight loss target, Apnea23, so I'm only half way there. I can expect more disruption to my CPAP treatment then! Seriously though, I've seen a lot of people on this and other apnea forums/groups wonder whether they no longer need CPAP treatment once they've lost a lot of weight. For some, their apnea certainly improves a little, but for many it actually gets worse.
[attachment=50014]Thanks for chipping in, Enjoysleep59. I understand what you're saying about EPR, but it's definitely some type of mouth breathing in that screen shot - look at the leak rate and the drop in tidal volume. As a comparison, look below at the wave-form of normal nasal breathing from later last night. The exhale curve is still more steeply sloped than the inhale curve, but much more gradual than for the mouth breathing episode. The other strong clue is that after the earlier episode, I woke with that instantly recognisable dry mouth - "sandpapered mouth" might be a more accurate description!
