Mouth leak & Apnea

[DCwom]

Once in a great while I wake up with a dry mouth because I've been sleeping with my mouth open. Does anyone know if its possible for a CPAP/APAP to detect apneas when you have a mouth leak? Looking at the leak data I can't really tell, but when I wake up with a dry mouth and fast pulse its pretty easy to figure out. What I don't know is if this is a once in a while event or it happens more often but I don't know because I don't wake up.

[PollCat]

While I don't know the effects of sleeping with your mouth open has on the data, I would suggest you get a chin strap to keep it closed. It really does not make make much sense to forced in your nose and then have it leave your mouth.

[Dawei]

Welcome, DCwom--My understanding is that the machine does detect apnea events whether or not your mouth is open. The problem is that the machine's accuracy is compromised when excessive leakage is present. This is the case with a ResMed machine, but I don't know why it would not also be the case with any brand. Have you considered using a chin strap to encourage your brain to keep your mouth closed? In addition, you could make sure you are properly understanding your machine's leak data to know what is considered acceptable (intentional) and what is not acceptable leakage with your machine. I'm sure others with your machine here on the board can help with that.

[trish6hundred]

Hi DCwom,
You could try a chinstrap and see if that would help you.
Best of luck.

[zonk]

Does anyone know if its possible for a CPAP/APAP to detect apneas when you have a mouth leak?

PRS1 shows total leak which made of intentional leak plus unintentional leak
unintentional leak = mask leak plus mouth leak
during large leak (mask or/and mouth leak) ... machine cannot determine apnea events with statistical accuracy

[TheWerkz]

Once in a great while I wake up with a dry mouth because I've been sleeping with my mouth open. Does anyone know if its possible for a CPAP/APAP to detect apneas when you have a mouth leak? Looking at the leak data I can't really tell, but when I wake up with a dry mouth and fast pulse its pretty easy to figure out. What I don't know is if this is a once in a while event or it happens more often but I don't know because I don't wake up.

Your profile shows you're not using software.

If you're getting all your leak data directly from your machine then you're not getting enough of the available information to determine whether it's affecting your therapy or not, comparing the flow graph to the leak graph to the event graph is the best way to determine what's going on.

Do you have the SleepyHead software?


Ren

[DCwom]

Once in a great while I wake up with a dry mouth because I've been sleeping with my mouth open. Does anyone know if its possible for a CPAP/APAP to detect apneas when you have a mouth leak? Looking at the leak data I can't really tell, but when I wake up with a dry mouth and fast pulse its pretty easy to figure out. What I don't know is if this is a once in a while event or it happens more often but I don't know because I don't wake up.

Your profile shows you're not using software.

If you're getting all your leak data directly from your machine then you're not getting enough of the available information to determine whether it's affecting your therapy or not, comparing the flow graph to the leak graph to the event graph is the best way to determine what's going on.

Do you have the SleepyHead software?

Ren

Ren,
Yes I have looked at my data with Sleephead, that's what got me to thinking about open mouth with the mask. I was trying correlate the data from the night before when I knew I was mouth breathing. Like I said, it is a rare event (that I know of) when I was mouth breathing so I'm just trying to see if I do it more often than I know of.

[pssnn]

Once in a great while I wake up with a dry mouth because I've been sleeping with my mouth open. Does anyone know if its possible for a CPAP/APAP to detect apneas when you have a mouth leak? Looking at the leak data I can't really tell, but when I wake up with a dry mouth and fast pulse its pretty easy to figure out. What I don't know is if this is a once in a while event or it happens more often but I don't know because I don't wake up.

Hi DCwom,

I have mouth leaking also. The chinstrap did not help me at all but a dental night guard does help me some.

One thing you could do is to get a pulse oximeter and wear it to make sure that you are not getting desaturations. With sleepyhead software the oximeter data can be imported and correlated with any desaturations. Actually the main reason I bought an oximeter was to see if I had any desaturation events that were not reported as apneas on my S9 autoset (as a consequence of mouth leaking).

[archangle]

If the leak is bad enough, it will probably affect your data, although your machine will still try to detect apneas.

[genes]

Once in a great while I wake up with a dry mouth because I've been sleeping with my mouth open. Does anyone know if its possible for a CPAP/APAP to detect apneas when you have a mouth leak? Looking at the leak data I can't really tell, but when I wake up with a dry mouth and fast pulse its pretty easy to figure out. What I don't know is if this is a once in a while event or it happens more often but I don't know because I don't wake up.

If you sleep with your mouth open and breath in and out of your mouth your cpap is not working. If you need cpap you likely will be having apneas whether your machine figures it out or not. CPAP requires a positive airway pressure high enough to prevent your apneas. It is impossible even with cpap to breath in thru your mouth to your lungs unless your airway pressure is negative (below atmospheric). It is important to eliminate mouth breathing so that your cpap will work.
GeneS