What was your experience fighting mouth leaks?

[PersonInNY]

Thanks a bunch!

[larrygreg]

I have been a mouth breather for a while.
Best solution so far was cover roll stretch tape.
It's been working so far

[Dodies]

Dodie, I actually bought a travel pillow hoping something like that would work. I can't envision your setup, though. Do you orient the pillow like a C, a U, or an upside-down U? Where exactly do you put your head? Do you sleep on your side?

I've tried using a buckwheat pillow and put a big dent in the middle for my head so I can't open my jaw. That didn't stop the mouth leaks, but it did at least keep my jaw from moving.

hi, i have positioned like a C, so my head gets support and i cant chin-tuck

[SeePak]

Person in NY.

Mouth leaker all my life and no end in sight!
Small lips, small chin, face thin , full set of teeth, a bit crooked, all from years of mouth breathing.
Started with nasal mask, switched to full face a couple months ago.
Back to nasal with mouth taping and that has been the best!
Trying myotape now, but not working at all.
May try lip balm of some sticky type, someone from Australia posted that awhile ago.

Also, i see you have a very wide range of pressure.
On your posted Oscar chart, it looked like your major leak started rightafter pressure went high.

Wondering if you might try lowering your max pressure?

I found i could really lower my CPAP pressure once i had my mouth taped, using dreamware nasal mask.

And there are many posts, and WIKI information showing that the AUTO pressure function can really get out of control sometimes, so
i think it would be worth a try for you.

[PersonInNY]

I nearly eliminated mouth leaks! I guess I just had to get more practice with a nasal mask. Xylitol gel enabled me to sleep through leakier nights -- I guess the dry mouth was what was stopping me from sleeping.

I'm not anxious to stop the pressure from going up and down a few times in the night. I think the algorithm is being reasonable. My sleep apnea is much worse in REM, and going by my Apple Watch, the periods of high pressure perfectly coincide with REM sleep. I was able to lower the min pressure quite a bit though -- I got a new machine from my DME and decided to leave it as programmed, with a min pressure of 4, which wouldn't have been nearly enough in the past. Maybe I breathe easier with nasal pillows. I also turned on the "for her" algorithm, which made the pressure graph smoother and reduced my 95% flow limits.

[SeePak]

Hi Person in ny

We have discussion going about setting  mask type in cpap machine to full face, when using pillow masks.

An industry guy has a paper about that, Dr. Noah

reduces flow rate while using these pillow masks.
They have a high differential and that causes some issues with their use.

I have started using this 'trick' , and definitely feel a softer air on inhalation.
Has to do with the algorithms used for each mask type.

Reduces leaks too!

check it out !

[PersonInNY]

Woah, I never would have thought of that. This must be the paper -- it's one that explains VCom, a device that lowers inspiratory pressure: https://getvcom.com/wp-content/uploads/2...ev-2.0.pdf

In general, full-face masks have minimal resistance, and nasal masks have slightly more, but nasal pillow masks have considerable resistance, especially the smaller cushion sizes. Many PAP devices now have a setting for the type of mask so that the device can compensate for the resistance in the mask. The higher the resistance, the more compensation required to maintain IPAP. Selecting the setting for a nasal pillow will further increase IPAP attempting to compensate for the drop in inspiratory pressure over the mask resistance.

[....]


We suggest you test these algorithms on yourself using a nasal pillow mask. Experience the same pressure setting with the full-face mask setting selected then the nasal pillow mask setting (X2 and X1 on a Philips device). We have not found one person who preferred the nasal pillow setting.

A very interesting idea, and easy to try out. There's lots of other interesting stuff in that paper too.

I don't think this is for me, since this is basically decreasing IPAP, and I have intentionally set IPAP > EPAP to reduce flow limitation. I was actually hoping to increase IPAP more but am worried about mouth leaks. (I declared victory here too soon -- still having some very leaky nights some of the time.)

[mesenteria]

I have tried several tapes to good effect, some better'n others. The NexCare 'strong hold' blue tape works well, and if you are scrupulous about cleaning your lip area prior to its application, and take your time removing it next morning, you can actually re-use it at least once....if you'd like to keep costs down and you're not squeamish about re-using the tape. 

My dear wife purchased two bags of PAP MD strips which I use 'cuz she got 'em for me.  They're costly, relatively, but the great thing is that they can be cut with scissors longitudinally (along their major axis) into two equal strips....AND...they can be used again several times. This keeps their cost down. Note that they are slightly porous, so some small parts of the flow can escape.  It's nothing like enough to encourage dry mouth.

[SeePak]

person in ny..

Yes, that is the article.

I looked over your Oscar chart you posted and you sound/look like a perfect candidate for the full face mask setting !!

Resmed elite auto that you have was rated to be the most agressive in pressure change for certain conditions.

I think your therapy could smooth out nicely, less leaks due to the smaller pressure swings and less CA events. ( overbreathing)


Hope you try it !

[SpaceShuttleGuy]

I’ve been using Somnifix mouth strips for a couple of years now. They work well and are not expensive. Look them up on the internet and see if they might work for you.