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Permalink Reply by Mike on March 25, 2009 at 12:08pm

A lot of people who breathe through their mouths find that they're doing it because it's so difficult for them to get air through their nose. I wonder whether a saline nasal rinse of some sort would help condition your nose so that you have fewer mouth leaks. NeilMed makes a number of good products

I've also heard good things about the Ayr product

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Permalink Reply by bonesigh on March 25, 2009 at 12:17pm

Hi Mike,
Actually I can breath just fine through my nose most nights unless I have a cold of course. I usually have to put lip chap inside my nose to keep it from drying out. Sometimes I use a bit of neosporin if it's sore. Chin strap is of no use. Air escapes through lips anyway. I'll look into the products too. Might help with the sore nose.

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Permalink Reply by Mike on March 25, 2009 at 12:56pm

hmmm. have to admit I'm perplexed. hopefully someone wiser than myself will chime in with the right answer.

bonesigh said:

Hi Mike,
Actually I can breath just fine through my nose most nights unless I have a cold of course. I usually have to put lip chap inside my nose to keep it from drying out. Sometimes I use a bit of neosporin if it's sore. Chin strap is of no use. Air escapes through lips anyway. I'll look into the products too. Might help with the sore nose.

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Permalink Reply by bonesigh on March 25, 2009 at 1:18pm

Well Mike, thanks for your input anyway. I appreciate it.

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Permalink Reply by sleepycarol on March 25, 2009 at 9:27pm

Try using a gentle release tape and tape your mouth. When taping put on chapstick, roll lips in, put tape on and smooth it down, turn the ends under. You must use tape wide enough to seal around your lips. Many have had success with the blue painters tape (the easy to remove kind). After tape is secure you can unroll your lips and should be good to go.

Before anyone starts out saying this is dangerous -- there is an Oracle Mouth Mask made by one of the companies that is used via the mouth, effectively sealing your mouth. This mask is FDA approved and tape is a lot easier to remove than the mask.

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Permalink Reply by Butch Hernandez on March 26, 2009 at 1:39am

Personally, I'm not a big fan of full face masks. They do have their place and function though for sure. Full face masks have a whoooole lot of seal area and because of this fact, they are notorious for weak seal integrity. A hybrid style mask may be an alternative as they still perform as a full face mask, but with less seal area. At 18/14 bilevel, that a pretty high volume of air coming at you. Of course PAP therapy is seal dependant, and when you add your pressure and your full face mask, that equals fertile ground for excessive leaks. Most major manufacturers of PAP devices have a built in leak compensation mechanism. So if you spring a little leak, the machine will deliver a bit more air to compensate for the leak. Mask leaks cause increased airflow inside the mask and could possibly be contribute to the dryness. Now, if your machine is downloadable via the machine or some type of card, you can have that card read and this could reveal the leak. Its a longshot, but I have run across this in the lab and when I was working in the DME world. Anyways, hope that opens a door for ya!

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Permalink Reply by sleepycarol on March 26, 2009 at 8:08am

Okay, I admit I was tired when I posted on this thread last night. :( I gave totally useless advice on this one, sorry about that.

Have you tried the Mack's silicone ear plug fix? Mack's silicone ear plugs can be purchased at Wal-Mart, Walgreens, many grocery stores, etc.

Take one of the plugs (they are soft and pliable) and roll it into a long thin rope. Take the rope and place it around the seal of your mask. It may take more than one to do a full face mask due to the area you are covering. Place your mask on your face and gently adjust the mask, turn on your machine, and if necessary add small amounts of the Macks to leak areas. When removing the mask, peel it off slowly and the Macks should still be stuck on the mask seal. You may use the Macks over until it looses its stickiness. Good luck.

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Permalink Reply by bonesigh on March 26, 2009 at 12:35pm

Thanks for the reply. I'll try the Mack's. Sounds like a good idea! I really don't think I could stand the tape. Too scary and claustrophobic feeling. Maybe your brain wakes you up if your nose get stuffed but it's too scary for me.

Somehow I don't think it's a leaking mask though. I think that once I fall asleep my lips open and some of the air blowing down the airway makes it into my mouth and blows around like you would blow air into a cup. The mask is put on very tight and I sleep on the edge of the pillow so the mask does not get skewed when I fully relax. I don't get woken because of leaks. It has taken a lot of adjusting to get it just right. But, that being said, it could be a leak.

I think I really need to get that computer program but I'm not sure which to get. I have a ResMed Vpap III. Also I'm not computer savvy so, would I be able to figure out how to do it?

Oh and Butch, I've tried the hybrid and it did work for a short while (or seemed to) but then I would get leaks around the nose area and the nostril plugs would pop out because of the pressure. Sigh, I don't know but I do know after joining this forum that I need to get more aggressive about my therapy!! The mask I have now seems to work great.

I liked what this person said in their forum but is it true? The stages of therapy....I'm in the "Basic Treatment stage".

"Walking Dead" is where most of us start at. That is how a person with OSA problems feels before PAP.

"Basic Treatment" is the next step. You feel much better. You start to notice that there is more to life than you have been experiencing lately. It is amazing how well you feel compared to before - but you still don't have the energy that you remember (or that you see other people with). Naps are still needed if you are to function at all throughout the day.

"Advanced Treatment" may follow. Here your feel so tremendously great compared to before. Life starts to be good again; you can see that there is a future (especially in the morning when you get up).

"Mental Zest" is where you want to be, what happens when treatment is really working well for you. All of a sudden your mind and life are free again. You typically wake up feeling great, can do multi-tasking of different mental tasks (which really help your job and personal life), and have energy all day.

What do you think?? DOES MENTAL ZEST EXIST?? I want to be there!!






sleepycarol said:

Okay, I admit I was tired when I posted on this thread last night. :( I gave totally useless advice on this one, sorry about that.

Have you tried the Mack's silicone ear plug fix? Mack's silicone ear plugs can be purchased at Wal-Mart, Walgreens, many grocery stores, etc.

Take one of the plugs (they are soft and pliable) and roll it into a long thin rope. Take the rope and place it around the seal of your mask. It may take more than one to do a full face mask due to the area you are covering. Place your mask on your face and gently adjust the mask, turn on your machine, and if necessary add small amounts of the Macks to leak areas. When removing the mask, peel it off slowly and the Macks should still be stuck on the mask seal. You may use the Macks over until it looses its stickiness. Good luck.

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Permalink Reply by Lynne O'Luanaigh on July 13, 2009 at 5:09pm

Hi Sleepycarol:

I have a sore on the bridge of my nose from the full face quattro mask so I bought the silicone ear plugs. Do I put the rope of silicone on the hard plastic bridge part of the mask?

Also for air leaking do I put the silicone rope on the edge of the hard plastic where the leaks are?

Thanks for your help

sleepycarol said:

Okay, I admit I was tired when I posted on this thread last night. :( I gave totally useless advice on this one, sorry about that.

Have you tried the Mack's silicone ear plug fix? Mack's silicone ear plugs can be purchased at Wal-Mart, Walgreens, many grocery stores, etc.

Take one of the plugs (they are soft and pliable) and roll it into a long thin rope. Take the rope and place it around the seal of your mask. It may take more than one to do a full face mask due to the area you are covering. Place your mask on your face and gently adjust the mask, turn on your machine, and if necessary add small amounts of the Macks to leak areas. When removing the mask, peel it off slowly and the Macks should still be stuck on the mask seal. You may use the Macks over until it looses its stickiness. Good luck.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Fritz on July 14, 2009 at 1:09pm

I think you should keep a daily log of all the things that happen to you on a daily basis. What you eat, drink, meds, humidity where you live, period coming/period past, etc.
It might not be cpap and you might figure it out.

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Permalink Reply by bonesigh on July 14, 2009 at 7:06pm

Not a bad idea Mike. Since this post though I have not been having the dry mouth but, it comes back occasionally and lasts a week or 2 usually. Sometimes a couple of months go by with no episodes. Like this time it's been over 3 months since getting dry mouth.
Some good news is my sleep doctor is going to set me up with a new sleep study, I hope it's a full night study as I have asked for. I'm still not fully rested and wake up often. Just this evening I scraped the dog food into the garbage can instead of the dog's bowl! These are not the actions of a rested mind.


Mike Fritz said:

I think you should keep a daily log of all the things that happen to you on a daily basis. What you eat, drink, meds, humidity where you live, period coming/period past, etc.
It might not be cpap and you might figure it out.

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Permalink Reply by gregory keith dixon on July 15, 2009 at 5:36pm

why don't they include the card with the purchase of a new machine? so we can have access to the data?

Butch Hernandez said:

Personally, I'm not a big fan of full face masks. They do have their place and function though for sure. Full face masks have a whoooole lot of seal area and because of this fact, they are notorious for weak seal integrity. A hybrid style mask may be an alternative as they still perform as a full face mask, but with less seal area. At 18/14 bilevel, that a pretty high volume of air coming at you. Of course PAP therapy is seal dependant, and when you add your pressure and your full face mask, that equals fertile ground for excessive leaks. Most major manufacturers of PAP devices have a built in leak compensation mechanism. So if you spring a little leak, the machine will deliver a bit more air to compensate for the leak. Mask leaks cause increased airflow inside the mask and could possibly be contribute to the dryness. Now, if your machine is downloadable via the machine or some type of card, you can have that card read and this could reveal the leak. Its a longshot, but I have run across this in the lab and when I was working in the DME world. Anyways, hope that opens a door for ya!

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