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Taping my lips shut is too funny!!!!

Hello everyone:

I felt compelled to share my funny story with the group.....I have opted to taping my fluttering lips shut, as I use nose pillows and a chin strap--ahhhh!!!! what a sight I am at night...I am awakened with tape saturated with saliva lol..mylips fluttering once again,so I struggle in the dark to take off the old tape and replace it with dry sticky tape-- off to lala land again only to be woken up again later to to discover my lips are fluttering again and my tape is you guessed it saturated.....lol

Oh the silly things one does when we have claustophobia issues....so I am very pleased to say I slept 3 hrs with a full face mask on but-once awakened I felt like I was ready to start my day but, it was only the wee hours of the morning.....is this normal to wake up in the middle of the night wide awake with a full mask only after a few hours of usage???? I need to sleep more that a couple of hours so I have resorted to using my nose pillows again with leakage ....my question to the group is should I continue on with the full mask.....is it normal to feel like you are getting alot of air with a full face mask.....I had to lower my settings for comfort....I want to make sure I am not making myself worse.

I would appreciate if someone with more knowledge than me can help me out with these questions.....

Thanks :)

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Permalink Reply by Mike on October 5, 2009 at 10:42pm
wanted to bump this up in the hope that someone with some experience with Full face masks might chime in . . .
Permalink Reply by Saz RPSGT on October 5, 2009 at 11:22pm
Hello Belinda,

If you are having that much mouth leaking, then you have never been receiving the full benefit from CPAP. Once the "air splint" is broken from mouth leaking, your upper airway collapses and OSA will continue.

With the full face mask the OSA isn't permitted to continue because even if your mouth opens, the air splint (Pneumatic Splint if you want the jargon) remains in tact and more importantly....you remain asleep!!!

So I would answer, "is this normal to wake up in the middle of the night wide awake with a full mask only after a few hours of usage????" this way. It is normal if you haven't been receiving the full benefit from your CPAP.

I would encourage you to try these steps to get over your claustrophobia with the Full Face Mask by following the steps in the link provided:

http://www.ehow.com/how_5388805_stop-end-anxiety-using-cpap.html

I would really encourage you to try to use the FFM since a chinstrap and even tape (you used frickin' tape you crazy chicken?!?!?) haven't been helpful. :^)

Hope this helps.

Jason
Permalink Reply by Duane McDade on October 6, 2009 at 8:58am
Maybe you should try Bi-level or BIPAP. If this is goes on with the full face mask, you do not have it on tight enough. I see patients who come back in to see why CPAP is not working for them and......the mask is so loose you can fit a phone book in there. Physics people, the larger the area that needs to be sealed ..... the tighter the mask. With bi-level you might be able to get away with a chin strap. Don't lower your settings, Keep your mask as tigh as you can stand. BI- LEVEL??
Permalink Reply by RockRpsgt on October 6, 2009 at 9:48am
So much passion in this one!

Duane McDade said:
Maybe you should try Bi-level or BIPAP. If this is goes on with the full face mask, you do not have it on tight enough. I see patients who come back in to see why CPAP is not working for them and......the mask is so loose you can fit a phone book in there. Physics people, the larger the area that needs to be sealed ..... the tighter the mask. With bi-level you might be able to get away with a chin strap. Don't lower your settings, Keep your mask as tigh as you can stand. BI- LEVEL??
Permalink Reply by Belinda Haman on October 6, 2009 at 11:22am
Hey Guys:

Thanks so much for the information that explains why I am waking up so much at night.....ahhh the silly things we do to avoid.....I must admit I am a little bummed out to learn that I'm not getting the full effect of my cpap yet!!! I need to get on my full face mask asap.....so I will be working on that tonight.....Thanks for the link Saz....I'm not sure what is bi-level and how it works, would you mind explaining to me Duane.....I see it mentioned alot here on the site.

Thanks :)
Permalink Reply by Duane McDade on October 7, 2009 at 1:29am
It's simple Bi-level is CPAP but with two pressures hence" BI" There's a pressure for inhaling and one for exhaling. This makes it easier to breathe in some cases. Most machines have this option built in. I think all do now.

Belinda Haman said:
Hey Guys:

Thanks so much for the information that explains why I am waking up so much at night.....ahhh the silly things we do to avoid.....I must admit I am a little bummed out to learn that I'm not getting the full effect of my cpap yet!!! I need to get on my full face mask asap.....so I will be working on that tonight.....Thanks for the link Saz....I'm not sure what is bi-level and how it works, would you mind explaining to me Duane.....I see it mentioned alot here on the site.

Thanks :)

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