Welcome to Apnea Board !
As a guest, you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use.
To post a message, you must create a free account using a valid email address.
Login or Create an Account
(06-29-2022, 09:09 AM)Tiz12 Wrote: is there any way to differentiate between mouth breathing and a mask that's not on properly?
The issue is mouth-leaking, not mouth breathing. So how can we tell if your leaks are through the mouth or around the edges of a poorly-fitted mask? You just have to experiment. Try different masks, including a full face mask. Try a chin strap or soft cervical collar. See how these things affect your leaks.
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
In addition to the other suggestions you've received regarding mouth leaks, you may also want to consider taping your mouth. There are conflicting views whether taping is a good or bad idea, so reading some of the many pro and con posts about this on the forum will educate you.
For what it's worth, I tape my mouth every night and that has eliminated my mouth leaks.
Many here will tell you that running with a minimum pressure of 4 is too low, especially when using EPR. I would recommend a minimum pressure of at least 7 since you were running a fixed pressure of 8.8 on your previous machine, the Resmed S9 Elite and to account for EPR use. Speaking of EPR use, I would recommend moving to an EPR of 3 since your flow limits at the 95% indicate issues that require additional pressure support. Just be aware that the higher level of EPR may bring about more centrals which would require you to lower your EPR level. There are a number of posts on this forum concerning these subjects.
As a mouth breather and one that primarily uses a nasal pillow mask, I found that I must use a jaw strap and tape my mouth to stop the leaks. There are several different options and opinions on this subject in the forums, I recommend you do some research and try out some of the options to gain control of your leak issues as these can be very disruptive to sleep and negate your therapy.
07-18-2022, 09:32 PM (This post was last modified: 07-18-2022, 09:34 PM by Tiz12.)
RE: Help would be greatly appreciated
is it a issue that my flow rate chart looks "spiky" and not smooth? i included a zoomed in pic of part of the night.
also i seem to get a apnea daily at about 6 am that wakes me up, even though my ahi is pretty low. should i raise my minimum pressure for that, or is there anything else i can do??
thanks