Central Apnea or Not?

[sheepless]

I can't master the tongue suck technique, but a soft cervical collar helps keep my lip leaks to a minimum with my nasal pillow mask. I don't love it but I can't pap without it.

[xXZexxMooreXx]

The mask type is all up to you, but if air is escaping from an open mouth-palate channel, you could try a full face mask or add the accessories and keep practicing the tongue trick.

FYI I have tried to transition from full face ResMed F20 to N30i which is a nasal mask. I'm still trying to get used to the nasal. Both are excellent masks BTW.

Also yes there's tongue reduction surgeries out there. I know very little about the how and why for medical necessity. I know it doesn't involve it, but I envision slicing deli ham.

After yesterday's experience, which was one of the worst, I'm absolutely certain that air is escaping through my mouth.  The first half, I had very disturbing dreams, but the dreams were all the same dream.  I'd wake up from a dream and be shaking my head saying "no, no, this can't be real, it didn't happen".  I noticed air was coming through my mouth, and my mouth was so dry it elements were sticking together.  When I'd wake up, I'd just barely be conscious, and when I'd go back to sleep, the dream would either start all over, replaying everything again, or continue at the end of the furthest part.  every single time I woke up with air coming through my mouth and with a very very dry mouth.  And, I always woke up at the worst part, where I was being cut up or strangled or shot to death.   

The dream was so disturbing that I haven't been able to stop thinking about it today.  The last time I woke up, I woke up feeling like I was highly drugged, it reminded me of all those years before CPAP.  It took 45 minutes to recover after waking up, so I used that time to switch my mask to the ResMed Amara full mask that came with my machine.  When I went back to sleep, I slept a full day with no dry mouth, bad dreams or being woke up. 
 

I don't know if it matters, but before I went to sleep the first time, I was having trouble breathing through my nose.  It was largely stopped up, and and I was struggling to breathing.  I'm not an expert, but it seems logical that I would have been opening my mouth to breath.

[Gideon]

It took me months to get the tongue technique down. Many have success with a soft cervical collar. And there always is the FFM

[SarcasticDave94]

You may be in the group that needs a full face mask to ensure proper CPAP therapy. It sounds like using the Amara View full face mask changed things immediately for the good.