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Question on NP mouth "blowout"
#11
RE: Question on NP mouth "blowout"
(03-04-2016, 10:49 AM)PappinLikeABoss Wrote:
(03-04-2016, 10:46 AM)PappinLikeABoss Wrote:
(03-04-2016, 10:35 AM)GrammaBear Wrote: I am not a health care professional, just someone who has used a cpap since 2009. During that time I've used a 'pillow' mask exclusively as I felt a FFM was too constrictive. In addition I have a narrow bridge on my nose which makes fitting a FFM mask difficult.

Do you think there is any chance that your body is quite used to the FFM and given more time you will adapt to the pillow mask? I remember back when I had my sleep study, I asked the technician "how do you train yourself to keep your mouth closed"? Her reply was "You give yourself time and keep telling yourself to keep your tongue on the roof of your mouth." Her advice has pretty much worked for me, not that I don't have periods where my AHI is higher than in the past.

Also, have you tried any chin straps? There are different ones on the market and since everyone of us is different, what works for me might not feel comfortable for you.

I felt very comfortable with the pillows last night, so I don't think it is that. I was excited actually, that something felt ok from the start.

I used a chin strap and a piece of vertical tape only on the center of my lips. The tape blew off. When I put it back on a bit tighter, the air still blew through to my mouth, out my cheeks, and blew it off again. I haven't had it long enough to train the tongue, I wonder how that works when your facial muscles relax.

My mouth was closed the entire time, it was only when the air went into the closed mouth that it became a fiasco.

I do realize it is only day one, but I haven't read about this particular issue yet, unless I'm missing it somewhere.

Thank you for replying!

Also, the pressure is at about 8-9 when this happened, as I thought it was a pressure issue. I've read that pressure is under the threshold of about 11 for pillows. I had S size pillows and switched to M, had problem with both ( I napped with the S yesterday). Maybe pillow size? I have xs, s and m.
Try using EPR and see if that helps.
Inspired
Bigwink
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#12
RE: Question on NP mouth "blowout"
(03-04-2016, 11:31 AM)PaytonA Wrote: On to the chin strap. I tried a number of chin straps that helped me to keep my mouth closed but did not seem to encourage my tongue to maintain the seal. For me, the chin straps with a chin cup did not help. I tried a 3" wide chin strap with no chin cup and placed it under my chin with the front just under my chin and the back up against my neck. The pressure on the soft tissue under my jaw seems to help me to maintain the tongue seal all night long.

I have used P10 pillows and a Ruby chinstrap essentially all the time since I began PAP, and have had blowout and dry mouth issues even while using the tongue technique, so the above info intrigued me and I bought a 3" chinstrap. I really like it (although if you don't like having your ears covered it could be a problem) - it stays on, and eliminates most of the blowout and dryness issue.

That said, I noticed when looking at Sleepyhead output that it seems to increase the amount of "Flow Limit" vs. the Ruby (see attached JPG, example of two days with the different straps, but same leak rate and AHI) These are just examples out of several weeks sampling.
   
I think that the "pressure on the soft tissue" does indeed help to maintain the tongue seal, but it may also indirectly help close the airway a little further down.
I am not worried about this, as the general trend in AHIs is the same for both straps, but am curious as to whether others may have noticed the same thing.

As an experiment, I am trying moving the strap a little more toward my chin in stages to see if it still accomplishes the tongue and dry mouth issues but lowers the flow limit issues - is somewhat promising so far.

PS to the moderators - if I am getting off topic here, I am sorry and please feel free to move this to a new topic.
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