(05-24-2020, 12:21 PM)drmaestro Wrote: Thanks for the comments. I am sure taping the lips would work. What I was wondering is if taping the area around the lips without taping the lips would work? I probably can't give a commercial link but you can search for chin-up strips.
No, it won't work. You must actually bind both lips 'closed' by taping over them directly.
I have never tried the Somnifix, but people have used it and have reported good things. I went looking for whatever would get me through the second night, not wanting...EVER...to repeat the first, and I settled on white sports tape. It was small 'o' okay. Worked, not great. It isn't very water resistant, which you'll need in order to account for the effects of drool.
I soon found 3M Corp's 'water resistant' NexCare 2.5 cm wide tape. It's white in a largish plastic spool covered by a plastic cylinder into which the spool can be inserted. It's what I have continued to use.
Tips for success:
Before you tear off and apply any suitable length of tape from the roll,
fold over approximately 5 mm of the free end and adhere it to the sticky substance. That will be your quick-removal tab for when you vomit in the night (P <0.0000000000000000001. No, really.)
Make sure the length of tape is sufficient to extend for close to a cm beyond the 'corners' of your mouth. That's why you make your safety tab
before tearing off the length you'll need.
Use your finger tips to press firmly all over the surface of the tape after you have applied it. This will help to seal the facial surface and lips, and to prevent drool from leaking out and eventually compromising the seal.
Keep a spare roll of the tape bedside. At least six times in my 2.5 years, I have had to remove a less than perfect tape application that had begun to leak, and didn't want to have to rise, go to the bathroom, open the drawer, tear off another strip....you get the picture. Having a spare allows you both that luxury and convenience, but also provides a handy remedy to a botched previous application.