Apnea Board Forum - CPAP | Sleep Apnea
Leak rate spikes w/ perfect taping that a Bleep won't fix - Printable Version

+- Apnea Board Forum - CPAP | Sleep Apnea (https://www.apneaboard.com/forums)
+-- Forum: Public Area (https://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Forum-Public-Area)
+--- Forum: Main Apnea Board Forum (https://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Forum-Main-Apnea-Board-Forum)
+--- Thread: Leak rate spikes w/ perfect taping that a Bleep won't fix (/Thread-Leak-rate-spikes-w-perfect-taping-that-a-Bleep-won-t-fix)



Leak rate spikes w/ perfect taping that a Bleep won't fix - Phil7 - 11-04-2021

For awhile now, I've been mouth taping with BSN Medical Cover roll.    In the two example image segments , I woke up (or ended the period), with my lips still pressed tightly together (to where with a medium effort I could not break the lip seal and draw air).   I press the tape down above my upper lip, stretch it very tight while holding my lips tightly together, and then press down the bottom.  The result is I can not draw any mouth air when I get into bed.   On both graphs, I woke up with my lips still pressed tightly together and I could not draw air (in theory, a perfect mouth tape job that held the whole time).

I can not figure out what's going on a night, that's causing leak spikes, where perfect mouth taping and a  bleep system won't fix the spikes.

I'm not using the Bleep system again.  That was a horrible and fiddly experience (also, I'm working off my own 11 year old CPAP prescription and have never received medical insurance reimbursement for anything CPAP).   Otherwise, I'm out of ideas for figuring out exactly what's going on at night.   With a Bleep system that had plenty of zero leak rate segments, and where I was using perfect mouth taping, I don't understand how I still had leak rate climbs often.

P10:  A 2.4 base leak rate is the best I've ever done (I wipe down with alcohol wipes, have trimmed nose hairs excessively (etc.), trying to improve the P10 seal.   I've tried all 4 sizes and the medium I use for sure provides the lowest leak rate.

I'll happily take any tips or suggestions.  Thanks.    I know some people are very happy to just have a leak rate under 20 all night, but I've also heard from a couple of sources in the business that the more important thing is a stable leak rate where I always have a leak rate jumping all over the place at night.   I have no idea, maybe the machines motors can really respond fast enough to adjust for a leak real time now for all that I know.

Edit: Both graphs were under an Auto CPAP range of 13.6 to 16.4. Also (for ~5 month) I've had a temporary implant supported upper denture in, where there's a thick support ridge on the back that prevents my tongue from being able to lay flat against the rough of my mouth). 11 years ago, I had only had 4 cavities in my life. ~10 years of CPAP nasal pillow use with big mouth leaks (I had no idea) seems to have completely destroyed my teeth in 10 short years (ug).