Experimental

[polyfrog]

I have for the last while been using a full-face CPAP mask. I hate it. I wear it because my mouth falls open in sleep and then the CPAP does me no good.

Tonight I'm going to try a more comfortable nasal mask I have and see if I can train myself to not open my mouth.

Comments

[catbirdgirl]

chin strap? bite guard?

what I do is put my tongue against my palate and create a small vacuum by ... hell, how do I explain this... kind of sucking in on the area. it works. I used to drool and open my mouth while asleep and I don't any more.

there are a lot of people on cpaptalk.com that spend time dealing with this kind of problem.

I doubt I could do a full face mask, it would bug me.

[whl]

Sometimes, I think a hyperbaric chamber would be simpler...

[polyfrog]

Wouldn't work. The CPAP works because of the pressure difference between the inside and outside of your throat.

It'd have to be an iron lung.

[whl]

To force in the air, yes. But with a higher amount of oxygen in the air you were getting, you should suffer less from the effects of the occasional lapse in breathing.

Unless the lapses would get longer, due to decreased CO2 concentration in the blood.

[polyfrog]

That would be my take, yeah. I have thought occasionally about the idea of just tinkering with the oxygen levels as a treatment for OSA. But yeah, that would just make you able to go longer before you rouse to start breathing again.

[blur01]

I use a chin strap. Works for me.

[polyfrog]

Not for me. Try this: open your jaw but keep your lips lightly closed. Now blow out. Raspberry.
Now do it while holding your jaw closed.
Same result.

[daddy_guido]

Now I just have images in my head of you dressed up as Jacob Marley...

[blur01]

Every now and again I do the Marley and Marley (in a bob marley voice) song from The Muppets Christmas Carol and really lay Laura out.

We do indeed call it the marley strap.

[mathochist]

Duct tape?

[polyfrog]

I've used tape (although not duct tape). It works if I use enough of it, and is more comfortable than the full-face mask. But after a few days the goo really starts to irritate my skin, and also it's not completely safe to tape your mouth shut and then hook your nose to a bucket of water and go to sleep.