Authorized Customer wrote: ↑Thu Jan 12, 2023 2:31 pm
Addressing some replies about mouth breathing:
When I read "mouth breathing", I think of open-lipped breathing that bypasses the nose. That aligns with the Cleveland Clinic's definition:
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/d ... -breathing.
What is going on with me does not meet that definition. My lips are closed, and my jaw is in the closed position.
My problem is with escapes of pressurized air that push through my closed lips. I think "mouth leak" is a better term. Some others used that here.
Try this:
Put your tongue on the roof of your mouth, on that ridge behind the top teeth.
Now plug your nose.
Try to breathe in through your mouth--OK to open you lips to do it. Try to move the air.
If you CAN breathe through the mouth while your tongue is in that position and your nose is plugged, your anatomy isn't sealing the oropharynx (back of the throat) properly. If that's the case, I don't know why it worked for the first 7 days and then stopped working.
If you are like the majority of people, you CANNOT move the air in or out with your tongue in that position, that means you CAN seal off your mouth from your oropharynx, and either something is wrong with your tongue positioning or you relax out of the at position in bed. Sealing off the back of the throat this way has nothing to do with your jaw relaxing or your lips coming unsealed, although closed lips and jaw position help us support that position of the tongue to discourage mouth breathing/leaking. In your case, it may be a very slow leak because the tongue isn't fully sealing the back of the throat, eventually enough pressure builds up in your mouth to push open your lips to escape (that happens to me sometimes).
You will be pretty miserable in a full face mask, because mouth breathing in a FF mask means you're going to have a very dry mouth . And taping won't fix the underlying issue, it will just give you chipmunk cheeks. Some people cannot hold that seal and have to put up with the discomfort. A cervical collar that supports your chin might help.
What will help the most is practice, practice practice. Really focus on that tongue position all day unless you are eating or talking. As it becomes more habitual during the day, it should carry over to night.
I don't care if you want to call it "mouth leaking" or "mouth breathing", the underlying issue is really tongue positioning, and that's how to fix it.
