Newbie side sleeper mouth breather needs mask suggestions

I am a newbie to using a cpap. I have been trying for about 10 days with very little luck. One of my main problems is I am a mouth breathing extreme side sleeper. I sleep so much on my side, my face is half buried in my pillow. I was diagnosed with OSA about 8 years ago and tried to use a cpap then, but absolutely hated the mask. The mask hurt so much because of my side sleeping. My doctor suggested I try again now since technology has gotten better. I started out with the Mirage Liberty. It was better than the full face mask that I tried years ago, but I still had issues with the hard plastic pushing into my face. Also, the mask was positioned in such a way that it made my lower lip push back and connect with my upper teeth. This would cause the air to not be able to enter my mouth and I'd wake up gasping. I did manage 2 random nights of 5 hours with the cpap, but those nights I was dead tired and was out quickly. Thankfully, I have a wonderful DME, so I headed over there for some recomendations. I decided to try the swift fx, even though I wasn't sure I could pull off breathing only through my nose. In comfort, the swift fx is absolutly wonderful!!! In everything else it is horrible. Breathing in and out takes such effort, I can't relax enough to sleep. My chest fills up with air and I can't seem to blow it all out. One definite problem is that my nose is always in some way, congested. For example, right now the right side is my nose is totally plugged while the left side is fine. A few hours ago, it was the other way around. The chin strap I had was doing a good job and was very comfortable. Unfortunately, my mouth kept filling up with saliva and so I had to keep concentrating to swallow it in between breaths. After about an hour of all that work, I gave up, took the mask off, and went to sleep. I really think I need to find the most comfortable full faced mask possible. One that has the least hard plastic and only soft plastic. My DME had suggested the Zzz-Mask. Does anyone here have any other suggestions?
Thanks ~ ChelseaChestnut

Presuming you get a FF mask, you might want to look at a Pap Pillow because they're made for us . Search it on the forum (or Google).

You need to learn to sleep with your head on the edge of the pillow so the front of the mask is jutting out off of the pillow and is not touching anything. I just use an ordinary fiber-filled pillow.

I guess I do a combination of both the above posts. (I wear the Mirage Liberty.) I have the regenesis pillow so I can set it up at exactly the height I need it to be plus I can dig out a little trench where my mask makes contact and it gives it room. But I also sleep on the edge of the pillow. Give it a try!

ChelseaChestnut wrote:One definite problem is that my nose is always in some way, congested. For example, right now the right side is my nose is totally plugged while the left side is fine. A few hours ago, it was the other way around.

That's actually a normal thing your autonomic nervous system does called the nasal cycle. It's part of what causes you to roll over periodically at night. The amount of congestion varies; in some people, myself included, it's almost complete.

--Mark

I am a SERIOUS side sleep and mouth breather as well. I have found ONE and only one mask that works for me. It's the F&P 431. I know a lot of people here don't like it, but I have tried just about every mask my DME had and I always went back to the 431.

On top of that, my pressure can get pretty high at night (up to 23) and the 431 seems to handle that pressure about as well as anything I've had.

I was 100% sure when starting cpap that I would need a full face mask as I just "cant" breathe through my nose.

Well it turns out that I CAN. I now use the Zest Petite nasal mask

I tried the nasal pillows and also had immense difficulty breathing OUT with them so quickly went back to the zest. I also tried another nasal mask and had trouble breathing out with that one too so back to the zest.

I sleep on my size and even have slept on my stomach with head slightly turned with no problems with this mask

Before bed I irrigate my nose/sinus and that combined with prescriptive decongestant spray works wonders.

Since my hip replacement I've had to spend a high percentage of my time sleeping on my right side. I've been an incurable mouth breather all my life, can't tolerate a chin strap, so need a nice soft full-face mask.

After a couple of years of my complaining about standard masks, someone pointed me at the ProBasics Zzzz full face mask. It sounded good so I tried it. It's so light compared to more conventional masks, there's no stiff nosepiece or forehead pad, and I find that it seals very well. The nice part is that the seal module is individually replaceable, just pushes out of the light metal frame while the hose attachment snaps off and can be reused. Very inexpensive and our hosts here stock it.

It's flexible enough that I can burrow into my pillow pretty much as much or as little as I like. The flexibility may be helping my hose to wander around and stay unkinked - that's my guess, anyway.

The one downside I have found is that the headgear that comes with it seems to stretch excessively easily and recover poorly; I find myself having to adjust it more often than I like. But that small nuisance is a tiny price to pay for the comfort and efficiency of the mask in my application.

Hi - I'm a side sleeper too. A pap-pillow is probably the best thing to look at. If you ever change your mask from a nasal pillow to a nasal mask then I can recommend the Activa Nasal Gel mask. It tends to have more give than other nasal masks. I'd love to use a nose pillow, but whenever I try they hurt my nose, regardless of nasal pillow size.

PS: You can sorta make a fluffy pillow into a pap pillow by crunching the edges, but it doesn't stay like that unfortunately.

Madalot wrote:I am a SERIOUS side sleep and mouth breather as well. I have found ONE and only one mask that works for me. It's the F&P 431. I know a lot of people here don't like it, but I have tried just about every mask my DME had and I always went back to the 431.
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I am back to using the SleepWeaver again for the time being, but I absolutely second Madalot on this one. The F&P 431 has been the only full face mask I can use. I love it.

Bed pillows make a huge difference as well. I can't stand to sleep with my mask hanging off the side of one, though. I use a silk pillow and just mush into it where needed. It indents and stays there.

There is also the F&P Oracle, which is a mouth-only mask. I used this for a spell and liked it, but the part that fits between the teeth was too thick for me and ended up being a deal breaker.

I cannot use nasal pillows no matter how often or hard I try ~~ they stuff me up even though regular nasal masks do not.

Also: try taping your mouth shut. You may only need to do this for a week or two and then keeping your mouth shut may be habit. This is how I beat mouth breathing before I switched to the F&P 431 (and I keep my mouth shut most of the time using that mask as well). Now I am able to switch to a nasal mask when I want to and keep my mouth shut all night automatically, even after not using a nasal mask for several months.

Hang in there!!

"Bed pillows make a huge difference as well. I can't stand to sleep with my mask hanging off the side of one, though. I use a silk pillow and just mush into it where needed. It indents and stays there." That is NOT recommended - unless your mask vents high up and you know for sure is not covered by bedding. If you start rebreathing exhaled CO2 you'll be in trouble.

I'm with madalot on this one. The 431 mask lets me burrow my face in the pillow and does not shift. I'm having some problems with leaking around the mask lately, but that's probably due to the fact that I'm heading for the three month period for replacing the seals.

I agree with Rooster on the pillow use, but I prefer a feather tick pillow + I use a Mirage Quattro and sleep on both sides and never on my back--thats wat works for me --FA

Thank you for all your suggestions. I will be going on Monday to get my new mask and will let you all know which one I go with. I have also decided to invest in a cpap pillow.
ChelseaChestnut

I'm with Freshair and Roster. I am mostly a side sleeper but wake up occasionally on my back. I'm a chronic mouth breather due to stuffed up sinuses (runs in the family). I am using two soft fake down pillows that smash down well. I found that hanging off the edge of the top one allows me to sleep well with minimal shifting of the mask and leaks. I use the Mirage Quattro and it works well and find that I breathe through my mouth a lot.