your experiences with chin straps?

Hi everyone,

I'm going to Apria tomorrow to pick up a nasal pillow mask. From my research here and on CPAP sites, I think I'm going to go with the Swift FX mask.

During my sleep study, the technician woke me up at one point to put a chin strap on me because my mouth was opening. However, my doctor did not prescribe the chin strap, so I have to wait a few days before Apria can send me one.

I was wondering how to tell if you are a mouth breather at night? I don't breathe comfortably from my mouth during the day (ie: the week after septum surgery, I hated breathing through my mouth). But I'm afraid of my mouth opening at night and reducing the therapy effectiveness. I have heard that using the humidifier can help. Does anyone have any other feedback on this? I would greatly appreciate it!

The way I could tell that I mouth breathe at night is that my mouth would get very dry, from the air rushing out of it. I also get awakened by the feeling and sound of the air whooshing through my mouth.

Some people are able to train themselves to keep their mouth closed at night. This has not worked for me (yet!), unfortunately.

Some people tape their mouth at night.

There is a product called ChinUp Strip that is a disposable, adhesive product that you apply on and around your chin at night to help keep the mouth closed.

I think you will for sure know if you mouth breathe at night.

Good luck!
Jill

Jak3099 wrote:I was wondering how to tell if you are a mouth breather at night?

Usually mouth as dry as the Sahara Desert along with big leaks showing up on the software reports.
How it might affect therapy is how much you might do it and how long you might do it.
BTW..it doesn't take massive mouth breathing to dry out the mouth either...so a little dry mouth doesn't always mean that you were mouth breathing horribly for the entire night.

I once woke up early and I was doing a little mouth breathing..not a lot just barely had lips parted so since I knew I was going to be getting up soon anyway I just kept on breathing through my mouth like I had been because I wanted to be able to look at the software report to see just how much that little bit of mouth breathing was affecting my leak line on the software graphs...So I did the mouth breathing for about 15 minutes. I could barely see a little blip in the leak line. No where near large leak territory and if I hadn't known where to look I would have just thought a very minor leak in general. Mouth on the other hand was horribly dry.

You have a S9 Autoset showing in your profile so you have a full data machine and you can use software to evaluate your own leak line to see how it goes. Your leak number to try to avoid is 24 L/min. That's where ResMed says that the machine starts having trouble compensating for any leaks (doesn't matter what is causing them).
You can use SleepyHead or ResScan...see my signature line for SleepyHead information and if you want ResScan send me a private message if you don't have it and want it.
ResScan is helpful in that it actually shows a red line at 24 L/min mark so it is real easy to see how much time is spent in large leak territory.
So it depends on how far into large leak territory you might go and how long you might stay there.
5 or 10 minutes in large leak territory isn't the end of the world if the rest of the night is below large leak territory.

Also sometimes the mouth breathing is just a habit that can be broken. When I first started therapy I was doing quite a bit of mouth breathing but there was no physical reason to (nose totally clear) so I did try the chin strap and taping thing for a couple of months. After that I sort of got lazy and quit doing either and come to find out my mouth was staying closed for the bulk of the night. Sometimes I would have a little leak showing probably mouth breathing but it rarely ever went into large leak territory and when it did it didn't stay there very long. So I quit worrying about mouth breathing and didn't do anything.

Same thing happened to me on second sleep study. I tape my mouth shut with medical paper tape (and I use it more than once--it is pretty sticky the first time). Tried the chin strap, but you can still open your mouth to cough -- which I thought would be an advantage -- but then I immediately get a stomachache from gulping/breathing in the air, so I prefer the tape.

During my study the tech put a strap on me, too.

I also had to wait for Apria to send me one.

But my leak rate is not too high and my AHI has been about .8 without one, so I don't see the need. There is hardly any room for improvement so I'm happy to leak a little.

Most chinstraps, especially the cheapie ones the DMEs like to dispense, lack sufficient contact points over the head, so that they slide around and out of place, giving up support for the chin.

The two I found most effective are the Puresom Ruby, which is very thin but strong material with many contact points over the head, and the papCap, which covers your entire head with a cap to keep it in place well, but has a velcro side strap which is so thick it tends to distort the cheekstraps of my mask.

So I generally use either the Ruby or dispense with either one and wear a soft foam cervical collar to hold my chin up.

I also sometimes wonder about the assumptions of cause and effect. Is my mouth really dry because I open it, or do I open my mouth because it is really dry? I ask myself this question because I think my leaks are not high enough to interfere with xpap therapy, but since going on xpap my dentist has noticed that my tartar buildup is more rapid, which is a cause for concern for good dental health.

Good luck.

Regards, Nate

I had the same experience during my CPAP trial - I woke with a really dry mouth. The chin straps looked a little too daunting, so I tried taping my mouth at the recommendation of my DME (my dentist had previously recommended taping also to help with sleep apnea while I was using a Somnomed appliance). I find the taping works fine, & is quick to remove should I have to get up to kids in the night, etc. I find one strip of the thick micropore paper tape placed vertically is enough, but I recommend putting a small piece of tape over the sticky section where your lips will go to 'unstick' that bit. I didnt like peeling lip skin off in the morning! The section stuck above and below my lips seems enough to keep me closing my mouth without having to glue up the whole area! Good luck

NateS wrote:snip ...

I also sometimes wonder about the assumptions of cause and effect. Is my mouth really dry because I open it, or do I open my mouth because it is really dry? I ask myself this question because I think my leaks are not high enough to interfere with xpap therapy, but since going on xpap my dentist has noticed that my tartar buildup is more rapid, which is a cause for concern for good dental health.

Good luck.

Regards, Nate

Dry because mouth opens.

When awake, do you open your mouth because it gets dry? ... prolly not. Do a one-mile run or stair climb or whatever to get huffing and puffing .... you will note that you do not get dry mouth until you open your mouth to increase air flow. Close your mouth and breathe only through your nose and you will discover that dry mouth is abated.

I tried a chin strap once. All it did was make my teeth hurt, my lips still opened.

Jerry

Thanks for all the replies! I just picked up my Swift FX mask. I'm going to start with the Small pillows and go from there. Apria will mail me my chinstrap in a few days, but in the meantime, I will try without a mouth cover, with the Climate Control hose set to 80 degrees. Hopefully the humidity will keep my nasal passages clear. I also bought some micropore tape, just in case.

Thanks again for the tips and support!

DreamStalker wrote:

NateS wrote:snip ...

I also sometimes wonder about the assumptions of cause and effect. Is my mouth really dry because I open it, or do I open my mouth because it is really dry? I ask myself this question because I think my leaks are not high enough to interfere with xpap therapy, but since going on xpap my dentist has noticed that my tartar buildup is more rapid, which is a cause for concern for good dental health.

Good luck.

Regards, Nate

Dry because mouth opens.

When awake, do you open your mouth because it gets dry? ... prolly not. Do a one-mile run or stair climb or whatever to get huffing and puffing .... you will note that you do not get dry mouth until you open your mouth to increase air flow. Close your mouth and breathe only through your nose and you will discover that dry mouth is abated.

Maybe I was relying on all the old movies showing guys wandering through the desert, thirsty, with their mouths hanging open!

Regards, Nate

I was orig. prescribed a chin strap and used it, but found when I had my humidifier on I didn't open my mouth when sleeping... I only mouth breath when I have a sever sinus infection... they normally do not use any humidifiers in sleep studies, I understand it can cause problems in some of their readings.

Also I use an OptiLife mask which has a strap that goes under your chin... just to help keep it aligned properly on your face, but I have heard people are able to use that strap to help "remind" your muscles to close your mouth if you aren't a true mouth breather

NateS wrote:

DreamStalker wrote:

NateS wrote:snip ...

I also sometimes wonder about the assumptions of cause and effect. Is my mouth really dry because I open it, or do I open my mouth because it is really dry? I ask myself this question because I think my leaks are not high enough to interfere with xpap therapy, but since going on xpap my dentist has noticed that my tartar buildup is more rapid, which is a cause for concern for good dental health.

Good luck.

Regards, Nate

Dry because mouth opens.

When awake, do you open your mouth because it gets dry? ... prolly not. Do a one-mile run or stair climb or whatever to get huffing and puffing .... you will note that you do not get dry mouth until you open your mouth to increase air flow. Close your mouth and breathe only through your nose and you will discover that dry mouth is abated.

Maybe I was relying on all the old movies showing guys wandering through the desert, thirsty, with their mouths hanging open!

Regards, Nate

Wandering around in the desert with mouth wide open is the quickest way to dehydrate. My father taught me a trick he used to use when he was on his high school track team. He would put a small pebble in his mouth while he ran ... it would force him to keep his mouth shut and breathe through his nose. The other runners would end up getting dry mouth and run out of breath long before he did.

I've spent time wandering the desert as a grad student. The small pebble in the mouth trick seemed to keep me hydrated longer than my fellow student companions as we walked around mapping the desert features.

But I wouldn't recommend the pebble trick for sleeping ... you might end up with a belly full of rocks by the end of the month.

DreamStalker wrote:
But I wouldn't recommend the pebble trick for sleeping ... you might end up with a belly full of rocks by the end of the month.

Yes, that would be me!

But I will save your trick for the next time I decide to wander through the desert or run a marathon!

Regards, Nate

I think I'm one of the few who like The Ultimate Chinstrap. It's expensive and looks uncomfortable, but isn't really. It is hot, however.