baseten

Thanks Wired George. When you mold it, do you do so with your bottom jaw forward a little bit, or just bite into the warm mouthpiece with your natural bite?

Thanks Wired George. I did try a mouth guard without success. Could you send the link for the one you like? Thanks.

I am a mouth breather and am using a full size mask ,the Amara View mask, which I love. I'm using a Bi-Pap at a maxium IPAP of 20 and a minimum IPAP of 14. The apnea is being well controlled, however, I have been waking up with a very, very dry mouth that lasts all day and evening. I am using zylamints, the biotene products, and sugar free candy/gum.

I also tried increasing the humidity on my machine to the highest setting and last night increased the tube temperature to 82 degrees, thinking that warmer air holds more moisture, but I think the increased temperature made it even worse so I will put that back at 80 tonight.

I tried keeping my mouth closed when I sleep, but then I have to tighten my mask so much to make it fit that I think it pushes my jaw backwards too much and causes the AHI to increase from less than 2 to 13. So I think I would have the same problem with a boil and bite mouth guard. I also have TMJ which adds to my reluctance to try the boil and bite mouth guard again ( I tried it once but couldn't keep my mouth shut).

It seems like that I wouldn't necessarily have to keep my mouth shut all the way, but that I just need a way to keep the air from coming in my mouth as much. Would taping work or is that unsafe to do with a full size mask?

I used to use the Resmed P10 with a chin strap and taping, but after 3 years stopped being able to keep my tongue on the roof of my mouth so that my mouth would fill with air, waking me up over and over again through the night. That's why I changed to the Amara View. Do all nasal masks require that you keep your tongue on the roof of your mouth? If I could get away with just taping, a chin strap and a different nasal mask, it seems like that would be ideal solution.

Thank you for your help.

Thanks so much for your help.

Thank you Wired George and Dan,

My doctor suspected that the pap therapy after three years has caused central apneas. My apnea was only mild in the first place, but the machine helped me feel so much better until recently when I was experiencing an average of 22 events/hour. About 1/2 the events were central.

Last night, they did another sleep study. They had me sleep on a bed wedge and found that the number of apneas dropped to under 5 (not as good as the original therapy which decreased them to almost 0, but still in the normal range), and the central apneas had disappeared.

I'm waiting for the doctor to review the study. I am anticipating that he will take me off of the bipap and just have me sleep with the bed wedge, but the respiratory therapist seemed to indicate that he may want me to do both but with an even lower pressure setting. Why would that be?

If I do need to get a bed wedge, do either of you have a recommendation? The one I used at the sleep lab last night was 10 x 10 x 24 and was pretty uncomfortable, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. It just takes time.

I have been using autopap therapy for the last 3 years with great success for mild sleep apnea, but began to have trouble a couple of months ago.

After another sleep study, the doctor has concluded that, over time, the therapy caused my brain to produce central sleep apneas. Using a bed wedge in the study kept my obstructive apneas under 5/hour and completely eliminated the central apneas.

He is going to take me off pap therapy and prescribe a bed wedge. I was pretty uncomfortable using the one at the sleep lab. Does anyone have a brand recommendation? The one they gave me that night was 10 x 10 x 24. Or how can I make it more comfortable? I probably just have to get used to it, like everything else in this journey.

Thanks for your help.

I have been using AutoPap therapy for about 4 years at a pressure of 13-15. With the nasal mask, my apneas were less than 1/hour. But because of other problems, I had to change to a full size mask, and the number jumped to 11/hour. The doctor increased the pressure on my Auto C-Pap to 16-18 which helped quite a bit. However, because I have a neuromuscular disease that affects the breathing muscles, the higher pressure made it more work to exhale.

The doctor did another sleep study 2-3 weeks ago to change me to a ResMed AirCurve v-auto BiPap so that the exhale pressure could be less. They set the new machine at a max of +16 and a min of +8 with a PS of +4. Last night I had 18.5 events per hour, the highest I have ever been. I have the ramp time set for 5 minutes.

Does anyone know what could be going on? Does the pressure just need to be increased? There are no leaks.

I am back to feeling lousy, and my neuromuscular disease has been ornery with the lack of rest. I'll bring the machine to the respiratory therapist tomorrow so she can take a look at the values, but that's what the ResMed MyAir program is saying, and it sure matches how I feel.

Thanks.

reply link edit delete

The doctor is changing me from an AutoPap to a BiPap. I am trying to decide between the ResMed AirCurve10 BiPap and the Respironics Dreamstation BiPap. My current autopap is a Respironics System One. The pressure is set at 16-18. It doesn't have heated tubing, but I have an insulated cover for the hose. The humidity is set to a 4 (5 being the highest). Because my mouth is still so dry when I wake up, I would like to go to the highest level, but the water chamber runs out of water after about 5 hours.

I would like to avoid this problem with my new BiPap machine. While researching, I noticed the ResMed AirCurve10's water chamber is 380 cm3 versus the Dreamstation's 325 cm3. Do the water chambers on both of these machines run out of water if set to the highest humidity level after 6-7 hours of use? Is there rain out if set to the highest level or does the heated tubing prevent that problem?

With the BiPap, my pressures will be a little lower than with the C Autopap I now use. Will that make a difference in how much water is used? The BiPap's inhale pressure will be 14, and the exhale 10. I use the Amara View full face mask, and have no mask leaks. I am a mouth breather and have not been able to change that, hence the full face mask. We live in southern NM where the climate is dry most of the year. I would like to get the Dreamstation, but just don't want to run out of water too soon.

Thanks for your help.

Thank you so much for your replies.

The doctor is changing me from CPAP to Bipap. Are there any tricks to making the transition, or is it an easy change? Also does anyone have a recommendation as to the brand of bipap machine? I was looking at the Respironics Dreamstation.

Thanks.