Mouth Taping questions

Hi- I was just reading the post and replies from 6 months ago about mouth taping. I'm having a HUGE leak issue, even though I'm mouth taping. I have the Dreamwear nasal cushion mask, and last night I tried the P10, which was even worse. I did fine for the first year, as I mentioned in another post, but since then I was up to 34ishL every night. My new sleep doc increase my pressure, and now I'm at 12 instead of 10, consistantly, and my leak rate has risen to the low 40's.

I do tape, though partially, every night. I was thinking that was working, but from reading the posts from 6 months ago, it sounds like I can still leak that way. Is that right?

I need to figure something out, since my AHI is fine - usually around 1.5 - 2.5, but according to my sleep study I'm having tons of awakenings and respiratory events.

Weird thing though, at my sleep study a month or so ago, I didn't use tape, used the same Dreamwear Nasal mask (the one they provided), and had zero leaks. What's up with that???????

Thanks!

I looked back to one of your posts about 7 months ago and saw one SH clip of the mask leak. It was very erratic with the leak rate going up and down rapidly. That does not look like a mouth leak to me. It is almost as if you have a leak somewhere. Have you checked the seals in your machine around the humidifier reservoir? Another may be leaks in the mask tubing or your tubing from the machine to the mask.

The lab test if it was done at a similar pressure with the same type of equipment would seem to indicate an equipment problem.

As far as mouth taping goes one of the tests I do is blow fairly hard in the morning to see if the tape holds pressure. I now use two layers of tape. The first is 1" 3M to resist moisture, and the second is 4" Mefix. That said SH should give yo some clues. Mouth leaks tend to be large with a sudden stop and start, and last for a significant amount of time.

What should I look for in the seal? I’be replaced the mask and tubing since then, so I don’t think it’s them. As for the pressure during the sleep test, it wasn’t the same. For some dumb reason they only tested me at 9, even though I was consistently going to 10 at night and he thought I needed to up my pressure since I’m still tired all the time