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Alternatives to CPAP for sleep apnea
Sleep Health | Last Active: Apr 27, 2023 | Replies (25)Comment receiving replies
Hello @babsellen, Welcome to Connect. Finding a comfortable mask is key to improving the CPAP experience. I'm a mouth breather also and have tried many different masks but have been using the ResMed AirFit F20. I still look for something better and may try to go back to either the ResMed F30i or the DreamWare full face mask which fit under and up against the nose. They are by far more comfortable but at the time I tried them I was having breathing issues in my right nostril which is better now.
There is a Inspire Upper Airway Stimulation device that may be an alternative but I think you have to meet certain criteria before it would work for you but I'm not positive. There is a discussion on the device here:
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/inspire-upper-airway-stimulation/.
What helped me more with the comfort of the mask was cloth cover that my sleep medicine PA suggested. Here's the website she sent me to and where I normally order them from - https://cpapcomfortcover.com/. They come 2 to a set and are hand washable.
Another thought that may work - some members use a head strap which keeps their mouth closed at night and allows them to use nasal pillow mask. You can order them through Amazon or your local medical supply store may carry them.
Have you talked to your sleep doctor or care team about the mask problem?
Replies to "Hello @babsellen, Welcome to Connect. Finding a comfortable mask is key to improving the CPAP experience...."
Oh man, @babsellen and @johnbishop unbelievable coincidence . I'm a mouth breather too and have tried 8 different masks and now also using ResMed AirFit F20. I’m very lucky to have the VA which gives me EVERYTHING CPAP related for free. The local VA has over 50,000 Vets with a CPAP device (most don’t use them). They have all the stuff, and a big crew that knows what they’re doing via practice.
Too bad all 8 leaked for me, but that mask works the best. A chin/head strap works maybe half the time for my mouth breathing which is a pretty poor percentage, but this is the first and only mask where I slept through a night at all. My apnea events per hour is crazy low, between .4 and .7 even with the leaks. My sleep doctor loves that!
I'm very interested to see what comes up on this thread. Thanks folks!
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Thanks for the helpful reply. I haven’t talked to my doctor about this in
awhile but I did visit the sleep clinic professionals and got a better
fitting mask. I’m aware of the head strap that forces you to breathe
through your nose. My nose seems to be stuffy at night and in the morning,
so I’m not but maybe it takes some getting used to. I will check out the
cloth idea.
I was hoping there would be something that would not require hooking up to
a hose and machine.