I went to my primary care doctor and told him I suspected apnea (I often woke up gasping for breath, or suffered from inadequate breathing while trying to fall asleep). He prescribed an at-home sleep study in which a small electronics box was strapped to my chest; it included sensors that monitored breathing effort (via chest expansion), actually air intake (via nasal cannula), and pulse/O2sat (fingertip pulse oximeter). Results were positive for apnea, so I was sent to a local medical supply co. No kind of hard sell going on for me, the only choice was about whether I could succesfully use the nose-only mask or needed something more secure.
I’ve been using a CPAP for a few months now – I started in early June I think. For the most part I just feel like I traded one set of problems for another. I have the AirFit N20 mask and it seems like if my mouth opens even slightly while I’m asleep, it will just be forcing air out my mouth. Then my mouth and throat dry out and I start coughing. Or sometimes my nose will itch but I can’t scratch it. If I wake up around 4 or 4:30 to pee, I’ll just take the mask off and leave it off until my alarm goes off at 6. So yeah, it’s still taking some getting used to. Some nights are better than others, but rarely do I sleep through the entire night.
By the way, if anyone uses the N20 mask and needs some small nasal masks, PM me. Shortly after I got my CPAP they sent me a whole bunch of nasal masks in the wrong size and I waited too long to try to send them back, so now I’m stuck with them. I’d rather give them to someone who can use them than just toss 'em in the trash.
You might try a chin strap, like the ResMed Chin Restraint. In my experience, it doesn’t need to be particularly tight to keep your mouth closed, and it does a great job for me in stopping air leakage through my mouth, along with the concomitant drying out of one’s mouth and throat.
