Hacker News Reader

Comment by BurningFrog | Hacker News Reader

I've been using CPAP for 10 years, and it's pretty much the best thing that ever happened to me!

The morning after my first real sleep in ~5 years was an unreal improvement. It felt like I was snatched from my death bed and back to normal.

I use the nostril mask, and it doesn't really bother me. The full face mask experience is a lot worse.

PS Technically, it blows!

View on HN

I started with full face -- I thought I needed to because I was a mouth breather at night. But with the nostril mask I breathe through my nose.

It's a common issue. If you breathe through your mouth at night, it's often because you can't get enough air because your airway is compromised. Once you add PAP, that problem goes away, and many people can revert to nasal breathing.

There is an adjustment period, turbinates can swell up from the extra airflow, and it might be uncomfortable for a while. And some people have such awful septum deviations that they're breathing through a straw. But most people are fine.

I assumed that my need for CPAP was mostly because I'm old and overweight. But I've always been a mouth breather even when I wasn't overweight, so it seems it could be more than my weight issues.

Untreated sleep apnea is often a cause of overweight. Being obese can contribute to sleep apnea, but unless you're extremely obese, it's rarely the cause.

I tape my mouth shut and use the CPAP nostril mask, work great, I wake fully refreshed.

That was my plan, I expected to need the tape. But I tried it without the tape and found it unnecessary. Have you tried without the tape? Worth a try if you haven't.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com