This just in - there’s apparently a stage act called Tape Face and he’s coming to my local theater this week! 😳 (unfortunately I am otherwise engaged that night, but I just had to post this).
This is really interesting, Amy. I’ve been asthmatic since childhood although not to the extreme of needing constant medication. I also wake frequently with dry mouth etc., I presume from unconscious mouth breathing. I always put it down to wrecking my nasal passages in my 20s by inhaling far too many solvents (not through choice) when working in theatre and as a model maker. When I left that world, I spent the next three years not being able to breathe through my nose at all.
I’ve never heard of taping but I’d definitely try it after reading this.
Thanks for reading, Miranda. So scary about the solvents! I definitely think it’s not too late to give this a try. If you pick up the book Breath, you’ll read all about what horrendous shape Nestor was in before he started mouth taping. That made me believe I could do it too.
The first blog of yours I’ve read and I loved it! Very interesting to hear the back story of what you do/did workwise and how you got Covid. I am sorry to hear this happened to you. You mention the fatigue, were you unwell before covid or has it only been since?
I tried taping when I got into breathwork. It was the tearing off that I couldn’t stand as it felt like I was ripping my skin. Otherwise I would’ve continued as all else was fine with it and anything that aligned with wellness was staying in as a practice as far as I was concerned. I continued with the breathwork which has been a daily practice for me. In the end it took 2-3 years to retrain nose breathing this way, by which point I’d broken the chronic fatigue cycle (as well as chronic pain) and it was the first time my nervous system felt down-regulated more often than not.
Before COVID, I would have called myself healthy. But I had Hashimoto’s, endometriosis, and chronic migraines (from 2010-2018). I didn’t have fatigue unless my thyroid levels needed adjusting.
So interesting that you were able to crack the code on nasal breathing without the tape. I definitely remove it very slowly. If I had to rip it off quickly for some reason, it would be terrible 🫣.
Can’t wait to read more of your content. In my most challenged week healthwise right now so I’m having to resist temptation for another time.
Has your perception of what you consider healthy changed in all that’s happened? I ask because mine has. I also would’ve been considered a full bill of health, energetic, positive. But I now see I couldn’t have been less so. I was living a life of fatigue, propped by caffeine by day and caffeine infused drinks in vodka by night. I believe that what’s happened to me could have all so easily been avoided with thorough understanding of what health is, looks like, feels like and entails. (I told doctors o was living with migraine repeatedly over a 20 year period as wasn’t diagnosed until I was what I now realise was chronic with it. By the time they let me see a neurologist, I was completed disabled by illness).
You’re the second person I know who tapes their mouth (or at least voluntarily shared this news). It has me wondering about the time my husband got Covid and I continued to test negative even though we were quarantined in the same room together. I thought because I dodged it given the lack of symptoms but maybe it was because the viral load was all in my mouth? I notice it most when I am out walking, but my husband has noticed the loud breathing at night. I notice that my mouth is dry. Huh. This is food for thought.
Interesting thought, Leanne! I don’t know if you’ve seen this, but it is now recommended that when you take an at-home COVID test, you swab the back of your throat AND your nose. I guess they’ve realized that not everyone has the viral particles in their nasal cavity.
Did you feel like you caught it from your husband but kept testing negative?
No, I wasn’t really symptomatic. And when the ship’s medical crew tested us, they did mouth swabs as well (which I had forgotten), so I guess I did escape it. It helped having a balcony!
Alas no. This was last year. The ship did its best and asked everyone to mask the first seven sea days because we were visiting vulnerable island populations, but there were still a small number of cases throughout the trip.
The ship’s captain had us do a lot of testing. Some ports required it before we were allowed to go ashore. The only times we weren’t masked (even after masking was relaxed a wee bit) was at dinner and in our room.
I was Exec Dir of a 15 person office on a large university campus. I decided to go all remote a week before everyone else, in part because we served students with all types of disabilities and many on my staff had disabilites.
We were just incredibly lucky that we were all set to go remote and virtual because we had built out a very robust web-based data management system that enabled us to go paperless (98%) the year before. The use of zoom was the only big transition for us. Even today when everything is pretty much hybrid, 75% of the students prefer remote appointments.
I want so badly to try the mouth taping! I just can't figure out what I could use that wouldn't rip the shit out of my skin, which is super fragile because of my disability. The only thing I have found that I can safely use is Coban—it sticks to itself, not to your skin. But I would have to wrap it around my head like a gag. 🤣🤣🤣
Try paper medical tape. It is used for people with sensitive skin (which I have too). I can’t tolerate most adhesives, but this works for me. I was also able to get away with a small piece placed vertically in the middle of my mouth. It was less claustrophobic for me that way.
Thanks for reading! I loved hearing about your lockdown tactic. So smart the way you did it. I’m trying to remember back to March 2020 - when you decided to go remote week before the rest of us, did we all already know we were locking down? I remember it happening so fast but I had also been on vacation until the 12th, so I might not have been paying attention. Do you still work there?
Also, like Molly said, paper tape might work better for you, though to be honest, the kind I use is paper and even after I stick it on the back of my hand a few times to get some adhesive off, it’s still pretty hard to remove in the morning. Stay tuned about the new tape I ordered; it might be better. I’ll post an update.
I retired from there almost exactly a year ago. I don't think it was certain that we were going to all work from home when I made the decision to send everyone home. I just figured I would rather get in trouble than feel responsible for someone getting sick.
One of the main reasons that I retired when I did was the continuous hypocrisy about DEI and lack of policies for staff with disabilities.
Thanks for clarifying. You were a visionary to send your folks home! Also, I do some racial equity work, and we often talk about how DEI is kind of a joke even from a racial diversity standpoint. Completely unsurprising that they can’t/won’t move the needle on disability justice and access.
Yes, at my former workplace, they are apparently “doing one race at a time” (my words, not theirs.) At this rate, they will get to disability inclusion in about fifty years. 🤣
Thanks a lot for this interesting hint about the Tape Face, never heard of that kind of possibility to improve the nasal breath. I will surely try that because i have similiar problems :)
Almost fourteen hundred bucks for a course of Paxlovid?? Gotta love--I mean, hate--Pfizer. I guess they have to make up the money they're losing on their expired Viagra patent. Way to go. 😡
This is very interesting! I think I am a mouth breather at night. The thought of mouth taping scares me, however. I think I would wake up gagging or choking. I’ll have to think about it...
It’s definitely a scary thing to contemplate. I was there too! Maybe try it during the day for a bit. Lay down on your couch with it on, even. If you demystify it, it’ll be easier to then do it at night. Like I said, I never wake up dry-hacking anymore, and I’ve never gagged or choked. The worst that happens is if I really feel like I can’t breathe one night, I just remove it and stick it on my headboard until morning 😁
Geez we are like twins! I listened to the Breathe book as well (brain fog was too bad to read at the time) and started mouth taping the spring of 2020. I didn’t know I had long covid at the time, but was desperate to help my unexplained breathing issues & extreme fatigue. I did it about 6 months and am mainly a nose breather now. My only issue is when I get Neuro inflammation. My whole head swells including my sinuses and no air goes through my nose.
I don’t know what causes it. It comes and goes. It feels a lot like congestion, but for my whole head. The fluid shifts side to side as I move my head. I have a head CT coming up, but not sure how useful it will be unless I have the symptom at that time.
They might be able to detect a leak even if you’re not symptomatic at the time. Then they might be able to “patch” it with your own blood. I just read about it last week, because out of nowhere one night, my nose got congested and I tasted metal. So of course, I did the Dr. Google thing 😆
This just in - there’s apparently a stage act called Tape Face and he’s coming to my local theater this week! 😳 (unfortunately I am otherwise engaged that night, but I just had to post this).
https://youtu.be/aIGpGFgRf-w?feature=shared
He’s from New Zealand! (Like me) He’s very good
that is so cool, Helen!
This is really interesting, Amy. I’ve been asthmatic since childhood although not to the extreme of needing constant medication. I also wake frequently with dry mouth etc., I presume from unconscious mouth breathing. I always put it down to wrecking my nasal passages in my 20s by inhaling far too many solvents (not through choice) when working in theatre and as a model maker. When I left that world, I spent the next three years not being able to breathe through my nose at all.
I’ve never heard of taping but I’d definitely try it after reading this.
Also, if you decide to try it, report back! I’ll be so curious how it goes for you.
Thanks for reading, Miranda. So scary about the solvents! I definitely think it’s not too late to give this a try. If you pick up the book Breath, you’ll read all about what horrendous shape Nestor was in before he started mouth taping. That made me believe I could do it too.
The first blog of yours I’ve read and I loved it! Very interesting to hear the back story of what you do/did workwise and how you got Covid. I am sorry to hear this happened to you. You mention the fatigue, were you unwell before covid or has it only been since?
I tried taping when I got into breathwork. It was the tearing off that I couldn’t stand as it felt like I was ripping my skin. Otherwise I would’ve continued as all else was fine with it and anything that aligned with wellness was staying in as a practice as far as I was concerned. I continued with the breathwork which has been a daily practice for me. In the end it took 2-3 years to retrain nose breathing this way, by which point I’d broken the chronic fatigue cycle (as well as chronic pain) and it was the first time my nervous system felt down-regulated more often than not.
Thanks so much, Amber! Glad you’re here 😊.
Before COVID, I would have called myself healthy. But I had Hashimoto’s, endometriosis, and chronic migraines (from 2010-2018). I didn’t have fatigue unless my thyroid levels needed adjusting.
So interesting that you were able to crack the code on nasal breathing without the tape. I definitely remove it very slowly. If I had to rip it off quickly for some reason, it would be terrible 🫣.
Can’t wait to read more of your content. In my most challenged week healthwise right now so I’m having to resist temptation for another time.
Has your perception of what you consider healthy changed in all that’s happened? I ask because mine has. I also would’ve been considered a full bill of health, energetic, positive. But I now see I couldn’t have been less so. I was living a life of fatigue, propped by caffeine by day and caffeine infused drinks in vodka by night. I believe that what’s happened to me could have all so easily been avoided with thorough understanding of what health is, looks like, feels like and entails. (I told doctors o was living with migraine repeatedly over a 20 year period as wasn’t diagnosed until I was what I now realise was chronic with it. By the time they let me see a neurologist, I was completed disabled by illness).
You’re the second person I know who tapes their mouth (or at least voluntarily shared this news). It has me wondering about the time my husband got Covid and I continued to test negative even though we were quarantined in the same room together. I thought because I dodged it given the lack of symptoms but maybe it was because the viral load was all in my mouth? I notice it most when I am out walking, but my husband has noticed the loud breathing at night. I notice that my mouth is dry. Huh. This is food for thought.
Interesting thought, Leanne! I don’t know if you’ve seen this, but it is now recommended that when you take an at-home COVID test, you swab the back of your throat AND your nose. I guess they’ve realized that not everyone has the viral particles in their nasal cavity.
Did you feel like you caught it from your husband but kept testing negative?
No, I wasn’t really symptomatic. And when the ship’s medical crew tested us, they did mouth swabs as well (which I had forgotten), so I guess I did escape it. It helped having a balcony!
Oh, you guys were on a cruise when he got it? Was this back in 2020?
Alas no. This was last year. The ship did its best and asked everyone to mask the first seven sea days because we were visiting vulnerable island populations, but there were still a small number of cases throughout the trip.
Ahhh, got it. I guess that’s bound to happen with a lot of people in close quarters.
The ship’s captain had us do a lot of testing. Some ports required it before we were allowed to go ashore. The only times we weren’t masked (even after masking was relaxed a wee bit) was at dinner and in our room.
Amy - loved this post!
I was Exec Dir of a 15 person office on a large university campus. I decided to go all remote a week before everyone else, in part because we served students with all types of disabilities and many on my staff had disabilites.
We were just incredibly lucky that we were all set to go remote and virtual because we had built out a very robust web-based data management system that enabled us to go paperless (98%) the year before. The use of zoom was the only big transition for us. Even today when everything is pretty much hybrid, 75% of the students prefer remote appointments.
I want so badly to try the mouth taping! I just can't figure out what I could use that wouldn't rip the shit out of my skin, which is super fragile because of my disability. The only thing I have found that I can safely use is Coban—it sticks to itself, not to your skin. But I would have to wrap it around my head like a gag. 🤣🤣🤣
Try paper medical tape. It is used for people with sensitive skin (which I have too). I can’t tolerate most adhesives, but this works for me. I was also able to get away with a small piece placed vertically in the middle of my mouth. It was less claustrophobic for me that way.
I tried the vertical taping but I kept “cheating” and mouth breathing out of the corners of my mouth 🤦🏼♀️😆
Oh my, Teri - quite a visual! 😂
Thanks for reading! I loved hearing about your lockdown tactic. So smart the way you did it. I’m trying to remember back to March 2020 - when you decided to go remote week before the rest of us, did we all already know we were locking down? I remember it happening so fast but I had also been on vacation until the 12th, so I might not have been paying attention. Do you still work there?
Also, like Molly said, paper tape might work better for you, though to be honest, the kind I use is paper and even after I stick it on the back of my hand a few times to get some adhesive off, it’s still pretty hard to remove in the morning. Stay tuned about the new tape I ordered; it might be better. I’ll post an update.
I retired from there almost exactly a year ago. I don't think it was certain that we were going to all work from home when I made the decision to send everyone home. I just figured I would rather get in trouble than feel responsible for someone getting sick.
One of the main reasons that I retired when I did was the continuous hypocrisy about DEI and lack of policies for staff with disabilities.
Thanks for clarifying. You were a visionary to send your folks home! Also, I do some racial equity work, and we often talk about how DEI is kind of a joke even from a racial diversity standpoint. Completely unsurprising that they can’t/won’t move the needle on disability justice and access.
Yes, at my former workplace, they are apparently “doing one race at a time” (my words, not theirs.) At this rate, they will get to disability inclusion in about fifty years. 🤣
Thanks a lot for this interesting hint about the Tape Face, never heard of that kind of possibility to improve the nasal breath. I will surely try that because i have similiar problems :)
Thanks for reading, Carsten. I hope it works for you. Definitely try it out during the day for a bit before trying it at night. Good luck!
I have this book but haven’t read yet-sounds like I need to!
Definitely read it! It’s so interesting and funny too at times 😅
Almost fourteen hundred bucks for a course of Paxlovid?? Gotta love--I mean, hate--Pfizer. I guess they have to make up the money they're losing on their expired Viagra patent. Way to go. 😡
I tried a number of tapes and actually found Washi tape to be the most comfortable (and cheapest)
Ooh, I haven’t heard of that. I’ll have to check it out. Thanks Helen!
This is very interesting! I think I am a mouth breather at night. The thought of mouth taping scares me, however. I think I would wake up gagging or choking. I’ll have to think about it...
It’s definitely a scary thing to contemplate. I was there too! Maybe try it during the day for a bit. Lay down on your couch with it on, even. If you demystify it, it’ll be easier to then do it at night. Like I said, I never wake up dry-hacking anymore, and I’ve never gagged or choked. The worst that happens is if I really feel like I can’t breathe one night, I just remove it and stick it on my headboard until morning 😁
Geez we are like twins! I listened to the Breathe book as well (brain fog was too bad to read at the time) and started mouth taping the spring of 2020. I didn’t know I had long covid at the time, but was desperate to help my unexplained breathing issues & extreme fatigue. I did it about 6 months and am mainly a nose breather now. My only issue is when I get Neuro inflammation. My whole head swells including my sinuses and no air goes through my nose.
Yikes, Molly. I’ve also read about cerebrospinal fluid leaking and causing nasal congestion. I wonder if this is what you mean?
I don’t know what causes it. It comes and goes. It feels a lot like congestion, but for my whole head. The fluid shifts side to side as I move my head. I have a head CT coming up, but not sure how useful it will be unless I have the symptom at that time.
They might be able to detect a leak even if you’re not symptomatic at the time. Then they might be able to “patch” it with your own blood. I just read about it last week, because out of nowhere one night, my nose got congested and I tasted metal. So of course, I did the Dr. Google thing 😆