Dr. McKeown and The Snoring Dormouse

Ooh!

Check out this video I just found of Dr. McPatrick McKeown, author of Buteyko Meets Dr. Mew, Always Breathe Correctly, and Sleep with Buteyko.

And here is yet another webpage talking about the benefits of nasal breathing. 

By now, my readers know well the reasons why they should breathe through their noses. So would someone please pass the word onto this little guy? Dormouse sleep apnea if I ever saw it!!

Happy Trails!

Allergies...

Aaargh!

I'm having a lot of trouble with my allergies today making it very difficult to breathe through my nose!! So, in desperation I have taped my lips shut. By doing so, I'm preventing myself from even accidentally breathing through my mouth. Also, I'm helping my sinuses to calm down by moving mucous through my nose instead of letting it dry up and irritate my sinuses. Already I feel better.

I'm still getting use to breathing through my nose. Nasal breathing requires more physical effort than mouth breathing and that feeling of effort used to make me think that I wasn't getting enough air. But that's not the case! Slowing my breathing down actually allows my body to take in more oxygen than if I breathed through my mouth.

I notice that I also feel more relaxed when I nasal breathe. Ahhhhhh....

Just in the time it took me to write this my nose has calmed down and I haven't sneezed in a while. I'm still a little stuffy but I can breathe fine. I'm hoping if I can keep this up that some day I won't have nasal allergy symptoms. We shall see!

Ssssnnnnffff!

Happy Trails!

Mouth Breathing and Facial Development

Hi there!

Quick post.

I found this webpage on Mouth Breathing and Facial Development by ButeykoKids. It covers how facial development is affected in children who are mouth breathers. It even mentions keeping the tongue in the proper position against the roof of the mouth with the tip on the alveolar ridge - the spot. Of course, people with ankyloglossia can't do this and are therefore at risk of becoming mouth breathers.

Thumbsucking is for suckers...

Hi there!

I was recently talking with my orofacial myologist about my exercises and keeping my tongue on the spot. I said to her that I had trouble keeping the middle of my tongue up against the roof of my mouth. She pointed out that I would never be able to keep my tongue completely against the roof of my mouth because my palate was too high... from years of thumbsucking.

Social Validation!!

Hi there!

Yesterday I went to a baby shower for a good friend of mine. While there, I chatted with some friends who I hadn't seen in a long time.  I told them about having a lingual frenectomy and why I had it. I described how my tongue tie affected my appearance - a pouty, downturned mouth; the beginnings of jowls - and one friend, Jennifer, exclaimed:

My Therapy, My Pillow

Hi there!

A relatively brief post today.

For one, I wanted to share that I am continuing to do well with my ongoing orofacial therapy. At last week's visit with my myofunctional therapist, my tongue was able to reach 27-28mm with my mouth open and tongue tip on the spot. That's an additional 5-8mm!

A Nose By Any Other Name....

Hi there! 

I'd like you to do an exercise for me.  

Take a good, long, deep breath... through your nose.  

Was that difficult?  If not, good.  If it was, well, this post's for you.

Keeping Your Tongue On The Spot!

Hi there!

In an earlier post I talked about the spot, and briefly mentioned its importance for proper eating, drinking, and speaking.  In this post, I’m going to go into detail about why keeping your tongue on the spot is so important for these functions.

My Story Part IV - Beginning Therapy and My Tongue Tied Face

Hello Kiddies!

In this post I want to talk about the beginnings of my therapy and the benefits I quickly started seeing.

My therapy with my orofacial myologist (OM) began just two days after my lingual frenectomy.  Once again, I cannot stress enough: myofunctional therapy must begin right away after a lingual frenectomy.  Why?  Because you run the great risk of the tongue healing up and sticking to the floor of the mouth again.  That's right.  You can get a frenectomy and have your tongue wind up just as tied as before.

My Story Part III - The Big Snip

Hi there!

The saga continues! In my last post I talked about how my tongue tie affected my speech and my experience with speech therapy.  In this post, I'm going to relate what led to my decision to finally have a lingual frenectomy and starting work with my orofacial myologist.

My Tongue Tie Story Part II - Thhpeech Therapy

Hello again!

So, in my last post I covered my experience with orthodontia.  Now I will relate my story of speech therapy which was, admittedly, relatively brief.

Though I had figured out in high school I was tongue tied and more than suspected I had a problematic swallow pattern, I wasn't yet savvy enough to realize I could do something about these things.  So for years I did nothing.

My Tongue Tie Story Part I - Futile Orthodontia

Hello again!

In this post I will begin sharing the story of my tongue tie and its impact on my life.  I of course was born tongue tied but my tongue tie story really doesn't begin until I was ten.  

At age ten I was told I needed braces to straighten out my godawful teeth.  Gaps, crowding, an open bite (my front teeth didn't meet), all symptoms of, or made worse by, my tongue tie. I didn't know this at the time, I wouldn't find out the full effect my tongue tie had on me until I began orofacial therapy.

Why This Blog

Hello there! 

I started this blog to help others like me who have dealt with the complications of ankyloglossia - tongue tie.  I lived with a tongue tie for 34 years before finally getting it fixed with a lingual frenectomy followed by ongoing myofunctional therapy with an orofacial myologist.  There's a good chance many of you have never heard of an orofacial myologist and that is part of why I started this blog.