Humidifier setting

[satansoft]

I have a heated humidifier, but cant seem to find an appropriate heat setting, I normally wake several times with a dry mouth. I have an S9 CPAP Machine with a Heated Humidifier and a non heated hose. I'm currently running with a setting of 4. As per the hospital instructions I use water that has been boiled and cooled down.
Any advice on settings?

[Pugsy]

Are you using a heated hose or the non heated hose?

[satansoft]

Are you using a heated hose or the non heated hose?

I've edited my post just now to reflect that I am using a non heated hose.

[Pugsy]

Okay, here's the deal about dry mouth issues.
It comes from mouth breathing mainly (meds that have drying side effects also culprits) and even though you are using a full face mask the humidifier simply can't crank out enough moisture to offset the drying effects that come with mouth breathing. It's a common complaint even from full face mask users.

Even at maximum humidity setting the machine can't put out enough moisture to rehydrate the oral cavity well in some people. It was designed mainly to help rehydrate the nasal cavity which is much smaller.

A heated hose allows for a little more humidity to be offered than what you can get without a heated hose. That's why I asked about the heated hose use or not. I don't know that even at maximum humidity with the heated hose if that will be enough to resolve your dry mouth issues....it might and it might not but it is something that you can try.
The heated hose will allow you to set the humidity and hose air temperature independent of each other.
It is something to try though.

I forget if 5 or 6 is the maximum on the S9 without the heated hose but if you are using the setting of 4 there is room to add just a little more humidity even now. Will it help? To be honest most likely it won't but there is always a chance and any chance is worth trying.

On the other side of things is the reason for mouth breathing (assuming that meds aren't the culprit)....do you have a lot of nasal congestion that causes a lot of mouth breathing? If you do then maybe if you addressed the nasal congestion itself then maybe there would be less need to mouth breathe.
Why are you using a full face mask? Is it chronic nasal congestion causing a physical need to mouth breathe?

Otherwise if you can't resolve the dry mouth issues with less mouth breathing or more humidity then you get to join the ranks of cpap users who use something at bedtime to help keep the oral cavity more moist.
There are any number of products out there and I am sure someone will come along and share with you what works well for them. I haven't had the need to use those products so I can't really offer much insight as to what works well and what doesn't.

So...options are...
1....try more humidity from the machine and consider heated hose so that you can maximize the humidity
2....try to fix or limit the mouth breathing itself.
3....if medication side effects are contributing to the issue...alter dosage or time of dose or even change meds if possible.
4....if all else fails add a product to help moisten the oral cavity

[satansoft]

Thanks for that Pugsy, I'll try and crank the humidifier up. I take Warfarin just before I get into bed, I wonder if that dries your mouth, I could start taking that earlier. I try and keep my mouth closed, but when I fall asleep it could be relaxing and falling open.

[satansoft]

I've done a bit of searching and found this:

Dry mouth is found among people who take Warfarin Sodium, especially for people who are female, 60+ old , have been taking the drug for 2 - 5 years, also take medication Digoxin, and have Atrial fibrillation.

This describes me, apart from I'm male, and 52.
I have AF and take Digoxin and Warfarin for the condition.

[LSAT]

Additional Comments: Not sure if my model is the Elite or the Escape, they both look the same, I need to dig out my documentation.
on.


.

You don't need the documentation...It's printed on the front of the machine above the power button

[Pugsy]

I wasn't aware that Warfarin caused much mouth dryness and was thinking along the lines of decongestants but if it's known to do that in some people it's possible that it is making things worse in your situation.
Obviously not something you can do without at this time so you have to make the best of a bad situation no matter what the cause.

An extreme measure is to try taping your lips shut even when using the full face mask. Not saying to plan on doing it every night...just do it one night to see if it helps the dry mouth situation or not. It would definitely answer the question as to what was causing the dry mouth to be worse. Then you could decide how to deal with the issue.
At this point we automatically think "mouth breathing" but there's a chance that mouth breathing isn't the culprit and figuring out for sure what the cause might be is the first step in fixing it.
If you tape your mouth shut and you wake up with tape still in place and the mouth is still horribly dry then it isn't mouth breathing and something else is to blame.

[Okie bipap]

I use a full face mask because I am a mouth breather. I started using a soft cervical collar the first part of this year. This made the dry mouth problem much less severe.