Dry mouth problems

I have been on BiPAP machine a little more than one month, with very good success. Now I am experiencing a dry mouth most mornings. Can't know for certain if I open my mouth at night, but don't think so. Would appreciate any feedback or suggestions for eliminating this problem.

Dry mouth could be a sign that you are mouth breathing during the night. This is a very common problem with those not using a full face mask.

You can download and use the free sleepyhead software to monitor you therapy and in this case your leak rate.

If you are mouth breathing then a chin strap can be used to help keep the jaw from dropping and air leaking from your mouth, many people have used medical tape to physically tape their mouth closed during the night to prevent mouth breathing.

Congratulations on having some success

I started out with a nasal pillow mask and experienced severe dry mouth although I am not normally a mouth breather. However, for whatever reason, with the nasal pillow mask, I was exhaling through my mouth, especially as APAP pressure increased, when I was asleep. Members of this forum have tried and found useful a number of methods to prevent this such as training your tongue to stay in a certain position, taping your mouth closed, modified scucii band around your mouth, neck brace to hold your chin up and I am sure there are other ways I am not thinking about right now. Others will certainly chip in with what worked for them. What I found worked for me to resolve the problem was simply changing to a full face mask. Changing to a full face mask doesn't work for everyone but I think if, like me, you are not normally a mouth breather, you may be exhaling through your mouth when you are asleep without realizing it and it might be worth trying out a full face mask to see if that helps.

Sounds like your mouth is open

Neck brace is probably the cheapest solution. Heard you can get them cheaply at walmart, try the various drugstores too
next would be a chinstrap
I use the ruby red (~$20) chinstrap. only been about a week but it helps with my transition from a FFM. Only downside is it leaves marks and sometimes my chin gets a little sweaty (have a beard too)

that doesn't help you can try Xylimelts. those worked for me

If neck braces are not sold without a prescription, like where I am, do not despair.
Order online--it is cheaper.

HockeyGirl22 wrote:I have been on BiPAP machine a little more than one month, with very good success. Now I am experiencing a dry mouth most mornings. Can't know for certain if I open my mouth at night, but don't think so. Would appreciate any feedback or suggestions for eliminating this problem.

Before starting to add a lot of things (like a neck brace or cervical collar or chin strap) to your bedtime routine, the first thing you need to do is look at your leak data in SleepyHead.

If you are not mouth breathing, or if the mouth breathing is very minimal, adding a neck brace, cervical collar, or chin strap is not likely to fix the problem. If you are doing enough mouth breathing for it to be a problem, then one of those ideas might help a great deal. Or switching to a full face mask might help. Or taping your mouth if you really want to continue using the pillows.

In the meantime, you also should consider the humidity setting and the temperature setting on the heated hose if you are using a heated hose. Higher is not necessarily better, but if there's room to turn the humidity up, that's an easy experiment to run. I found that turning the heat up wound up increasing the dryness in my nasal passages rather than helping them, although this is very counterintuitive. So if you've got the hose turned up all the way, you might consider turning it down a bit. On the other hand, warmer air can hold more absolute humidity, and many people find that setting the both the humidifier and the hose temperature as high as possible can help with the dry mouth problem---if mouth breathing is not a huge issue.

You might also find that using a "dry mouth" mouthwash before bed will help.

It's been my experience over the last 10+ years that dry mouth upon waking is more often than not a sign of excessive leaks ... whether from the mouth, the mask, or some other part of the CPAP pressure circuit.

HockeyGirl22 wrote:I have been on BiPAP machine a little more than one month, with very good success. Now I am experiencing a dry mouth most mornings. Can't know for certain if I open my mouth at night, but don't think so. Would appreciate any feedback or suggestions for eliminating this problem.

To determine if you are mouth breathing you can ask a bed partner if they notice anything but the preferred way is (even if you have a partner) to know what the expected leak is for your mask (make & model) at your pressure. This info can be found in the literature that came with your mask or search the internet.

Then you need to download and install SleepyHead software (FREE) to check your leak rate. Generally speaking the leak rate should be fairly flat and fairly close to what the mfg suggested. IF you see peaks and valleys in your leak line then you need to determine the source. There are many suggestions on this forum including taping your mouth - chin straps don't work for most but if you want to try it you can also improvise using many things including an Ace Bandage or the like.

IME even eliminating all leaks I still have dry mouth - I think it is just the volume of air moving thru. You can and should experiment with your humidifier settings. What I have done for the past 10yrs is just keep a bottle of Propel or Gatorade by the bed. With nasal pillows you can easily take just enuff to wet you mouth. Choose something that is more pH balanced than plain ol water. You don't want a lot so you have to goto the the bathroom, just moisten your mouth.

Keep in mind you can get a dry mouth even with a FFM - Full Faced Mask.

I have problems with a dry mouth as well even though my mask seals well most of the time. I recently bought the Biotene rinse and will see if that helps at all.

NadiaK wrote: I recently bought the Biotene rinse and will see if that helps at all.

That helps for about 30 seconds. Five minutes of mouth breathing and your mouth is dry again.

What you need is dry mouth gel. Put a dab in your gums. Biotene has a gel, but I much prefer Oragel for Dry Mouth.

robysue wrote: If you are not mouth breathing, or if the mouth breathing is very minimal, adding a neck brace, cervical collar, or chin strap is not likely to fix the problem. If you are doing enough mouth breathing for it to be a problem, then one of those ideas might help a great deal. Or switching to a full face mask might help

...or it might not.
Anyway, taping plus FFM rules.

tan wrote:

robysue wrote: If you are not mouth breathing, or if the mouth breathing is very minimal, adding a neck brace, cervical collar, or chin strap is not likely to fix the problem. If you are doing enough mouth breathing for it to be a problem, then one of those ideas might help a great deal. Or switching to a full face mask might help

...or it might not.
Anyway, taping plus FFM rules.

Taping and FF mask tonight.

tan wrote:

robysue wrote: If you are not mouth breathing, or if the mouth breathing is very minimal, adding a neck brace, cervical collar, or chin strap is not likely to fix the problem. If you are doing enough mouth breathing for it to be a problem, then one of those ideas might help a great deal. Or switching to a full face mask might help

...or it might not.
Anyway, taping plus FFM rules.

Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk

ChicagoGranny wrote:

NadiaK wrote: I recently bought the Biotene rinse and will see if that helps at all.

That helps for about 30 seconds. Five minutes of mouth breathing and your mouth is dry again.

What you need is dry mouth gel. Put a dab in your gums. Biotene has a gel, but I much prefer Oragel for Dry Mouth.

You are 100% correct. The Biotene rinse did nothing. I will definitely try your suggestion.

NadiaK wrote:

ChicagoGranny wrote:

NadiaK wrote: I recently bought the Biotene rinse and will see if that helps at all.

That helps for about 30 seconds. Five minutes of mouth breathing and your mouth is dry again.

What you need is dry mouth gel. Put a dab in your gums. Biotene has a gel, but I much prefer Oragel for Dry Mouth.

You are 100% correct. The Biotene rinse did nothing. I will definitely try your suggestion.

The rinse did nothing for. Me either.

Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk