There's gotta be a way....humidity problems

[DocWeezy]

I've been reading lots of the humidity threads, and have tried the suggestions to avoid dry mouth. Lowered the temps while using the auto climate, gone to manual settings and changed both temps and humidity numbers.

So far, the only time I haven't had really bad dry mouth is when my humidity was set to the max at 6 and the temp was about 70...unfortunately, even with a hose cozy and keeping most of the hose under the covers, I get severe rainout and my mask gets so wet it slips off. Our bedroom is usually about 64-66 degrees in the winter, with normal humidity (I'm in the Pacific NorthWet). The furnace rarely runs at night.

Sigh.

I'm a mouth breather and that isn't going to change. The Hybrid mask works fine for that, but it suddenly dawned on me that part of my waking up every 90 min/2 hours is because my mouth is incredibly dry and I take off my mask to take a drink of water. I think I was doing that automatically, and last night its like I woke up far enough to realize that's why I was waking up. Before APAP days, I did get dry mouth from snoring, but since I slept very little anyway and rarely longer than 30 minutes at a time, it didn't seem like a problem because I just sipped water and then tried to go back to sleep.

I do drink a lot of water during the day; only 1 cuppa coffee first thing in the morning, no sodas at all, no black or green tea after 1:00 p.m. I'm pretty sure that I'm not dehydrated.

Does anyone have any other ideas? I REALLY want to sleep for longer periods at a time! Going from 30 mins. to 90/120 mins. of sleep at a time is a HUGE improvement, but now I'm getting kinda addicted to this sleep thing and I really want to indulge.

Thanks!

[nanwilson]

Hi Doc
I found it gets better as you go along. I rarely get dry mouth now, if I do it's slight, I can swallow a few times to get spit in my mouth without removing my mask, and I'm good to go. I've been playing with my humidity levels too, but it's because of my leaky swollen eyes. I "think" I may have that one licked (fingers crossed). I went a few days with my hose at 1 and my water level off (passover mode), last night I cranked both up to 2 and my leaky swollen eyes are back. Soooooo...tonite I will try both at level 1 and see if that works........trials and tribulations isn't it.
Good luck
Nan

[BernieRay]

Although I don't mouth breathe when using my xPAP, on the days when I can't use it I not only used to get dry mouth but crapped lips as well. The only solution that worked for me was to get a whole house humidifier. That was over a decade ago. It cost me $400 back then, but I wouldn't hesitate to spend far more than that if I needed to get a new one. It keeps my house in the 35-50% Rh range, which not only reduces my usage of distilled water for my xPAP's humdifier, but I don't get crapped lips any more and the higher humidity is supposedly better for my house (as long as it isn't too high and causes condensation on the windows).

[brazospearl]

Have you tried using Biotene mouthwash? Some forum members have reported good results with that.

[DocWeezy]

Have you tried using Biotene mouthwash? Some forum members have reported good results with that.

Never heard of it, and just googled it. Looks interesting! I'm going to find some and give it a try tonight. Thanks!

[DocWeezy]

Hi Doc
I found it gets better as you go along. I rarely get dry mouth now, if I do it's slight, I can swallow a few times to get spit in my mouth without removing my mask, and I'm good to go. I've been playing with my humidity levels too, but it's because of my leaky swollen eyes. I "think" I may have that one licked (fingers crossed). I went a few days with my hose at 1 and my water level off (passover mode), last night I cranked both up to 2 and my leaky swollen eyes are back. Soooooo...tonite I will try both at level 1 and see if that works........trials and tribulations isn't it.
Good luck
Nan

Hi Nan....how long did it take for your dry mouth to disspate? I'm at about 5 weeks now, so I realize that is still very early in the process.

I had leaky and swollen eyes at first too (it was so bad it looked like I had black eyes!), but mine were caused by the headgear straps pushing my chubby cheek fat into my eyes. As soon as I remodeled my headgear straps to sit lower on my face, no problems with the eyes.

It is different for everyone, and boy, whatta journey it is!

Weezy

[Janknitz]

Weezy,

Your dentists may have little sample packs of biotene to try. There's a whole line of products and my dentist gave me a little kit with several Biotene items in it. I never tried it because it has sorbitol which doesn't agree with me, but you may be able to get some samples from your dentist before purchasing anything.

[nanwilson]

Hi Doc
It took me about 2 months to get the dry mouth down to a dull roar and for your info Biotene actually doesn't stop the dry mouth, what it does....how to explain it....you know that saliva keeps your mouth wet and keeps that coating off your teeth and tongue...well it cleans that off your teeth. The bottle says..."plaque biofilm disolving formula". "With regular brushing, can help disolve, loosen and prevent excessive biofilm buildup, maintaining protection against dry mouth." It doesn't actually prevent dry mouth, just adds protection against the effects of dry mouth. Hope that helped, I should have read the bottle before I bought it. I regularly brush then rinse my mouth with diluted peroxide, therefore, the biotene was a waste of $$$$ for me.
Cheers
N

[DocWeezy]

Ahhh.....thanks to both of you re the Biotene stuff. Sorbitol--damn! I'm very sensitive to any artificial sweeteners and wouldn't have caught that until I was at the drugstore. Thanks for saving me the trip.

The reality of a product is often so different from its website!

Weezy

[Hawthorne]

I have used Biotene for years now and I find it very helpful. I use it at bedtime only.

I just noted on my current bottle that it is "Naturally Sweetened with Xylitol".

I cannot tolerate any diet soft drinks or anything with artificial sweetener but I have had no trouble with Biotene at all.

It is expensive so you may want to think twice in case "Xylitol" might be a problem for you.

Thought my experience might help.

[Emilia]

I like the Biotene gel that you spread on your tongue. I find it helps keep the mouth moist and also helps me keep my tongue in place behind my upper teeth as I go to sleep.

[sewsleepy]

DocWeezy, I am in the pacific northwet too and I also find I get a lot of rainout. The only solution I have found is keeping my room warm at night. Even when it gets slightly cool, the condensation starts. I have a hose cover but I get condensation anywhere it isn't covered, like right at the end. It's really irritating.

Have you ever tried using tape for your mouth? My husband had to do that at first and after awhile he got where he didn't need it anymore. It was more comfortable than chin straps or a full face mask.

[Big S]

After finally settling in with cpap, I loved to sleep on my back since, for 61 years, I was unable. Low and behold, I now can't do it for dry mouth. For me, side sleeping helps tremendously as does breathing through the nose when I'm able. I am a lifetime mouth breather in bed. I was addicted to Afrin for 25 years because I wanted my nose open at any cost. Yeah, pretty bad. Three weeks after starting cpap, I was able to stop Afrin use cold turkey. My cpap pressure is 11 cm water. I noticed early that when ramping, my nose started to open at 8.7 cm water. This was truely serendipitous. Maybe even also a miracle! I have long since cut the ramp because I want the pressure immediately. I think it feels really good. Anyway all this led to more nose breathing and I practice before I fall asleep. But it brought me to some nasal therapy which might help. If you use any nasal products to help you breathe, stay away from antihistamines as well as rinses or gels or anything with benzalkonium chloride used as preservative. Long term use will lead to nasal congestion which will result in more mouth breathing. If you use anything to rinse nose, make it yourself or insure this ingredient is absent. Also don't use Benadryl. It promotes drying. I do use Biotene, but by itself, it's not enough. Needless to say, don't use Afrin long term because it can lead to liver and heart damage. Rebound isn't the only problem with it. Humidity is a tough nut to crack if tweaking your machine doesn't cut it. Not only are we all different but so many things can affect it. Personally, I use a room humidifier and check windows and walls daily to make sure I don't have "rainout" outside the machine. The room humidifier is noisy at times, but my wife and i have adjusted. Check out this article, it hits all the relevant points and is a great read and reference. http://www.rtmagazine.com/issues/articl ... -06_08.asp

[el_zorro]

I've been reading lots of the humidity threads, and have tried the suggestions to avoid dry mouth. Lowered the temps while using the auto climate, gone to manual settings and changed both temps and humidity numbers.

So far, the only time I haven't had really bad dry mouth is when my humidity was set to the max at 6 and the temp was about 70...unfortunately, even with a hose cozy and keeping most of the hose under the covers, I get severe rainout and my mask gets so wet it slips off. Our bedroom is usually about 64-66 degrees in the winter, with normal humidity (I'm in the Pacific NorthWet). The furnace rarely runs at night.

!

Interesting... The S9 with the S5 with humidity control doesnt appear to have eliminated rainout. What are other S9 users finding ?