Mouth Very very very Dry...

[jobe2433]

So I have been using my cpap machine for about 8 months now. The last two nights I have woken up with my tounge so dry and stuck to the roof of my mouth. Is this caused by air leaking out of the mask? In 8 months I have never had this problem.

[Perrybucsdad]

I don't know if leakage would cause the dry mouth, so I will let someone else tackle that. I see though you have the H5i humidifier.... is it up and running? Filled with water? Did the setting change?

[Breathe Jimbo]

Yes, air flowing out the mouth can cause a very dry mouth. It also reduces the effectiveness of CPAP.

I started to experience dry mouth when my mouth started popping open due to losing weight. I reduced the pressure a little. That worked until I lost more weight. I then took a two-prong approach. First, I started using mouthwash for dry mouth. That helped but did not completely solve the problem. Second, I started using a PapCap. The two together work perfectly for me. The PapCap is a fancy chinstrap, which pulls the lower jaw UP (rather than up and BACK, as cheaper chin straps have a tendency to do.)

[Perrybucsdad]

Maybe run the datacard through the software to see what he leak rate is.

[BlackSpinner]

So I have been using my cpap machine for about 8 months now. The last two nights I have woken up with my tounge so dry and stuck to the roof of my mouth. Is this caused by air leaking out of the mask? In 8 months I have never had this problem.

Is your nose plugged? Seasonal allergies changing your breathing pattern?
You have a full face mask so therapy should be good.
Try a chinstrap to discourage mouth breathing.

[Guest]

no chinstrasp will stop mouth breathing, the lips must be taped

[Pugsy]

The last two nights I have woken up with my tounge so dry and stuck to the roof of my mouth. Is this caused by air leaking out of the mask? In 8 months I have never had this problem.

Probably breathing in and out through mouth much more than usual, or more than you had been in the past, and causing the mouth to dry out. It can happen with full face mask too. Sometimes even more humidity from humidifier doesn't help.

If leaking HORRIBLY I suppose you could be bringing in more room air which is drier and thus make the problem worse.
Leaking is not usually the culprit if using a full face mask though.

Some people do use a chin strap even with full face mask because of the dryness from mouth breathing (with full face mask no therapy is lost) for strictly mouth comfort. It might not stop the mouth breathing completely but it might at least limit the mouth breathing somewhat and thus reduce the dryness.

There are some products on the market to help add moisture to the mouth. Biotene has several.

[RandyJ]

So I have been using my cpap machine for about 8 months now. The last two nights I have woken up with my tounge so dry and stuck to the roof of my mouth. Is this caused by air leaking out of the mask? In 8 months I have never had this problem.

You were asking for help in adjusting humidity settings the other day in a different thread. Is it possible you turned down humidity too much? Check your settings and morning water level in humidifier to make sure you are getting enough moisture output.