Any suggestions on preventing dry mouth?

[Janknitz]

The humidification on these machines works very well, but it has to have a closed system. If you are mouth breathing, no amount of humidification is going to help because the air is going into your mouth to dry out the tissues. You are also not getting effective therapy if the air is blowing out of your mouth you can't have sufficient pressure to splint the airway.

Put your tongue on the roof of your mouth, just behind the teeth. Now plug your nose and try to breathe with your tongue in that position. If you can get a good seal with your tongue so that you can't get air in or out, that shows you that sleeping with your tongue in that position will seal off the airway and prevent air from going into and then out of your mouth, even if you open your lips.

So the trick is to practice, practice, practice by putting your tongue there and practicing all DAY. If you are not eating or talking, that's where your tongue goes. In a few days, you may be able to do this all night while you sleep. It doesn't work for everyone, but it's worth a try. Some people start off taping, and find that they don't have to after a while because they get the hang of keeping their tongue in that spot.

[caverman]

Well, used painters tape again last night since it will be a couple days before my Ruby chin strap gets here. All in all it was pretty successful. I think last night was the most sleep I've had since starting CPAP. I only woke up only one time that I can remember and that was because my mouth was slightly dry. Not even close to as bad as the other night but still enough to want a sip of water. So, I had to peel off the tape about 1/2 way to sip from my straw. When I woke up the tape had blown a seal and my wife said she woke up hearing what was probably air flapping on the tape.

I will say that I tried to pay attention to how my swallowing was going with the tape. No issue really. I was able to swallow just fine and didn't feel like I was going to choke or anything. I did make tabs on the ends of the tape in case for some reason I woke up and had to yank it off in the middle of the night. I'm going to keep up with the tape until I can try out the new chin strap and I hope that works for me. I would prefer not to have to continue taping (of course I would prefer not to use CPAP at all).

I do have a question for those that have tried the different brands of tape. Does the 3M sensitive skin tape seem to stick better than painters tape?

[avi123]

ditto

[fuzymom]

I have been having the same problem since changing my mask last week. The set up is the same, but the mask is a little smaller around the nose. I have my humidity set at 3. Not sure what the problem is; is the mask leaking into my mouth, is my chin dropping and allowing me to breath through my mouth????? My machine was recalibrated up 2 settings, could that be the problem????

[caverman]

Sounds like you have a full face mask. I don't so I don't have experience with them. I'm using nasal pillows. However, what is happening to me is that my mouth is opening up (read somewhere that it's common when you go into REM sleep?) and because of that the forced air is escaping through my mouth. That does two things, first off it's causing the CPAP to not open/stint the throat to let air in and secondly with so much forced air passing through my mouth it's drying it out so bad that it's kind of painful.

[avi123]

Well, used painters tape again last night since it will be a couple days before my Ruby chin strap gets here. All in all it was pretty successful. I think last night was the most sleep I've had since starting CPAP. I only woke up only one time that I can remember and that was because my mouth was slightly dry. Not even close to as bad as the other night but still enough to want a sip of water. So, I had to peel off the tape about 1/2 way to sip from my straw. When I woke up the tape had blown a seal and my wife said she woke up hearing what was probably air flapping on the tape.

I will say that I tried to pay attention to how my swallowing was going with the tape. No issue really. I was able to swallow just fine and didn't feel like I was going to choke or anything. I did make tabs on the ends of the tape in case for some reason I woke up and had to yank it off in the middle of the night. I'm going to keep up with the tape until I can try out the new chin strap and I hope that works for me. I would prefer not to have to continue taping (of course I would prefer not to use CPAP at all).

I do have a question for those that have tried the different brands of tape. Does the 3M sensitive skin tape seem to stick better than painters tape?

Comments,

I am questioning the purpose of taping your mouth. Is it b/c of having a Dry Mouth with all the side- effects associated with it or b/c you want to reduce the Mouth Air Leaks which interfere with the XPAP operation? IMO, taping the mouth air- tight can only reduce somewhat the dryness in the mouth b/c your swallowed saliva, while you sleep, is replaced by air coming into the mouth from the throat. The source of this air is from the XPAP air going in into the nose. Thus, using a tape to seal the lips is sort of useless to avoid a dry mouth. Using a Chinstrap could do a better job solving the above two issues by reducing their effects without actually avoiding them completely.

[caverman]

Without the tape and with the first chin strap I was given from the DME I would wake up probably 4 times a night with such dry mouth is was painful. I've got a Ruby chin strap on it's way but it will be a few more days before it gets here. I hope that will be the ticket. In the mean time I've tested taping my mouth for the last couple nights. I still have a slightly dry mouth but maybe only 25% of what I had before. No where near being painful. I can live with that if I have to.

So, I don't know all the science of what's going on. All I know is without the tape so far, I've been waking up several times a night with a painful mouth. With the tape I've been able to pretty much make it through the night. I've still been waking up a little but that's from things like turning on my side and having my mask start to leak. Quick adjustment and I would be back to sleep.

Fingers crossed that the Ruby will fix my issue and I will stop using tape.

[avi123]

Do you plan to enter the list of your equipment?

I have been using the Ruby chinstrap for almost a year. I use it with my equipment that you see below. I want to tell you that I do have dry mouth situations almost every night. Most of the time they are bearably. But often painful. So I get up and rinse my mouth when ever I need go to pee. It ranges from one time to five times a night.

The Ruby chinstrap is adjustable and stretchable. Many posters complained that if they set it too tight then they get a painful TM Joint. Google TMJ pain.

I set the tension in my Chinstrap just to bring my teeth to almost touching. No way that I would expect NO air going thru my lips at this position. But the strap would avoid opening the mouth wide as you mentioned in one of your post.

[caverman]

My mask is showing up but for some reason my machine is not showing up even though I have it set in my profile. That's all I have. I do have a chin strap but since it's worthless I don't use it.

I'm hoping that I might be able to get the Ruby strap to be tight enough to help even if it's tight. I might have to get a mouth guard to protect my teeth though. I'll just have to see.

[Pugsy]

My mask is showing up but for some reason my machine is not showing up even though I have it set in my profile.

Some of the links to discontinued machines are broken.
What is the model name and/or number for your machine? Perhaps you chose the wrong equipment or perhaps you have equipment that the link is broken.
All the equipment choices in the drop down menu reflect inventory at cpap.com (our forum host) but for some reason some links are no longer working.
When this happens we usually just suggest that people add their equipment in the comments line of the equipment profile. You can see mine to see that I mention I have a different model machine in addition to the one I currently use.

[caverman]

RemStar Pro C-Flex+ System One

That's what is on the machine.

[caverman]

RemStar Pro C-Flex+ System One

That's what is on the machine.

I have RemStar Pro 2 C-Flex selected in the dropdown. That was the closest I could find to my description.

[oak]

I have RemStar Pro 2 C-Flex selected in the dropdown. That was the closest I could find to my description.

That's not showing up either. Just put the name in the "additional comments" section. It will help later if you have questions about things.

Sorry I cant help with dry mouth. I am fairly new to CPAP also. Welcome to the forum!

[Pugsy]

RemStar Pro C-Flex+ System One

If you look on the bottom of the blower unit there is a 3 digit number. Forget the Remstar part of the model name.....Respironics has used that term on every model they ever made since time began.
So this is what we normally refer to the above machine as....PR System One Pro CPAP with CFlex...that would be model 450.
There is a newer model in the System One series call the 60 series machines...it has an optional heated hose and a few other minor upgrades. That model number on the bottom of the blower unit is 460. The normally used name for that machine is PR System One 60 Series Pro CPAP.

If your machine is the 450 PR System One Pro CPAP with CFlex then that link is broken in the equipment drop down menu...that model has been discontinued and is replaced by the model 460 which in the equipment drop down menu is listed as PR System One 60 Series Pro CPAP and that link should work.
If you have a 450....just type "PR S1 Pro CPAP model 450" in your comments line since the link doesn't work.

The humidifier choice...
If you have the 450 machine the humidifier choice is "PR System One Heated Humidifier"
If you have the model 460 machine the humidifier choice is "PR System One 60 Series Heated humidifier with heated tube"

Forget the Remstar part of the name and look for the grouping of equipment starting with "PR"...that's where your equipment is listed.
The Remstar Pro CFlex that you chose was discontinued in 2007.

[caverman]

Looking at the bottom of the machine it has 460P on it so I guess that's what I have. Thanks for the info, I'll change my equipment listing.

I don't think I have a heated hose though. At least not as far as I know. Not sure how to tell for sure though.