Room humidifier needed?

[jlsmithseven]

Hi
So I want to thank everyone for helping me get my therapy settings correct. I feel they are very good as well as my setup.

The only issue I've been having on these settings is waking up very dehydrated with a headache. Once I down 18 oz of water, I am good to go. But I've tried messing with the humidity/tube temp settings and adding a hose cover, etc. Nothing seems to be helping or I get rainout. I hate rainout much worse than being totally dry in my mouth. What can I do?

This is my last chart if it helps. I usually don't get this large of leak at the end of the night, so we can rule that out. It happens with no leaks as well is what I'm saying.

[robysue1]

The only issue I've been having on these settings is waking up very dehydrated with a headache. Once I down 18 oz of water, I am good to go.

Try drinking a big glass of water at bedtime so that you are well hydrated at the beginning of the night.

It can also help to keep a bottle of water on your bedside table. My husband has a very large water "jug" with a straw that he got when he was in the hospital for his knee replacement surgery a couple of years ago. He fills it with water every night and if he wakes up in the middle of the night with a dry mouth, he can take a big swig without the need to get out of bed.

But I've tried messing with the humidity/tube temp settings and adding a hose cover, etc. Nothing seems to be helping or I get rainout. I hate rainout much worse than being totally dry in my mouth. What can I do?

It would help us help you if we knew some of the actual settings you've tried. In particular, what is the maximum temperature setting you've tried? And what's the maximum humidity setting you used in connection with the maximum temperature?

It would also help us if we knew where the rainout was happening when it occurs. Heated hoses and hose cozies really only help when the rainout occurs in the hose rather than the mask. My nose seems to be willing to drink water if it could and I personally don't like warm air coming in through the tube. Hence getting a bit of rainout in the low spot on the hose before it is routed under the covers and next to my body is a pretty common occurrence. But all I really need to do is lift the hose and let the water run back into the machine. (I can pretty much do this while only being half awake, and even on a bad night, I only really need to do it once or twice.)

But rainout can also occur in the mask itself. And heated hoses and hose cozies don't always make much difference for that problem. (If your mask has a short hose, getting a hose cozy on the short hose can help, however.)

Rainout in the mask is often caused by the moisture in the body temperature air you are exhaling hitting the relatively cooler air inside the mask and condensing. If you can tolerate heated air blowing into the mask, then cranking the hose temperature up to its maximum might help with rainout in the mask because then the difference between the temperature of the exhaled air and the air being into the mask from the machine.

As for your question at the top of your post: Adding a room humidifier might very well help with the dry mouth problem as well as the rainout: The more moisture there is in the ambient air, the less moisture the xPAP needs to add and that reduces the chances of rainout.

[lazarus]

My health has been improved by keeping home indoor humidity at healthy levels. I have dust mite allergies, so always keeping relative humidity in my home below 50 throughout summer helps tremendously with that. The dry air during winter here in NY can dry me out, especially my sinuses. So I keep indoor relative humidity above 40 all winter. When outdoors in winter in very dry cold air for prolonged periods of time, I sometimes even wear an N95 or equivalent, even when no one else is around, just to keep from losing too much moisture from breathing.

[RNeil]

You did not say what kind of mask you are using. I use a nasal pillow. I have had bad dry mouth when I open my mouth when sleeping. The air goes in your nose and out your mouth. You have a high flow that makes the humidifier less effective. Check the leakage in OSCAR.