Seeking Advice for Nighttime Congestion and Dry Mouth

[CPAPExplorer]

I am facing an issue with my CPAP due to my deviated septum (waiting to see an ENT for 6 months) , causing nighttime congestion. I've tried various masks like pillow, nasal, and hybrid, along with different humidity levels, a heated hose with and without temperature control (in both manual and automatic modes). My nose gets blocked, leading me to open my mouth to breathe (which is why I switched from a nasal mask to a hybrid like Evora). This results in a very dry mouth/throat, to the point of waking up choking. Any suggestions?

[ChicagoGranny]

Many tape their lips closed. I've done it for years.

[ozij]

Many tape their lips closed. I've done it for years.

For a person who can't breathe through their nose, taping is not helpful.
For me, my mouth only gets dry with a full face mask (without taping) if I have a leak. No leak, no dryness.
My mouth and throat do dry terribly when I use a pillows mask without tape, or when the tape gets loose.
Dryness is a result of the air rushing through your mouth and out into the world. With a properly fitting FFM, the air pressure is stable, and not rushing through your mouth and out.

My suggestion:
Stick to the FFM. Make sure it doesn't leak - use OSCAR to check the leaks.
Be very careful and systematic about checking the effects of heat and humidity on your congestion. Make one small change at a time, and if it's not horrid, stick to it for more than one day.

Can you breathe through your nose when just lying down without CPAP? If yes, then it's the soft tissues in you nose responding to one or all the following:

• The movement of pressurized air
• The humidity
• The air temperature.

Some of us respond with more congestion to things we eat. Two known culprits: Dairy and gluten.

[CPAPExplorer]

Many tape their lips closed. I've done it for years.

Taping isn't an option. I changed from a nasal mask and taping to a full face mask because of my daviated septum, one nostril is always blocked so I breath from my mouth.

[CPAPExplorer]

Many tape their lips closed. I've done it for years.

For a person who can't breathe through their nose, taping is not helpful.
For me, my mouth only gets dry with a full face mask (without taping) if I have a leak. No leak, no dryness.
My mouth and throat do dry terribly when I use a pillows mask without tape, or when the tape gets loose.
Dryness is a result of the air rushing through your mouth and out into the world. With a properly fitting FFM, the air pressure is stable, and not rushing through your mouth and out.

My suggestion:
Stick to the FFM. Make sure it doesn't leak - use OSCAR to check the leaks.
Be very careful and systematic about checking the effects of heat and humidity on your congestion. Make one small change at a time, and if it's not horrid, stick to it for more than one day.

Can you breathe through your nose when just lying down without CPAP? If yes, then it's the soft tissues in you nose responding to one or all the following:

• The movement of pressurized air
• The humidity
• The air temperature.

Some of us respond with more congestion to things we eat. Two known culprits: Dairy and gluten.

No leaks

[ChicagoGranny]

Taping isn't an option. I changed from a nasal mask and taping to a full face mask because of my daviated septum, one nostril is always blocked so I breath from my mouth.

Breathing through only one nostril makes things difficult when a person is exerting themselves. However, breathing through only one nostril is sufficient for sleeping. The oxygen demands when sleeping are, of course, not as great as when exerting oneself. When sleeping, the airway only needs to be as large as an ordinary drinking straw.

Mouth-breathing may be causing the congestion you mention. The following article explains this.

The brain of a mouth breather thinks carbon dioxide is being lost too quickly from the nose and stimulates the goblet cells to produce mucous in the nose to slow the breathing. This creates a vicious circle of mouth breathing triggering mucous formation, nasal passages blocking, leading to more mouth breathing. So in fact, mouth breathing can cause nasal congestion leading to more mouth breathing. https://www.speareducation.com/spear-re ... -breathing

Have you seen an ENT about your deviated septum? Correction of a deviated septum can make it easier to have an effective CPAP therapy, and nasal-breathing is much healthier. Some of the health benefits are mentioned in the aforementioned article.

I wouldn't rule out lips-taping yet. Many do it quite successfully.