Dry Mouth

[lilly747]

Is there any hope to rid dry mouth. I have a chin strap. It helps some.

[nanwilson]

Yes.......Biotene mouth wash has a type that is for dry mouth. Are you sure you are still not opening your mouth even with a chin strap?? I tried tape, chinstrap, the whole nine yards, nothing worked....so a full face mask is the answer to my mouth breathing.

[Pugsy]

Some people just have more of a tendency to have dry mouth than others. Meds, hydration, amount of mouth breathing, ambient room humidity and response to humidifier settings can all vary between people.
You are using a full face mask (shown in your profile) already so at least therapy pressure isn't being lost.
Adding a chin strap may help some in trying to get the mouth to stay shut but sometimes the mouth just won't stay shut.
Dry mouth with full face mask users is still a common complaint and some say they even have their humidifier maxed out.
The humidifier just can't produce enough added moisture to well hydrate some people's mouths.

So what to do?
Try increasing the humidifier settings is you can do it comfortable without rain out or congestion creating a new problem.
Continue to try to use the chin strap to remind the mouth to stay shut.
Hydrate yourself well prior to bedtime with plain old water.
If you take meds that may tend to dry you out...try taking early during the day.
Finally...add more moisture in the form of one of the products developed to add moisture to the mouth. Biotene makes such products designed specifically for that because lots of people have dry mouth problems and aren't using a cpap machine.
Biotene products are usually found in the mouthwash section of stores. Some people report success with the Biotene mouthwash but others say that the Biotene gel is better.

[Todzo]

Is there any hope to rid dry mouth. I have a chin strap. It helps some.

Hi Lilly!

I take a much different approach to this than most. I believe that:

People with OSA have breathing reflexes modified by the OSA and perhaps those things which precede OSA.

The breathing reflexes tend one toward breathing more than is actually necessary.

The "excess" breathing results in excess removal of moisture from the airway passage and mouth.

The excess breathing also tends one toward mouth breathing

So my solutions go in the direction of establishing better breathing reflexes.

To establish better breathing reflexes I:

Try to walk 10,000 steps a day. This gives a lot of exercise to the breathing reflexes somewhat "under load". Currently (I have been trying for years) I only have made 75% of the 10k/d any given month - but the consistency of trying has done me good.

Recently, moving to a city with hills and owning a belt worn pulse oximeter I have found that interval training helps stabilize breathing (heart monitors using a strap are such a pain). It also tends to cause weight loss. Indeed, with weight loss you tend to see unstable (and excessive) breathing since the CPAP pressure does not change and yet there is less to push against out there anymore. I found that the interval training helped keep the breathing stable more than any of the other things I had to work with.

I actually purchased the pulse oximeter to see if this cheap unit (<$50 from Amazon) would work to help me breath optimally. It occurred to me that the rate of breathing (total air use breathing well) which produced the lowest heart rate would be optimal since a rate too low would result in too much CO2 or too little O2 while a rate too high would result in too little CO2 - all of which would raise the heart rate. I am amazed how little I actually have to breath, how much better my nose feels (and the fact it does NOT stuff up in summer as it always used to) and how nice it is to feel the circulation return to my feet and brain. Once the initial lowest rates are found the SpO2 (oxygen saturation) reading becomes a guide to finding the rate quickly even on the move. I still wear the pulse oximeter constantly near me (wore it for three months constantly) and used it a lot prior to my self titration (ongoing - start at 15 cm/H2O - reduce in steps of 1 cm/H2O now on my seventh day at 8 cm/H2O with an AHI of 0.60).

While I was trying to get a doctor to help with the unstable breathing resulting from the weight loss I often did sessions with the CPAP during the day using the pulse oximeter to keep me at good breathing rates. If I did not have a pulse oximeter I would simply try to breath quietly and gently.

Have a great week!

Todzo

[ValShotz]

I asked my sleep doctor about this issue and he recommended Biotene products, and he also said that if you swish with water with a little olive oil in it before going to bed, it's a natural way to alleviate dry mouth. Unfortunately, I didn't think to ask him precisely how much olive oil to use when I was in his office. I'm sure it's just drops, not a huge amount, but if you can figure out a good ratio, that might help. Good luck!