Climateline Hose and Dry Mouth

[digitalepiphany]

Will the Climateline hose help with dry mouth? I use the water reservoir at a setting of 4.5 (with standard tubing). I experience no rainout with this setup (except when I visit family in Dallas). I do, however, always have dry mouth. I've tried going to a setting of 5, but it runs out of water before 8 hours has elapsed.

I'm in West Texas, and it's really dry out here. For instance, we have 67% humidity right now. Not the lowest, I know, but by no means is it humid. It's fairly cold out here at the moment, but the apartment is usually at 68-72 degrees.

I can't turn up the humidity on my reservoir any more than it is unless I can magically fit a larger tank in the machine, or unless one of you amateur engineers has already solved this problem.

[Wulfman...]

Probably not.
I would suggest going up to the Search line and put in "dry mouth" and start reading.

If you're mouth-breathing (the main cause of dry mouth), adding more humidity and heat is probably the opposite of which way you want to go. Too much humidity can cause nasal congestion and consequently more mouth-breathing.

Can you breathe through your nose when you're using this therapy?
Do you know if you are you mouth-breathing?
Do you do nasal cleansing before bedtime?


Den

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[HerbM]

So if it is cold out and you are sleeping with relatively high heat the humidity indoors is going down quite a bit.

Relative Humidity (RH) is relative to air temperature, so the weather report says it is 67% and 32 F (0 C) outside then at 72 F (22 C) inside the Relative Humdity is 1% if nothing else changes it (although just your out-breath will change it some since that is where your body water is going.)

http://www.randombox.net/humidity.php It's a little inconvenient if you think in Fahrenheit but Google is happy to translate if you just type "68 degrees fahrenheit in celsius" you will get 20, and your relative humidity for 32 F will be all the way up to RH 19% -- turning your thermostat down 4 degrees makes a big difference, bigger than I would have thought.

But even at 41 F (5 C) and 68 F inside you get only 26% RH.

Austin is near at or below freezing at night right now and at 85% RH but at our 65 F nighttime thermostat setting we only have 27% RH OR LESS.

Good news, at that level I have plenty of water left in my S9 Autoset each morning so if you can play a little with indoor temp or humidity it might not take much to give you the "mileage you get on a tank".


You might try a room humidifier fairly close to the machine (not right on it but generally nearby.

[digitalepiphany]

I mouth leak, but don't mouth breath.
I have two roommates, so I can't play with the temp too much.
I'll look into a humidifier. Before I do though, are you referring to the little bedside humidifier units that generally cost about $20, or are you talking about something a bit bigger?

[HerbM]

I was thinking of something inexpensive but had no idea what they cost for what type of quality.

My guess was maybe $30-50 and for $20 I personally would just try it perhaps.

Size matters if you are trying to fill up a big room or house (like from the living room.) If you put it fairly near the CPAP unit then the air in that area will be a lot more moist than the ambient air and should effectively give you more mileage.

[-tim]

Last time I was at a wal-mart, they had a $20 rotating blade type humidifier that was about $20 and made in the USA . If you are using distilled water, you can use an ultrasonic type which will use less power and make less noise but cost more. The rotating blade type is just a plastic cone that spins in a bucket of water and the ultrasonic ones have a small metal tub that uses sound waves to shake into the air. If you are using tap water, you might get fine white dust on things and you will need to clean the humidifier tanks often. Some of the ultrasonic ones have nasty tanks that are nearly impossible to clean out. I would guess an ultrasonic one could be $60 or so. There are also heater based ones that go in the central air system and they tend to cost a few hundred or more but might be worth it if lots of people have dry air problems. Watch where the thing sprays, it can get stuff very wet when the natural humidity changes and you don't want to have it spray a half gallon of water in your bedroom. The white dust is salts and can be very difficult to clean off things. The West Texas water may result in other color salts too.

HerbM's comments about relative temperature vs humidity are correct but leave out the pressure change and that .2% of an atmosphere pressure change can make a difference on rainout. I only add that if anyone reads this in the future and wants to look into the mathematics of trying to figure out when things will rain out. (Pv=nRT will be useful with the other gas laws too)

[Wulfman...]

I mouth leak, but don't mouth breath.

You're still losing your therapy air and your mouth is getting dry. Your therapy is sub-optimal. You need to fix the problem.


Den

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[digitalepiphany]

I mouth leak, but don't mouth breath.

You're still losing your therapy air and your mouth is getting dry. Your therapy is sub-optimal. You need to fix the problem.


Den

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If I'm using a FFM, how am I losing therapy air?

[digitalepiphany]

@ Herb & Tim

I actually found a lot on Amazon. First, I'm only interested in the ultrasonic humidifiers. For several reasons, but I'll list a couple here: sound, area dispersal (I can't have the humidifier next to my cpap due to space contraints).

With that said, I did find 2 at extreme ends of price/options.

This first one looks like it'd do the job REALLY well, but costs $170. It also has a built-in hygrometer and can adjust itself.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004FO ... PDKIKX0DER

The second one is $45, with no built-in hygrometer (I can by an analog one for about $5), and cannot adjust itself.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005PK ... PDKIKX0DER

I would definitely have to use filters with whichever one I got, because we have very hard water out here. So that adds additional cost. I think filters for the 2nd one come out to about $8/month. Not that big a deal. But, I like the auto-adjustability of the first. And, it has a bigger tank. I'm not too worried about the warm-mist/cool-mist option available on the first.

Anyway, if any of you can provide any insight on why you would suggest one over the other (other than price), please let me know. I'd rather not make this decision without input from others. After all, I can't think of all the questions to ask.

Also, look at Tim throwing out the ideal gas law. I haven't thought about that since gen chem 2 three years ago.

[Wulfman...]

I mouth leak, but don't mouth breath.

You're still losing your therapy air and your mouth is getting dry. Your therapy is sub-optimal. You need to fix the problem.


Den

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If I'm using a FFM, how am I losing therapy air?

Then you're not mouth-leaking......you're mouth-breathing. (in the mask)


Den

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[digitalepiphany]

Sorry, I should've explained in more detail about my mouth-leaking. I started on the Swift FX (pillows), but I was getting way too much leakage. I would wake up at times with my lips flapping from the therapy air escaping. I don't breathe through my mouth when awake or when going to sleep. Is it possible I mouth-breathe as well? Yes. But, I have no proof of that, but I do have proof of mouth-leaking. Anyway, this is why I moved to the hybrid masks. Of course, these present other problems, so I now have a Quattro Air on its way.

I sometimes forget that not everyone has read all of my posts and can recall it all when they see a new post. Entirely my fault. Hope that clears it up.

[HerbM]

The best reason for going cheap is if you are uncertain how well it will work.

Go cheap, see how you do. Buy better when it breaks or when you get tired of futzing with it.

If you see one that meets you likely needs long term, spend what you think it is worth.

[digitalepiphany]

That's a good point. I think I'll get one next payday.

[-tim]

If you are near a wal-mart, distilled water is cheap. Use that and don't worry about buying filters.

The rotary blade ones can get more water into the air than the ultrasonic ones and they don't even have filters. They are also somewhat self regulating. They make about as much noise as a window fan. If you use tap water, clean them out at least every other day but Texas water... I wouldn't even try. Get the distilled water. If you use enough, consider getting a distiller or buy big bottles of drinking water.

[knightlite]

Close your heat vents in your bedroom , keep your door closed. That will make a big difference in your temp/humidity problem . Practice holding your tongue to the roof of your mouth during the day and it will become a good habit to spill over into the night, it worked for me. Sleep doctors prefer your bedroom to be lower, around 65 degrees . This is more difficult in the summer months .