Need Help, Painfully dry mouth and throat

mtsarpilot · Post by **mtsarpilot** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 7:56 am

Now that the lower humidity of winter is kicking in in Colorado, I'm finding I wake up a couple times each night with a painfully dry throat and mouth.

When I first started CPAP back in July I found I had a dry mouth and assumed it was from mouth breathing. I went to taping and it solved it. I then switched to a chinstrap which works as long as the strap stays in place, which I can do fairly well.

Now that this ultra-dry problem has started up, I figured I'd try them both together to make darn sure I'm not mouth breathing. For the last 2 nights I have used both the chip strap and taped. Still woke up with the painful dryness.

I have the humidifier on max, and it is consuming 2/3 of the water in the reservoir each night, so it is working.

What do I try next? Seems it's not a mouth breathing problem, so a full face mask won't help. Also, if the humidifier is on 5 (max) and it is pumping out water, yet no rain out or hint of it, thus the interface is still staying fairly dry. So I'm at a loss as to what to try next? Any suggestions?

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 8:30 am

Accordig to what you write, you're not mouth leaking, and the humidifier you use is funcitoning. So the only option I can think of is trying one the external (non-integrated) humidifiers. Fishe Paykel has one with ambient tracking, and maybe it will handle the combination of pressure, high altitude (?) and dry air better than an integrated one.

O.

roster · Post by **roster** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 8:41 am

I know what you are saying about the tape/chin strap and that you don't believe you are mouth breathing or mouth leaking. However, I don't see how your mouth can dry out if there is not air blowing though it in one direction or the other (or both).

This presupposes that you do not have another condition besides apnea that affects the salivary glands.

I have dry mouth every night because I am mouth breathing. I use a full humidifier chamber of water every night with my full face mask but it is still not enough to keep my mouth moist.

KimberlyinMN · Post by **KimberlyinMN** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 9:02 am

Are you taking any meds (or have you started any) that have dry mouth as a symptom? I take Wellbutrin XL and that is one of the side effects. I know exactly what you are talking about with the painful dry mouth/tongue.

Some of the things I've tried:

Bought the Biotene toothpaste and mouthwash -- both are for dry mouth. I don't know if this helped any. I did find that the toothpaste will bleach any colored clothing.

Bought Biotene OralBalance tongue/mouth moisturizer but found the consistency kind of disgusting.

I quit taking this for awhile and the dry mouth stuff went away. (I've since started taking it again and haven't really had any issues lately.)

EDIT: I meant that I quit taking the Wellbutrin XL for awhile... maybe a week or two. There are a lot of medications that can cause this.

Kimberly

Wulfman · Post by **Wulfman** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 11:56 am

I'm also wondering about any other medical conditions......

Here in Wyoming, which is just as dry or dryer than Colorado, I don't have any problems using passover humidity and a full-face mask year round. My night time bedroom temp is at or below 60.

Den

mtsarpilot · Post by **mtsarpilot** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 9:27 pm

Thanks for all the thoughts from folks.

To answer one of the common questions, no I am not on any other medications.

How might I tell if I am mouth breathing even though I have the chin strap and tape in place? Unfortunately this is not something that's obvious when you are sleeping.

Yes, I imagine Wyoming is as dry as we have on the Front Range of Colorado. What's interesting is this has not been a problem until the last couple weeks. Something has changed. The only thing I can think of is humidity and the house temp has probably dropped a few degrees at night, but nothing substantial.

I'm wondering if I should just try a full face mask. I wish we had a way to try masks for fit, comfort, and effectiveness before having to buy them. The full face masks are pretty expensive

Wulfman · Post by **Wulfman** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 9:47 pm

Having always used a FF mask, I'm not going to be much help on the taping and chinstrap advice. I would think that with all that in place, it would be fairly obvious if you were still leaking air out your mouth.
Some here have used Polident adhesive strips to seal their mouths at night.....?

Have you considered shutting the humidifier OFF for a night or two to see what happens? You'll still get SOME humidity and (for me) the cool air opens up my nasal passages.

Good luck,

Den

chdurie2 · Post by **chdurie2** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 10:41 pm

i also have dry mouth all night and upon awakening although i use a full-face mask. i go to bed with a can of soda or water at my bedside. i've learned to take only sips during the night to reduce bathroom visits. It's not a great solution, but it's the best I've come up with.

Caroline

KimberlyinMN · Post by **KimberlyinMN** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 5:31 am

Do you typically use a humidifier in your house during the winter? We just turned ours on for the winter (since we've been running the furnace). Maybe you need to add one for your bedroom as well?

I would think that if the tape is still in place on your mouth, then you must not be mouth breathing -- although I've never used it so I don't have any knowledge to base my opinion on.

Kimberly

mtsarpilot · Post by **mtsarpilot** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 6:35 am

We have a whole house humidifier built into our furnace. Sounds like it is similary to KimberlyinMN. It is on and appears to be working well.

I had an interesting test last night. I switched from the Activa to my CL2 with the Simple Cushion. Used just the chinstrap, no mouth tape. Amazingly, no dry mouth. I did not expect that, but thought it would be worth a try.

Although the CL2 is more comfortable because it is less bulky and allows more freedom of face positions on the pillow, I don't use it much because it leaks more. It's so easy for that thing to move around on the head and thus lose it's seal. It wakes me up every time it does that

I have no clue what this test is telling me though. Is it because the CL2 leaks and thus is not giving consistent pressure (It may not be leaking, I don't know, I just know when I wake up it is leaking) so the mouth does not get pushed open. I don't know.

I'm perplexed on this one.

Mask

Additional Comments: Large mask collection