Different Kind of Dry Mouth Experience

[MVPinBoynton]

I have only been using my CPAP with P10 mask for 8 days. I am sleeping well with it and am quite comfortable with the mask. I do feel better in the morning, despite my not thinking I even needed therapy. I have not had any issues at all until the last couple of nights. After sleeping for 3-4 hours, I wake up suddenly feeling like there is a piece of coal in my throat. I am breathing through my nose, but I have to swallow several times to make the sensation go away. I am assuming that I just have severe dryness in my throat; but I have never experienced anything like this in my life. It is really kind of a scary feeling. I am not having many large leaks, so I assume that my mouth is staying closed OK. I increased the humidity from 4 to 6 when I first got sick, since I thought it might help. Where I was not using hardly any water in the tank at 4, I am using most of it at 6. I thought that it would reduce dryness; but I guess that with my mouth closed, the humidity doesn't get to the part of my throat where I am having issues. Since I am using most of the water at a 6 setting, moving it up to 8 probably wouldn't do much to help.

I have been taking an antibiotic and steroid for an upper respiratory infection for the last 5 days and am feeling much better, so perhaps this is causing some of the issue. I sure hope so. My last couple nights have been relatively good AHI's, with 2.6 and 5.25, mostly all centrals. Is the dry sensation I have had a normal one or is it probably just something that is unusual due to the steroids? If this is a normal thing, is there a way to reduce or eliminate it?

[Pugsy]

Steroids are notorious for causing increased hunger and thirst and thus that dry feeling. They dry things out big time.
Wait until you get off the steroids before being in a panic about the dry throat.
And if you are keeping your lips closed the humidified air is indeed making it to your throat just fine. It's just not enough to hydrate things well enough because the steroids are too big of a dehydrator to fight effectively.

Go ahead and try the higher humidity setting...you may or may not use up all the water and if you do the worse that will happen is a stinky hot plastic smell that you will get over. Been there and done that myself.

Hydrate yourself really well in the evening and not necessarily right before bed or you will be up peeing all night...but if you do wake up during the night...add more water to the humidifier chamber just in case.

[MVPinBoynton]

Steroids are notorious for causing increased hunger and thirst and thus that dry feeling. They dry things out big time.
Wait until you get off the steroids before being in a panic about the dry throat.
And if you are keeping your lips closed the humidified air is indeed making it to your throat just fine. It's just not enough to hydrate things well enough because the steroids are too big of a dehydrator to fight effectively.

Go ahead and try the higher humidity setting...you may or may not use up all the water and if you do the worse that will happen is a stinky hot plastic smell that you will get over. Been there and done that myself.

Hydrate yourself really well in the evening and not necessarily right before bed or you will be up peeing all night...but if you do wake up during the night...add more water to the humidifier chamber just in case.

I will try more humidity tonight and see if it helps. The doc also gave me an inhaler sample to use for a couple weeks while recovering. Reading about it, it also has steroids and has dry throat side effects. Since I really don't need an inhaler and am feeling better, I am going to stop it today, rather than using it for 10 more days. I still have a few more days in the Medrol Pack, but each day, I take less of the pills. He did tell me I could quit it whenever I wanted to. I do hydrate all day long. I always have water with me. I have actually been surprised that I have only awakened once a night to go to the bathroom, rather than multiple before CPAP.

[Jas_williams]

Multiple trips to the bathroom is one of the common side effects of obstructive sleep apnoea. I now rarely get up overnight

[helencpap]

The higher humidity setting maybe help you

[Sheriff Buford]

It's hard to assume that you are keeping your mouth closed while sleeping. I know you want and need to keep your mouth closed, but don't assume that you are just because you want to keep it closed. Wait until your respiratory condition clears up, then, if your condition persists, then you may be unknowingly opening your mouth while sleeping.

Sheriff

[MVPinBoynton]

Multiple trips to the bathroom is one of the common side effects of obstructive sleep apnoea. I now rarely get up overnight

You've got that right! My first post on this forum a couple weeks ago was asking about needing a CPAP when I wasn't having any sleep issues, since I thought I was sleeping fine. I guess I thought that because of my age I was getting up 2-3 times a night to go to the bathroom. Now I am getting up only once and it is more to get a drink of water. I do drink a lot of water during the day and evening hours though.

I have also noticed that I don't have the minor headache that I would sometimes have in the morning, nor does my back hurt when I get up. And I just realized that I am not having the trigger finger that I always had in the morning when I woke up in one finger. I can't imagine what sleep apnea would have to do with back pain or especially trigger finger; but I am not going to complain about it. I am just thrilled with my results so far.

[MVPinBoynton]

It's hard to assume that you are keeping your mouth closed while sleeping. I know you want and need to keep your mouth closed, but don't assume that you are just because you want to keep it closed. Wait until your respiratory condition clears up, then, if your condition persists, then you may be unknowingly opening your mouth while sleeping.

Sheriff

I can appreciate that. I must be losing the air somewhere and the mouth seems more logical. I will say that after I wake up in the morning and am just laying in bed, I do hear what sounds like a leak when I know my mouth is closed, but it stops when I try to see if it is coming from around my pillows. I guess that if that is the issue, I could tighten the mask some' but I love how it currently feels, so I will leave it be since the leaks aren't that big of an issue now. I will post my results in the next post, so you will see what I mean.

[MVPinBoynton]

Hallelujah! Finally got a good number and no issues. I guess getting off the steroid inhaler, increasing the humidity level and taking a lower prednisone dose helped with my dry mouth. Also feeling a lot better as my illness goes away has helped. For right now, I am a happy camper and enjoying my CPAP experience.

Yesterday I washed my hoses for the first time. I had read some threads about drying the hoses, since there were small drops inside that wouldn't go away. My take away from those were that since they would add some additional humidity in the end, that it wouldn't be an issue. I also added just a bit more than the maximum amount of water to the tank, since I didn't want for it to run dry. Shortly after going to bed, the mask and tube started to make gurgling noises. Oh oh! I got up, took off the mask and aimed it to the floor. Sure enough some water came out. I decided that the over max level tank was probably the issue, so I emptied it to the right level. I got a towel and turned on the CPAP a few times to drain it. Sure enough I got the water out. After that, all was well and I had a great night's sleep. Just before getting up this morning, I took some deep breaths and heard some gurgling that sounded like it came from the hose. I guess that condensation must have built up over the night. Once I am done with my upper respiratory treatment, I will probably lower the humidity level to prevent the gurgling, unless I need it for my throat.

I did have some large leaks and some for a long time. Looking at the graphs, the leaks don't look like they were that bad since they barely got to 24. That is other than the 87.6, when I was trying to clear the water from the hose when I first went to bed.

[zonker]

Hallelujah! Finally got a good number and no issues.

applause.gif

[MVPinBoynton]

Hallelujah! Finally got a good number and no issues.

applause.gif

LOL, I enjoyed that.

[Okie bipap]

I have over filled my machine several times, and have not had any problem with rain out. When I first started, I had the moisture level set to its highest setting in an attempt to stop the dry mouth. Once I started using a soft cervical collar, my mouth stayed closed and I turned the moisture level down so I no longer need to over fill my machine. If you over fill the water reservoir too much when it is open, the water will run out. I used to fill mine right up to the upper edge of the reservoir and never had rain out. I use a heated hose which runs up over the head board of the bed.

[MVPinBoynton]

I have over filled my machine several times, and have not had any problem with rain out. When I first started, I had the moisture level set to its highest setting in an attempt to stop the dry mouth. Once I started using a soft cervical collar, my mouth stayed closed and I turned the moisture level down so I no longer need to over fill my machine. If you over fill the water reservoir too much when it is open, the water will run out. I used to fill mine right up to the upper edge of the reservoir and never had rain out. I use a heated hose which runs up over the head board of the bed.

Thanks, that is good to know. I will be playing with the humidity levels for a few days to see what works best for me, one step at a time.