AirSense 10, Dry and Running out of Water

[michaeldwilson]

Hey friends,

Things feel really dry in my mask throughout the night, so I set the humidity at the highest level for my machine (8) and I have the heated tube at 81 percent. The problem is that it still feels dry and the reservoir runs out of water after about five hours. I wake up and have to turn the machine because it's just so dry. Does anyone have any suggestions? I tried to search cpaptalk to see if others had this problem and I don't see a similar thread.

Thanks,

Mike

[Pugsy]

What is the ambient humidity in your bedroom?
What is your pressure setting?
What are your leak numbers?

[Dog Slobber]

You moved from whatever the setting was, to the highest setting available.

Instead of doing that you should have just increased the humidity by 1. That may have been enough. And then see how that works for you, then readjust again if neccesary.

When you run out of water, of course it will be dry.

[michaeldwilson]

What is the ambient humidity in your bedroom?
What is your pressure setting?
What are your leak numbers?

Thanks.

It's dry in this house. I do run a humidifier during the night. My pressure setting is 16. I haven't checked the specific number, but my Cpap machine does not show a leak warning.

[LSAT]

What is the ambient humidity in your bedroom?
What is your pressure setting?
What are your leak numbers?

Thanks.

It's dry in this house. I do run a humidifier during the night. My pressure setting is 16. I haven't checked the specific number, but my Cpap machine does not show a leak warning.

Are you a mouth breather?

[michaeldwilson]

What is the ambient humidity in your bedroom?
What is your pressure setting?
What are your leak numbers?

Thanks.

It's dry in this house. I do run a humidifier during the night. My pressure setting is 16. I haven't checked the specific number, but my Cpap machine does not show a leak warning.

Are you a mouth breather?

Thanks, yes.

[Pugsy]

So test the ambient humidity and see what it is with the humidifier added.

3 things affect water consumption

Ambient humidity
Pressure used
Leaks...meaning excessive.

Mouth feeling dry isn't always fixable with maximum humidity which you have found out and also found out that you run out of water during the night.

As to why the mouth feels dry...now and I assume it didn't in the past....any new meds or change in meds? Any new nasal congestion that might cause more mouth breathing?

You may have 2 problems here...dry mouth that even a full face mask at maximum humidity doesn't fix and the fact that the machine is running out of water trying to deliver that maximum humidity.

[michaeldwilson]

So test the ambient humidity and see what it is with the humidifier added.

3 things affect water consumption

Ambient humidity
Pressure used
Leaks...meaning excessive.

Mouth feeling dry isn't always fixable with maximum humidity which you have found out and also found out that you run out of water during the night.

As to why the mouth feels dry...now and I assume it didn't in the past....any new meds or change in meds? Any new nasal congestion that might cause more mouth breathing?

You may have 2 problems here...dry mouth that even a full face mask at maximum humidity doesn't fix and the fact that the machine is running out of water trying to deliver that maximum humidity.

Thanks, Pugsy! I checked SleepyHead just now and it looks like I had a leak rate of 10 for an hour and then 6 for an hour. But hours before that it was 0 (zero). I'll work on making sure it leaks less during the night and turn up the humidifier in the room.

I think you are right that maximum humidity is not fixing the dry feeling. I'll work with it to see what's tolerable.

Do you know if raising or lowering the temperature of the heated tube will affect water usage?

Again, much appreciated!

[Pugsy]

Those leak numbers are small and unlikely to have caused so much water consumption.
Leaks need to be really pretty large (like over 30 L/min and prolonged) to make much of an impact on the amount of water used.

Most likely your culprit is going to be the ambient humidity whatever it is.
I know that I use a setting of 6 and my ambient humidity runs usually 45 to 60% and with 8 hours of use I will use up almost all my water.

Do you know if raising or lowering the temperature of the heated tube will affect water usage?

It will NOT affect the water consumption.
But it might cause you to have water condense in your mask or hose which is highly annoying.
The main job of the heated air....prevent the air from cooling and releasing the moisture in the air coming from your machine.
The second job of the heated air...simply comfort...whatever you personally like better. I am not real fond of really warm air coming from my machine but with my preferred humidity setting and my preferred rather cold bedroom temps I find that condensation in my mask or hose is pretty much guaranteed if I don't use almost maximum hose air temp.
So while I am not fond of the warmer air...I am even less fond of the condensation in the mask or hose so I use the warmer air.

The dry mouth (even with maximum humidity being delivered and not running out of water) is a separate issue you will need to investigate. It's a common complaint. We first look for medication side effects being a potential culprit and then we look for changes in other health issues....like something causing a person to breathe more through their mouth than they used to be doing.
You may need to add some sort of oral hydrating agent to your bedtime routine at least short term until you can maybe figure out if there is something else going on.
And of course...extra hydration during the day. I am not so much for loading up on water at bedtime because that may or may not help the mouth dryness but it sure will likely guarantee a wake up to go pee during the night.
It's better I think to hydrate optimally throughout the day.

[michaeldwilson]

Those leak numbers are small and unlikely to have caused so much water consumption.
Leaks need to be really pretty large (like over 30 L/min and prolonged) to make much of an impact on the amount of water used.

Most likely your culprit is going to be the ambient humidity whatever it is.
I know that I use a setting of 6 and my ambient humidity runs usually 45 to 60% and with 8 hours of use I will use up almost all my water.

Do you know if raising or lowering the temperature of the heated tube will affect water usage?

It will NOT affect the water consumption.
But it might cause you to have water condense in your mask or hose which is highly annoying.
The main job of the heated air....prevent the air from cooling and releasing the moisture in the air coming from your machine.
The second job of the heated air...simply comfort...whatever you personally like better. I am not real fond of really warm air coming from my machine but with my preferred humidity setting and my preferred rather cold bedroom temps I find that condensation in my mask or hose is pretty much guaranteed if I don't use almost maximum hose air temp.
So while I am not fond of the warmer air...I am even less fond of the condensation in the mask or hose so I use the warmer air.

The dry mouth (even with maximum humidity being delivered and not running out of water) is a separate issue you will need to investigate. It's a common complaint. We first look for medication side effects being a potential culprit and then we look for changes in other health issues....like something causing a person to breathe more through their mouth than they used to be doing.
You may need to add some sort of oral hydrating agent to your bedtime routine at least short term until you can maybe figure out if there is something else going on.
And of course...extra hydration during the day. I am not so much for loading up on water at bedtime because that may or may not help the mouth dryness but it sure will likely guarantee a wake up to go pee during the night.
It's better I think to hydrate optimally throughout the day.

I appreciate all the good information and advice. I can't thank you enough.

Mike

[Miss Emerita]

Hi Mike, for dryness in your mouth, some people get help from Xylimelts, which are small discs that attach to your teeth or gums and stimulate the production of saliva throughout the night.

[michaeldwilson]

Hi Mike, for dryness in your mouth, some people get help from Xylimelts, which are small discs that attach to your teeth or gums and stimulate the production of saliva throughout the night.

Thanks for the suggestion. If this water drinking I'm doing today doesn't help, I will give it a try!