Liberty user with Dry Mouth. Help!

[Needsdecaf]

Well, I have to say that I'm pretty comfortable with my Liberty now. I like it quite a bit, it is very comfortable, and I've gotten it to the point where the nasal pillows will NOT leak even without tape. Mack's was the secret. Mack's also helps on the mouthpiece.

My problem is still dry mouth. Yes, I use that fancy mouthwash that coats the inside of your mouth with nasty lubricants and it does help, but I wake up in the middle of the night with VERY dry mouth and tongue. I have tried turning up the HH, but this just makes me stuffy.

What do you all do to combat this?

And before anyone says it's mouth breathing, I'm sure that's what it is. However, that's why I have a FFM rather than a nasal pillow!

[roster]

Well, I have to say that I'm pretty comfortable with my Liberty now. I like it quite a bit, it is very comfortable, and I've gotten it to the point where the nasal pillows will NOT leak even without tape. ......

Glad to hear that Needs! Congratulations.

........

My problem is still dry mouth.

And before anyone says it's mouth breathing, I'm sure that's what it is. However, that's why I have a FFM rather than a nasal pillow!

My attitude is like the guy who no longer has worrisome headaches. Oh, he still has the headaches, he just doesn't worry about them.

I tried a number of things for dry mouth and found no practical solution. If I am going to mouth breathe, I am going to get dry mouth.

I do not mouth breathe the entire night. It seems to be when I am in REM sleep. If I awaken with my mouth open and dry, the rest of me feels good and I usually have some memory of a vivid dream. So I adopted the attitude that a dry mouth is a positive - it means I went through a full sleep cycle including REM and got plenty of oxygen.

Good luck with the therapy. You seem to have made much progress in less than four months.

[Wulfman]

Train yourself to "suck" your tongue to the roof of your mouth.

A full face mask is not a guarantee that your mouth will stay shut or you won't still be getting dry mouth.

A person with diabetes can possibly experience the same dry mouth even when the "pie hole" is sealed.


Den

[sleepngo]

Needsdecaf, I also use the Liberty and had the same problem, but until I had turbinate reduction surgery on July 1, 2008. I had problems breathing through my mouth into the mask, but now that I have good air flow through both nostrils I don't have this problem when using the Liberty. I have used it the last three days without experiencing any dry mouth. This is the first time I have used this mask in almost a year. So it may be you are having nasal air flow problems that will allow you to keep breathing through your mouth and as long as that continues you will more than likely experience dry mouth, no mater what mouth wash you try.

My suggestion would be that you see your ENT and see if he or she can improve nasal air flow to reduce mouth breathing. Hope this helps.

Regards,

Dan

[Wulfman]

Are you doing some sort of nasal "cleansing" (rinse or whatever) to open up your nasal passages before going to bed?

Anything you can do to promote nasal breathing will be beneficial.

Den

[roster]

...........

My suggestion would be that you see your ENT and see if he or she can improve nasal air flow to reduce mouth breathing. Hope this helps.
..........

That's a good suggestion. Consider having a good ENT surgeon examine the nasal airway all the way down to the vocal cords with a fiber optic flexible endoscope. Many of us here had this done and found out about deviated septums, enlarged turbinates and inflamed vocal cords. The procedure is easy, quick and requires no preparation and no general anesthesia.

[jskinner]

My problem is still dry mouth. Yes, I use that fancy mouthwash that coats the inside of your mouth with nasty lubricants and it does help, but I wake up in the middle of the night with VERY dry mouth and tongue.

Since I breath solely though my mouth now when using CPAP I can associate with your problem a lot. What I ended up doing was adding a second humidifier (F&P 150) in series with the one built into my M-Series.

One word of caution, be careful not to use too much humidification. If you do your lungs will start to complain. You have to try to find a happy medium. I still get some sore tongue but the dual setup is bearable for now.

[Needsdecaf]

Thanks for the responses guys.

I initially got my sleep study perscribed through my ENT. It was in response to complaints of snoring and potential apnea-like symptoms noted by my wife. As such I went through the full scoping procedure. The result: mildly deviated septum, not much to worry about. And a slightly elongated uvula. Tonsils fine, no other major obstructions.

He did perscribe me Nasonex to keep my nose clear (the slight deviated septum means that one nostril is usually slightly plugged) but frankly 1) that stuff bothers my nose (all nose sprays besides simple saline do) and 2) I am giving the drug companies no more of my money then they really deserve.

I do rinse the sinuses with Niel-Med rinse, but not more than 2-3 times / week. Maybe I should step that up to every night. One thing that bothers me about doing it before bedtime is that there is always a little residue of rinse left over and the CPAP pressure blows it out of my nose into my throat. Most uncomfortable. It even says not to use it more than 30 minutes before bedtime. But that's easliy remidied. I'll try that.

I turned my HH up to 4 last night and things seemed to be better with no rainout and no stuffy nose in the morning. I'll try rinsing and keeping it at 4.

Thanks!

[DreamStalker]

[quote="Needsdecaf"]Thanks for the responses guys.

I initially got my sleep study perscribed through my ENT. It was in response to complaints of snoring and potential apnea-like symptoms noted by my wife. As such I went through the full scoping procedure. The result: mildly deviated septum, not much to worry about. And a slightly elongated uvula. Tonsils fine, no other major obstructions.

He did perscribe me Nasonex to keep my nose clear (the slight deviated septum means that one nostril is usually slightly plugged) but frankly 1) that stuff bothers my nose (all nose sprays besides simple saline do) and 2) I am giving the drug companies no more of my money then they really deserve.

I do rinse the sinuses with Niel-Med rinse, but not more than 2-3 times / week. Maybe I should step that up to every night. One thing that bothers me about doing it before bedtime is that there is always a little residue of rinse left over and the CPAP pressure blows it out of my nose into my throat. Most uncomfortable. It even says not to use it more than 30 minutes before bedtime. But that's easliy remidied. I'll try that.

I turned my HH up to 4 last night and things seemed to be better with no rainout and no stuffy nose in the morning. I'll try rinsing and keeping it at 4.

Thanks!

[SLOGeo]

"Dry Mouth" doesn't really explain the situation to someone that hasn't had it... it is pure total unadulterated misery.

About six weeks ago I did a sleep study and afterwards bought the Liberty. Immediately after the study we left for France for two weeks. The only mask that I brought with us was my brand new Liberty and it was was my first FFM.

As soon as we arrived in France found out this could be a miserable trip (at night!) due to the dry mouth problem that I discovered. With plenty of time awake at night trying to figure something out... I started looking for a Camelback Backpack water bag!!! Found one in a big sporting goods shop and took it back to "le chateau... ou la la!" and cut a slot in the air hose in order to run the water line into my mask... crazy yes, but I had to find a solution and this one got me through our vacation. Bite down, sip some water... go back to sleep. No one but you guys could appreciate this story! No, I do not still use the Camelback... but I might if I could find an extremely tiny tubing instead of that big Camelback water tube.

One other possibility is that PUR SLEEP mouthpiece thingy. I had one of those years ago for snoring, I didn't even know about apnea back then. Recently I thought about buying one again. I went back to the original dentist but he didn't do them anymore so he referred me to someone... I called for an appointment and was told the total expense would be $1000... ridiculous, so that was out. Then I saw that PUR SLEEP infomercial and knew that it would work, so I ordered it. (silently smiling that the doc charging $1000 for a little mouthpiece might go outta business!)

OK... that PS mouthpiece is only for snoring and is not advised for apnea but I did find a side benefit. If you wear it at night with the Liberty, it controls the air coming into your mouth and also helps keep your mouth naturally moist. It gives your tongue something to touch to keep it moist too. Just a small cheap idea that I discovered accidentally... now it's yours.

Will be going in for DS surgery next week (one nostril has been completely closed and I didn't know it, I just thought it was "stuffy"!)... and I'm ordering the Resmed S8 Vantage EPR Auto CPAP Machine soon. I am mainly interested in the EPR tech since my present Resmed S8 doesn't have that feature. It should be great to not have to breath OUT against all of that air pressure coming IN, I always wondered about that. Hope that something here was of value to someone, even a laugh about my adventures in France... take care, g

[DreamStalker]

I don't do surgery

Business must be slow for you huh?

[skjansen]

I have always heard that mouth wash dries your mouth out more...especially if it has alcohol in it. Check the ingredients. I breathe almost exclusively through my mouth and I guess I have gotten used to the dry mouth. For awhile the inside of my mouth would kind of "peel" but now it appears to have gone away.

Good luck. I like the Liberty mask. Mine broke though so I am waiting for another.

[Needsdecaf]

I have always heard that mouth wash dries your mouth out more...especially if it has alcohol in it. Check the ingredients. I breathe almost exclusively through my mouth and I guess I have gotten used to the dry mouth. For awhile the inside of my mouth would kind of "peel" but now it appears to have gone away.

Good luck. I like the Liberty mask. Mine broke though so I am waiting for another.

The mouthwash I am using is specifically made for dry mouth and contains no Alcohol. It is called Oasis and is by the people who make Sensodyne toothpaste.

[SLOGeo]

I read someone's post that bought a new Liberty because their old one broke... mine too. BUT you don't have to buy a whole new mask, you can just buy replacement parts... just go to CPAPXCHANGE.COM, or maybe even here at cpap.com, it just happened that I found it first at cpapx so that's where I went.

Also I mentioned the mouthpiece that may have some value... but it is "Puresleep" not PUR... I just happened to be looking at a PUR Sleep website to see what a pap-cap was that someone had mentioned.

[Guest]

I read someone's post that bought a new Liberty because their old one broke... mine too. BUT you don't have to buy a whole new mask, you can just buy replacement parts...

What part of your Liberty broke? I have only been using since about April but I have already 3 breakages. None of my past CPAP masks have ever broken. I like the mask in general but it seems to need some improved robustness. The problems I have had with it are:

1. Initial version the clips would come undone. Remed issued fix.
2. Twice the plastic has broken where the straps connect to the top
3. Once the seem on the connector elbo has broken