Is this "rainout"?

My mask fits fine when I first put it on. But I wake up once or twice in the night with it leaking badly. At first I thought maybe it was relaxation of my facial muscles. But then noticed my skin (enclosed by the mask) was moist and oilier (is that a word?) than the rest of my face. The moisture is causing the mask/skin seal to fail.

Is this common? I've found if I keep a small towel handy, I can wipe my face and the mask off and get a good seal again temporarily. I turned down the heat a tad and also wrapped up my hose with a baby blanket (thin flannel). It MIGHT be helping a bit, but I still get at least one seal failure every night.

I'm not getting actual drops of water dripping off my mask like some describe as "rainout", but still a significant amount of moisture.

I also sometimes awake to a VERY dry mouth...feels like my tongue is stuck to my mouth. I assume that's from mouth-breathing. But with humidification, why is that happening? My nasal path is fine, it's just my mouth, tongue and throat.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

I don't know if that is rainout or not. Usually, though, when rainout occurs, there is a kind of a popping noise from the water droplets in the hose that is a dead giveaway. That is usually fixed by turning down the humidifier setting a little. At least that was my experience.
Masks are a complicated issue. I have four of them (I still don't think I have enough). I thought I was doing great with my Swift LT, but recently my AHI shot way up for no apparent reason, in fact it topped out at around 8.2. That caused a lot of consternation. But one night I woke to find myself mouthbreathing - which I'd never done before. In fact, I had always prided myself in not doing that.
Just as an experiment, I went back to my old Ultra Mirage II, and sure enough, my AHI was back down to 2.8. (I don't know why I don't seem to mouth breathe with that mask, also) That was about 5 days ago. Now, I'm back to my Ultra to stay. I also have a FF Quarttro, just in case I catch a bad cold or get the flue, and can't breathe through my nose. I'm tried to use it 4 or 5 times just to make sure I can in a crunch, but so far I have not been able to do. I'm thinking of getting my fifth mask, which will be a full face hybrid.
(I know, too much information)
see ya,
Jay

Hi, LinkC,

You can get dry mouth even with a FF, and even with enough humidity. If you open your mouth wearing a FF mask, the air is going in your mouth and dries it out. I get that all the time. My tongue gets stuck to the roof of my mouth, and sometimes my lower lip area sticks to my lower teeth! Weird picture, I know! LOL

Is the moisture running down your face inside the mask? I know my skin gets moister, almost like sweaty under the seal of my mask a lot, is that what you mean? I have a heated hose, so the warmer air from that mixed with the humidity in the air is what I always thought caused it for me. If you think it might be rainout, are you sure your machine is lower than your mattress? Have you checked to see if there's water or moisture inside the hose?

Pam

This is kind of gross, but if I'm not careful when I first put my mask on, I drool.

Probably because I dry out with my mask, I find I'm making more spit than I use to. And for some reason putting on the mask triggers me to salivate. So when I first put on the mask I have to suck down a burst of spit.

Just a thought.

WearyOne wrote:I know my skin gets moister, almost like sweaty under the seal of my mask a lot, is that what you mean?

Exactly! Although it doesn't seem there's enough to "run down my face", there IS a lot of moisture under the seal.

My machine is well below bed level, and the hose dips before coming back up over the headboard. So, any moisture is coming out of the moist air once it hits the mask. I'm gonna try the makeshift hose cover a few more nights, and maybe turn down the humidifier, too. I was worried that might make the drymouth worse. And maybe get one of those chinstraps that attach to the mask headgear.

Thanks (to all) for the replies!

john_dozer wrote:This is kind of gross, but if I'm not careful when I first put my mask on, I drool.

Actually, I thought of that! Especially since I first noted the leakage at the corners of my mouth. But this moisture is evenly distributed all over the "triangle". Even on my nose. I don't know WHAT it would take to get drool there! lol

I'm still making changes, tho. Eventually I'll hit on the solution. Thanks for the reply.

Seems odd.

Is your skin is cooler than normal? The lower skin temp + skin's own moisture = droplet formation on face. Maybe.