Sore Throat---Question

Hi all. Last night was my second night w/CPAP and this morning I woke up w/ a sore throat. I had my humidifier set at 1. Do you think I need to increase my setting, or is this just a normal side effect? Thanks in advance for any help>
I should also mention that my AHI was 1.8 and my pressure is set at 11.

I would bump up the humidity, and keep an eye on potential mouth breathing. If you find yourself with a dry mouth / sore throat even after increasing the humidification, you may need a chin strap or full face mask.

Does your machine chart you leak rate? That would be an excellent indicator of mouth breathing.

I get by with mouth taping, as i find it hard to get a full face mask that fits or is really comfortable. my doc says I don't need to tape that, but I find that it helps.

Thanks for the responses, I greatly appreciate all the help and support I've received here. As for mouth breathing, I guess anything is possible, although, I've never been a mouth breather. And as for my leak rate, my machine says leak = 0%. I will definitely bump up the humidification tonight and see how that goes. Thank again.

Unfortunately, the on screen "Large Leak" information won't really tell you if you are mouth breathing or not. You will have to obtain software to see those details.

It sounds like you're doing VERY well.

Watch for increased nasal congestion when you turn up your humidifier. It may not be worth having the humidity up.

I had a mildly scratchy throat for the first few weeks, then it went away. It takes a little while for your tissues to get used to the constant air flow, IMHO.

michwelle wrote:As for mouth breathing, I guess anything is possible, although, I've never been a mouth breather.

I never considered myself a mouth breather either and perhaps that isn't the proper term. But I'd open my mouth a little at night and the air going in my nose from the CPAP would exit my mouth, drying my mouth and giving me a sore throat some mornings.

The biggest indicator was looking at the *graph* for my leak rate on the computer - it wasn't flat. Using a chin strap, it was flat. The air leaking from my mouth was never enough to trigger the leak alarm or exceed what was considered a high leak rate by the software.