Any suggestions on preventing dry mouth?

caverman wrote:I don't think I have a heated hose though. At least not as far as I know. Not sure how to tell for sure though.

The heated hose is an option. Requires a different power supply. If unsure it's pretty easy to spot. The heated hose is black on the end that attaches to the humidifier lid and there's a little plug in thing on the swivel air intake at the humidifier to accommodate the power supply in the heated hose.

I've taped for years, using blue sensitive release painters tape. Some brands smell, but I've found that they air out quickly once out of the packaging. At first I used 2 inch tape, and covered my whole mouth horizontally. But lately I've been using 1 inch tape, and I just put a strip vertically from under my nose, down across my lips, and down under my chin. Much less claustrophobic, but seems to work just as well, and no dry mouth (compared to terrible dry mouth without tape). I use an Aloha mask. I think the vertical tape prevents my jaw from dropping, so my mouth doesn't gape open. I tried full face masks, but they didn't really improve dry mouth, and I hated them to boot.

Anyway, try it all, and decide for yourself what works best.

I use an Ora Patch from Walgreens. It looks like a layered lozenge. The pink side sticks to the top of my mouth and stays there forever. The side that's open then absorbs some moisture and stays soft and moist all night. It does not have any taste. If I wake up. I drink some water to re wet my mouth; the patch stays in place. If my mouth feels drier than usual, I squirt a bit of Biotene gel in which connects with the patch so it stays in place. This works pretty well but isn't perfect all the time.

Thing No. 2. I wear a Wisp solid head frame. I took my old mouth strap- present from Lincare last year- and cut the straps about 6 " from the sling. I can hook them over the frame piece closest to the Wisp and velcro the straps snuggly in place. In my case it looks like the sling is attached to the frame and the whole strap pieces are attached back to the outside of the sling. For me this gives a snug chin pice that keeps my mouth shut with no extra head hugging-hurting extra straps around my head. Since I have fibromyalgia and RA, extra tight things on skin and joints are best avoided.

This whole bunch of moist mouth things usually works well. I do have a partial dental upper plate that I was made at my request with the part over the roof of my mouth left open. I sing so I wanted to be able to have contact with the roof. That was done pre CPAP and was an Accidental Good Thing.

Perhaps we should have a Sloppy Mouth subgroup to CPAP.

Piglet

Sloppy Mouth

Don't google that!!!

I won't. I don't know the name of my patches anyway: should be Quantum's Oramoist. Silly me-- have a good night all.

Lynda

Gargle with chocolate milk before masking up, and use a humidifier.