Any tips to reduced dry mouth and dehydration w/ CPAP?

I've been using my cpap for a few years, but for some reason recently I've been getting severe cotton mouth and dehydration every morning again. I use a full face mask, with a humidifier, and get 95-100% seal every night. I've had this one for 1.5 years and only recently has this become more of an issue. any other things I can try that I havent mentioned yet?

Taking any new meds? They can dry you out depending on what they are.

Xylimelts work great with CPAP

another xylimelt fan here.

they are a small lozenge that fits between cheek and teeth. it adheres and then slowly melts throughout the night, promoting saliva.

find it on amazon or at your local drugstore in the oral health aisle. don't if it's at ALL drugstores but i've found it at rite aid and cvs.

good luck!

I use a big container of ice water and a straw, and Hershey Kisses to get the juices flowing. I take OTC Allergy meds A.M. and P.M... It's also important not to breath through your mouth, even using a FF Mask. I have trained myself not to mouth breath, by parking my tongue to the roof of the mouth behind the upper teeth, and sucking a vacuum and holding it. It takes practice to master, but the brain will relearn. If you make it! Jim

Bubba, makes the best ice water container out there, (If you get one like mine, so good I bought four)!

It is stainless steel inside and out, https://www.amazon.com/Bubba-Vacuum-Ins ... ooghydr-20 This is the good one, I got mine at Wal Mart for under $ 9, as you can see that's way under priced. they make many versions, this works like it should.

You may be tending to mouth breathe more. As we age, the muscle tone in the jaw gets more slack. I'm wondering if a vertical piece of tape, just to keep the mouth closed (not to seal the lips) might help?

Funny, I was just coming on to ask about this very same question. But I'm using nasal cushions. I was wondering if I should switch to a full face mask, even though I'm positive I'm not mouth breathing. I clench my teeth so hard you'd need a screwdriver to pry them apart sometimes! I've recently started waking up with my tongue glued to the roof of my mouth so forcefully, and all so dry, that I literally have to use my fingers to get my tongue down in the morning. It's bizarre, I've never experienced anything like this. The only real change is that I've gone completely whole food, plant based, no oil since July. Lost 35 lbs. so far. I wonder if the lack of fat in my diet could have made such a huge change?

You can't know for sure what happens when you're asleep, teeth or no teeth, so start trying on FF masks - when lying down as your face changes more then - and see how things go.

Any new nasal issues?

Using a full face mask is no guarantee to fix mouth dryness. It would of course prevent loss of therapy pressure out the mouth in the event a lot of mouth breathing is going on but it won't necessarily fix mouth dryness. That's why we have so many full face mask users here promoting stuff like Xylimelts.

I read an article from a well respected doctor a while back that explained how and why dry mouth can occur with cpap even with the mouth taped shut to avoid mouth breathing but I didn't save the link. I will see if I can find it if I have time. I remember thinking that it made a lot of sense. I should have saved the link but either I didn't or I saved it and can't find it which is entirely possible...you should see my list of folders of saved links.

Sigh.....I just now see that the first post in this thread was a sneaky spammer...spam links were added to the original post after it was approved.
The first post by this OP didn't have those spam links for speed test for internet and something else which I forget at the moment.
It's been happening a lot lately. Spammers are learning how to beat the system.

At any rate I have banned the OP but now I need to figure out how to edit his post and remove the spam links.
Normally I would just remove the entire thread but in this situation there are lots of replies and there is educational value in those replies and it is a common problem.

I don't have any way to know when the spammers come back and edit their posts to add spam links either into their posts or add a signature line that contains the spam links. So I have to rely on you guys and gals to watch for the spam additions and flag the posts.
The original post in this thread was never flagged....it slid under the radar. Please help me out by watching for spam links in signatures if you can. When you see them...flag the post and don't bother responding. I would rather just remove the entire thread as it is less work for me.

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 28, 2020 12:03 pm

Sigh.....I just now see that the first post in this thread was a sneaky spammer...spam links were added to the original post after it was approved.

dammit! sorry it happened, but very happy you caught it.

i'm a bit concerned by a user that goes by "denvid". so far, he only replies to older posts, so he may not see this.

<sigh> wish people could find something better to do with their time than come in here and mess with a good thing.

I quote the text above the main entrance to my state's capitol building:
"THE SALVATION OF THE STATE IS WATCHFULNESS IN THE CITIZEN."

opergayal49 wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 23, 2020 9:05 am

I've been using my cpap for a few years, but for some reason recently I've been getting severe cotton mouth and dehydration every morning again. I use a full face mask, with a humidifier, and get 95-100% seal every night. I've had this one for 1.5 years and only recently has this become more of an issue. any other things I can try that I havent mentioned yet?

I get good results when using TheraBreath Dry Mouth Oral Rinse: https://www.amazon.com/TheraBreath-Mout ... B06XKR2TR1

Discovered it after coming awake a few times with a Xylimelt choking me; it works better than a Xylimelt too.