Dry mouth and getting up to pee

Hi Everybody,

I've had sleep issues for almost 2 decades now, I'll try to make the story as short as possible so as to not bore everybody, but I'm hoping somebody can point me in the right direction.

It started in my early 20s when I noticed that a) I wasn't getting as much sleep as I used to, about 1-2 hours less on average a night than I was getting in my teen years and b) It didn't feel restful, I'd wake up and just feel kind of meh, as opposed to my teenage years, when I'd wake up like I got out of a coma. In hindsight, I actually used to love the feeling of sleep, and how it felt waking up from it.

Then as the years progressed it became common that I'd have the occasional sleepless night, and the sleep became less and less restorative. If I was able to go to sleep without any problem, I would almost always wake up during the night. So most nights, the sleep would be interrupted (now that's every night).

About 5 years ago, I've noticed that when I wake up my mouth was dry (which is why I have a glass of water next to my bed) and I had to pee. So now I couldn't tell if I was waking up because my mouth was dry and thirsty and had to pee, or since it became common that I woke up several times at night, that it just so happen to be that I had to pee and my mouth was dry.

Anyway, I start learning about sleep apnea. So about a year ago, I go to a sleep center and take a home sleep study. I was only able to get a couple hours of sleep during the study but the results showed that I had mild sleep apnea (AHI 6-7) and that at one moment during my sleep my heart rate went as high as 145. The doctor told me that I had a very small mouth relative to the size of my tongue, so the sleep issues were most likely caused by any blockage in my throat from the tongue pushing back during sleep.

So I get a CPAP and start using that. I have a nasal pillow mask. Evidently I was a mouth breather and that's not going to work with that kind of mask, so I tried a full face mask, being a mouth breather, but I found it too uncomfortable to sleep and far too difficult to keep it from leaking air. So I thought if I could learn to sleep with my mouth closed I can just use nasal pillow mask.

I started learning about myofunctional exercises that can train to keep the tongue on the top of the roof of the mouth, which makes you get used to closing your mouth and breathing through your nose. I've also slept with my mouth taped, and as far as the AHI numbers, it's worked. MY AHI are almost always in the 1-2 range every night, so by textbook definition, I do not have sleep apnea, however my sleep is still just as bad. I've had this CPAP for about a year, and I still wake up 2-3 times a night to pee and when I wake up my mouth is dry, which means I have to take the tape off to get a sip of water to wet my whistle, and then put the tape back on to get back to sleep, if I can. The vast majority of the nights, I have no trouble whatsoever going to sleep, but it's waking up in the middle of the night that's the problem, so I'm not even sure it can be considered insomnia either.

I remember reading about somebody who had low AHI but still trouble sleeping, and it turns out he had Vocal Cord Dysfunction, so an oxygen concentrator helped him out. I looked up Vocal Cord Dysfunction, and it was similar to asthma, and just having general breathing problems, which isn't me. I don't have any breathing problems (at least to my knowledge).

I have no idea what else I can do. A little bit about me....I'm 5'11" about 165 lbs, I have a low BMI, I exercise just about every day. I work from home on my fruit orchard just about every day so I get fresh air every day. I'm not cooped up in an office 9-5 like many people do. I eat healthy. I live in Hawaii. As far as all the things I can control in my life, it should be conducive to getting a good night's sleep, but it's not.

Can anybody help me out here?

Thanks

Are you male or female?
How old are you?
Do you pee a lot during the day?
When you get up to pee during the night is the bladder full?

Do you take any medications of any kind? Even OTC? If so, what?

Male, 43, I don't pee a lot during the day. Regular amount, I suppose.

I'm not sure about the 4th question. I would imagine the bladder is full, which is the reason why I'm feeling the need to pee, otherwise I'm not sure what other reason I would feel the need to pee. If that's not the case, how would one know if the bladder is full or not?

I don't take any medications. Nothing over the counter either.

There's sort of full bladder and there is painfully full bladder that if I don't go pee I will wet the bed full bladder.

How many times do you wake up during the night in general...with or without getting up to pee.

What are your main complaints or symptoms that you wish you didn't have? Example...excessive sleepiness during the day, fatigue, whatever?????

How many hours of sleep do you think you are actually getting? Don't count awake time in bed with mask on.

Is the dry mouth waking you up?

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 29, 2021 2:24 pm

There's sort of full bladder and there is painfully full bladder that if I don't go pee I will wet the bed full bladder.

How many times do you wake up during the night in general...with or without getting up to pee.

What are your main complaints or symptoms that you wish you didn't have? Example...excessive sleepiness during the day, fatigue, whatever?????

How many hours of sleep do you think you are actually getting? Don't count awake time in bed with mask on.

Is the dry mouth waking you up?

I guess it would be sort of full bladder then, as it's the kind of thing that I could internally debate with myself whether I can just hold it and try to go back to sleep or be a lot more comfortable and wake up and pee, plus my mouth is dry and I want drink some water too, so there's that also.

I usually wake up 2 or 3 times at night. Just about every time I awake I have to take a pee and have a sip of water. Whether that's the actual reason I'm waking up or it's a coincidence, I don't know. I'm not counting the times I get up to like to roll on the other side of bed to be more comfortable, but I'm still 3/4ths still asleep, like most people do.

Main complaints that I have is I'd like to wake up feeling restored. It would be nice to have more energy and clearer thought that one gets from deep, restorative, and uninterrupted sleep. I thankfully take care of myself on the other aspects of my life, but sleep is just as, if not, more important, and it's the only one I don't have any real control over. If it was up to me, I'd be getting 10 hours of DEEP sleep without any interruptions.

On good nights, I probably get about 7 hours of very interrupted sleep. On bad nights, 4-5 hours.

Dry mouth is every time I awake. Whether it's the last time I wake up or the first of the night. That's a constant.

Okay, let's start with the basics and that means reviewing the data the machine gathers and see if something stands out there.

viewtopic/t158560/How-to-post-images-for-review.html

OSCAR https://www.sleepfiles.com/OSCAR/
http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph ... stallation
http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph ... rpretation

On the daily tab screenshot...all it says is "plot disabled". Not sure how to change that. First time using this.

Have you been tested for diabetes ? Thirst and urination is common symptom.

Architect wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 01, 2021 1:34 am

Have you been tested for diabetes ? Thirst and urination is common symptom.

I don't have diabetes. My blood sugar levels are normal. The excessive thirst and urination only happen at night when I'm asleep. Throughout the day, it's not an issue.

jofer29 wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 01, 2021 10:25 pm

Architect wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 01, 2021 1:34 am

Have you been tested for diabetes ? Thirst and urination is common symptom.

I don't have diabetes. My blood sugar levels are normal. The excessive thirst and urination only happen at night when I'm asleep. Throughout the day, it's not an issue.

Wonderful news Sorry, couldn't be more help, I never had any thrist/urination issues during the night. Hope your able to find cause, solution soon. Wish you well.

When I first saw, "dry mouth", I read it as "dry muffin".
My bad.

You can interpret full bladder as "takes a long time to fully empty when urinating". You can have the urge to pee even if there's little urine in it.

Before using CPAP, I used to wake multiple times with full bladder. Now when I wake up during the night, even if I feel like peeing, there is not much urine. The frequent arousals from untreated sleep apnea prevent the body from releasing a substance that reduces urine production during sleep.

Given your sex and age, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is also a possibility.