Extreme dry mouth and throat noises with mouth taped shut?

Hello all, my first post so please be gentle...

Background:
I'm 57 years old, 6'2", 235lbs, I have had sleep apnea for he last 10 years or so.
I have diabetes type 2, Afib and high blood pressure.
I have had polyps removed, deviated septum repaired and nasal tissue reduction, all at the behest of my ENT, nothing helped. My ENT said I also have a larger than normal tongue.

My first treatment for sleep apnea was done via oral appliance, which at the time seemed ok, but in the end, after 5 years of that,
it was the worst thing to have done, and I would not recommend an oral appliance to anyone.
After 5 years of an oral appliance i went to a CPAP, tried nasal mask, full mask, and couldn't do it, so I tried nasal pillows and that worked fine,
no problem to wear my mask all night every night.

My first machine that i used, that i now keep at the cottage for when i go there for the weekend is a Phillips Respironics Sytem One, I then received a new machine and its a Dream Station 1
that I use at home every night,and I don't like it, but never mind that for now.
As for masks I have been switching between a Respironics Nuance Pro Gel Nasal Pillow Mask and a Brevida Nasal Pillow Mask by Fisher & Payke.


My CPAP settings are set a constant pressure at 10cm, with tube heater on and humidification set at level 2

All seems to have been fine over the years until about 6 months ago when I started mouth sputtering, kept waking my wife up with it.
I searched around the internet and read some people tape their mouths shut, that worked for me for a few months until over the last few weeks I have been experiencing extreme dry mouth, where my inner lips and cheeks stick to my teeth and or gums, and i use my tongue to spread them apart, its hard to explain. Along with that is a weird throat noise, again hard to explain, this noise wakes up my wife. its kind of a long moaning/humming/groaning , it wakes me up also.

It almost seems that air is getting into my mouth and just staying there, there is definitely no leak via my lips, the tape keeps everything air tight, so to speak. I do adjust my nasal pillow mask several times a night waking up in the process, this is pretty irritating, but i don't see a way to prevent this.

I now wake up very tired, irritated and no motivation....

I started to use OSCAR to view my CPAP data but am not sure how to interpret properly. my AHI is low, but i don't think thats all there is to it.
Here is a screen shot of last nights results which i had the extreme mouth dryness and the weird throat noise
Any suggestions on results are so very welcome.
Have a great day everyday!

Are you aware that the Respironics System One and DreamStation machines are under a recall notice?
Just had to ask because we are finding many who aren't aware.

RobMtl wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 27, 2021 8:45 am

I do adjust my nasal pillow mask several times a night waking up in the process, this is pretty irritating, but i don't see a way to prevent this.

I now wake up very tired, irritated and no motivation....

Your sleep quality is crap so you feel like crap. When we have very much fragmented sleep we don't get the nice progression into each sleep stage and the needed amount in each stage for the restorative powers of sleep to work their magic.
Adjusting the mask many times during the night means something simply isn't right with the mask fit.
When is the last time you changed the headgear, frame or pillows????

The mouth issues...probably a combination of several factors that you need to sort through.
Diabetes itself can cause the dry mouth...so I assume you check your sugar levels regularly and they are well controlled????
The other potential issue is the air going up your nose and down the airway is trying to exit prematurely into the oral cavity. It's a common complaint. Often with the lips sealed/closed people also complain of the cheeks inflating and the end result is what we call "chipmunk cheeks"...highly annoying because it wakes us up.

You might try increasing the humidity level and see if that helps the dry mouth issues. Your setting of 2 on your machine is a relatively low setting and more moisture might help. Can't guarantee it but it might and sure worth trying.
Dry mouth is a very common complaint and some people end up adding one of those mouth moisturizing products to relieve the issue.

The ultimate fix is to try to keep the air from entering the mouth in the first place and that is easier said than done.
If you search the forum for "chipmunk cheeks" you will find lots of discussion about it and ideas on how to limit it.
I don't know about the sounds you and your wife are hearing but I suspect related to the air in the airway somehow.
Could be some flow limitations manifesting themselves as sort of a snore. Unfortunately your machine when in cpap mode doesn't even flag flow limitations so we don't know if they are happening or not.
If you want to use a fixed pressure you can obtain a fixed pressure in auto mode...and in auto mode the FL flagging is turned on.
Settings would be
Mode...Auto
Minimum...10
Maximum...10
Flex of your choice
Then the machine would still function like cpap mode functions but you would get FL flagging turned on to see if they are maybe happening or not.

Information about the recall just in case you aren't aware of it.

https://www.cpaptalk.com/viewtopic/t182 ... ation.html

Thanks, I am aware of the recall, but the replacement will probably be recalled also.. Even the DreamStation 2 will be recalled eventually as the foam used in that model is not safe either. I will just go back to a Resmed, my older Sytem One worked fine, just go old....

And the recall is not related to my experience i am having...

Thanks and have a great day!

Hey thanks Pugsy for that info, i shall adjust the machine tonight... I did not know my older machine too is on recall... dam!
Is there any certain readings i should be looking for to verify is a sleep was good? as AHI alone does not seem to really mean everything is going alright.

Maybe I should just get a different brand then?

Also when you say "choose flex" i am not sure what that part means?

I change my mask/head gear each 6 months, thats the min renew time my insurance allows.

I'll search around for chipmunk cheeks, lol, but i don't think i get that, but Ia m sure the info will be interesting for me to help. myself.

Thanks again and have a great day!