Cotton mouth and insomnia with CPAP (new user)

So I recently got sleep studies done, discovered apnea (7-10 occurrences per hour of OSA/CSA) and began therapy with a new respironics machine.

Heated humidifier, I've been trying all different levels of heating.

I use a full-face mask that fits quite well, but used just a nose mask and chinstrap (was mouthbreathing during the sleep study) during the sleep study with the same results. Massive, massive insomnia (I've been awake for three hours)

Granted, I can just chalk this up to being not quite desensitized to my machine yet (it's only been a week) but the drymouth is nigh-intolerable.

My mask fits well, is comfortable, and I find myself drinking one or two liters of water before bed, and still waking up two or three times just to drink more water, and feeling horribly "dry" after I finally get up (the dry mouth is causing such discomfort that I can't wear my mask more than 4 or 5 hours a night)

This is driving me nuts, because I'd really like to see how this thing does for my rest, but I can't seem to beat the cottonmouth well enough to actually find out!

Does anyone have any tricks/tips for getting used to falling asleep with their mask? I've been watching tv for about 15-20 minutes while wearing my mask before going to sleep, as well as a light snack with a mug of herb tea.

I have pretty bad insomnia sometimes even without the mask (30 minutes-2 hours)

You could always take something to make you drowsy. I sometimes take benadryl if I need to sleep but can't. I have also heard melatonin helps too, but I haven't tried it. I wouldn't do this a lot, but when you are just starting out, it might help. I am new to all of this too. Good luck

maybe you should use the full face mask. Maybe you are losing air through your mouth when you use tha nasal mask. I am not an expert but not only might you be losing therapy with leaks but it also makes your mouth dry. Have you tried to sleep a few days with the full faced mask?

NEW YORKER wrote:maybe you should use the full face mask. Maybe you are losing air through your mouth when you use tha nasal mask. I am not an expert but not only might you be losing therapy with leaks but it also makes your mouth dry. Have you tried to sleep a few days with the full faced mask?

I currently use the full face mask. I only used the nasal mask during my CPAP sleep study, and disliked it.

I also had a very dry mouth when I first started. So dry in fact that after 2 nights, my tongue actually cracked open. I also had the ComfortGel FF mask, then the LIberty FF mask. My DME asked me to try the Optilife with nasal cradles and I no longer have a severe dry mouth. I think the problem is two-fold; getting use to the air blowing in your nose and mouth and finding the right mask. Don't give up. I believe it is like a new friendship... gotta get to know each other and even still you have your disagreements. I wish you well.

As far as the insomnia, this takes a lot of getting used to. Are you comfortable in the mask? Are you having panic attacks? Is the noise bothering you? What would you say is the biggest factor keeping you awake?

As far as the dry mouth, the fact that you are using a full face mask does NOT necessarily mean that mouth breathing and leaking is not an issue. Sometimes the slack jaw and or increased pressure breaks the seal on the mask, and then you are no better off than if you were mouth breathing with a nasal mask. There are ways to fix this, if that's the problem. But is it???

One way to tell would be to look at your leak data, so the first question there is DO YOU HAVE A DATA CAPABLE MACHINE? Let us know what make and model machine you have and we can help you access the data to determine if leaks are the issue or not.

Honeybadgers,

I bid you a sad welcome to my "CPAP-induced insomnia club."

I think that you need to work on the insomnia as well as work on getting desensitized to to the CPAP mask and machine. So here's my two cents worth of advice on the insomnia:

1) Do NOT lie in bed for hours on end when you are WIDE AWAKE and CAN'T FALL ASLEEP. This will just make the insomnia worse. Put off going to bed until you are so sleepy that you can't keep your eyes open. And note that feeling sleepy is not the same as feeling tired or exhausted. If you wake up once you're in bed and have been trying to get to sleep for a reasonable amount of time (say maybe 30 minutes at most) then consider getting up out of bed and going into a DIFFERENT room to do something very quiet and non-stimulating. That means---don't start watching tv or reading or web browsing. Listening to very quiet music in a semi-dark room is what I have to do when my bedtime insomnia starts to act up.

2) Get ALL the CPAP stuff ready well before bedtime so that the only thing you need to do is put the mask on and turn the machine on. Hopefully you can even try to "prefit" the mask where all you'll need to do is fiddle slightly with the adjustments.

3) Think about all the other things that affect your sleep hygiene. For me, that means no caffeine after noon. And nothing to eat after 6:00 or 7:00pm (except sometimes I can handle a small whole-grain snack a couple of hours before I go to sleep)

4) To help get used to the feeling of the mask as well as help you learn how to get the mask adjusted, you might try this---but do it VERY FAR AWAY FROM BEDTIME. In the middle of the afternoon or very, very early evening, put the mask on when you are sitting in a comfortable chair in a room OTHER THAN your bedroom. And run the machine for a couple of hours while you do something to take your mind off the fact that you have a hose attached to your nose. Do this everyday until you really aren't dreading the feeling of having the mask on your face. And of course, continue to try to sleep with the mask at bedtime.

5) Try to remember that you need your body and mind to start associating putting the CPAP mask on with TIME TO GO TO SLEEP instead of TIME TO WAKE UP. That will be most easily accomplished if you help your mind and body firmly associate lying in bed with GOING TO SLEEP. And as long as you're lying in bed wide awake for hours at a time, you are undermining that very important association. Other things you should avoid are reading in bed, watching tv in bed, and browsing the internet in bed. You might want to try to avoid doing anything in your bedroom except for sleep and sex for at least a while until you learn to fall asleep with the mask on.

Good luck and learn to manage the insomnia before it starts creating serious problems of its own in addition to those you have from the apnea.

i occasionally get insomnia bit i have the luxury of going to bed when my body dumps and says it cant stay awake anymore, hence i sleep every couple hours for a couple hours. if i cant fall asleep i just lay with my eyes closed and i keep repeating to myself over and over again the word sleep, its like a self hypnosis thing. i get cotton mouth occasionallhy also because i breath through my mouth alot thats why i use a full mask. i have water by my bed so when i wake up to pee every two hours i can wet my lips and take a drink and get rid of the cotton mouth.while i am awake though i try and breath out of my nose as much as possible and i keep my mask so it rests on the center of my chin. good luck

I've battled levels of insomnia (and some sleep walking) all my life. At one point, my husband was in a chronic pain class that looked at meditation for one way to relax the body. You know, the one where you relax your toes and then work your way up the body. Well the part that actually gets my mind to let go of the hamster wheel it's been on is to lay back, close my eyes, relax my breathing and then relax my tongue. I drift off. Really weird. Your mileage may vary, tho. I could just be wired weirdly. Other times, I just take some benedryl when I'm really sleepy....

Hope you find something that works for you.

Linda

I experience the same problem with extremely painful cotton mouth. I tried different masks. I currently use a Swift II nasal pillow. If you are constantly experiencing cotton mouth, in my opinion, your mouth is opening, you are probably shallow breathing and the air going in your nose is recirculating out of your mouth. If you are wearing a full face mask, cotton mouth will occur if your mouth remains open. My Dr. told me I will still get the same cpap therapy, mouth open or not with a FFM. No mask, pillows, full, hybrid, chin strap, etc. will stop cotton mouth until you shut your mouth. And the only thing that will work is some type of tape. I use Chap Stick on my lips and then tape my mouth shut with 2" surgical tape. It positively will solve your cotton mouth, is not uncomfortable and only has one downside; removing adhesive from your face in the morning. I know this is a pain, but I am willing to put up with the inconvenience to get 10+ hours of uninturrupted sleep (except for a potty break) every night. It is not unsafe, you can still breathe if the electricity goes off. Try it once. If it doesn't work for you, you haven't lost much. A very nice lady from North Carolina on this site told me about it and it really works. I've been taping for over a month. Good Luck!