delicate question

I tried to post earlier so I'm going to feel bad if I have two topics show up. Anyway, I am a newbie..spent my second night last night with the cpap machine and face mask. My question is-is it normal to drool with the face mask on? I woke up frantically wiping my mouth only to find the mask on my face. I do not believe I had this problem the first night. I am so surprised that I even went to sleep the first night and very surprised to find myself sleeping hours at a time with no tossing and turning and trotting to the bathroom every few minutes. This in itself is a wonderful improvement and I do feel better even though it's only been 2 nights. I am new to this so I may be asking "dumb" questions occassionally. I am so Thankul for finding this site. This is turning into a whole new world for me.

Welcome aboard! Great site, great info, great folks here. Do a search for 'drool'...not unusual at all.

Are you using a humidifier? Occasionally if mine is set too high, I get water in my mask and it can be annoying. We call it rainout. Of course, some people do drool when they sleep. I'm sure that can be annoying.

It sounds like you're getting off to a good start by sleeping well. That's great.

eclipsemc wrote:I tried to post earlier so I'm going to feel bad if I have two topics show up. Anyway, I am a newbie..spent my second night last night with the cpap machine and face mask. My question is-is it normal to drool with the face mask on? I woke up frantically wiping my mouth only to find the mask on my face. I do not believe I had this problem the first night. I am so surprised that I even went to sleep the first night and very surprised to find myself sleeping hours at a time with no tossing and turning and trotting to the bathroom every few minutes. This in itself is a wonderful improvement and I do feel better even though it's only been 2 nights. I am new to this so I may be asking "dumb" questions occassionally. I am so Thankul for finding this site. This is turning into a whole new world for me.

First, there are very few questions that really need to be thought of as "delicate" here. You'd be surprised at what we talk about without much embarassment. At least most of the the time.

Second, the only dumb question is one that's not asked, but needs to be asked. You can't learn something if you don't asked about it. Now, it is a good idea to check out the New Users and CPAP Wiki links at the top of the page. There's a wealth of info available there. And learn how to use the search feature at the top of the page too. Sometimes searching for the answer to a question will get you your answer a whole lot faster than posting it----particularly if it's a really common question.

Third, drooling is not that uncommon. Many people do it in their sleep regardless of whether they use a CPAP or not. I've been a life-long drooler---as in major bigtime drooler my whole life. It's always been worse with colds. I use nasal pillows, so the drool doesn't get trapped inside my mask. But it does get trapped between the pillow barrel and my lip sometimes, which is much more irritating than it used to be just drooling onto my pillow case and waking up with a damp piilow case in the morning was pre-CPAP. In your case, you may very well have been a drooler before CPAP and just not have noticed it because the drool was light enough to be absorbed by your pillow case without your noticing it each night. But with the mask it's notw trapped.

At any rate, welcome to the forum. Best of luck dealing with the drooling. And hoping that you continue to have a very quick and sucessful adjustment to your CPAP therapy!

Thank you all for the replies. Yes, I see I need to read all the info I can find and I'll do that. But it is so nice to see that there are so many of you willing to post answers.

Happy New Year Guest....why not join us? It would be a great new start to the New year.

I've experienced drooling even more than rain-out.
I'd rather drool at night while using cpap than 24-7 after having a stroke from not using it.
Have a great New Year--your are on the right path!

Welcome to the forum, eclipsemc.

Depending on what mask you have, you might be able to put something absorbable in the mask, like Gerald did:

viewtopic.php?t=33832

If you try something like that, be sure it can't block the exhaust vent from inside.