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Jan 14, 2024

Dryness

I have been using CPAP for about 6 months now but lately been waking up with really bad dry mouth. My tongue gets stuck to the roof of my mouth and it's painful to open my mouth. I have tried increasing the humidity but then water keeps dripping onto my face. Any solutions?

3 answers0 replies

3 Comments

CPAP DOCTOR

Jan 15, 2024

Dryness is more common as the air gets colder during winter. Some solutions:

Fix mask leaks - most CPAP machines compensate for mask leaks by increasing air flow. More air, more dryness. So if you do not have a good fitting mask, talk to your doctor about trying other masks. Or, if you have a good fitting mask but haven't been replacing the cushions and headgear regularly, your leaks will increase.
Use a heated tube - this will increase humidity and decrease condensation in the tube and mask.
Decrease oral leaks - if dry mouth persist, you may have some oral leaks so using a chin strap, mouth tape, and/or full face mask can help.
Decrease treatment pressure - if the dryness is unbearable, then decreasing treatment pressure is a last resort. Less pressure, less air, less dryness. But, this should only be done with guidance of your doctor because lowering the pressure too much may affect treatment efficacy.

dsmithlove22

Jan 16, 2024

Replying to

I tried many chin straps but they keep sliding off. Any particular mouth tape you recommend? Also, my pressure setting is 4-20. What changes do you suggest?

CPAP DOCTOR

Jan 17, 2024

Replying to

A couple of popular mouth tapes on the market are PAPMD and Somnifix.

You can talk to your doctor about decreasing the max pressure if you have tried everything else without success.

For example, patient below's median pressure is 11.1, 95th pressure is 13.8 and average maximum pressure is 15.5.

In this case, I would try decreasing max pressure from 20 to around 13 (between median and max pressure).

If you continue to have issues, you can try further decreasing max pressure to 11 (around median pressure).

Doing this has decreased dryness in a lot of patients, decreased mask leaks, and in some cases eliminate the need for chin straps and mouth tape.

Please note it is important to monitor your AHI (< 5 is normal). If your AHI increases but is within normal range but you are tolerating CPAP better and sleeping longer, it is often better than a lower AHI and you are waking up more and sleeping less.

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Dryness