Dry mouth, throat, nasal passages

[sharlan]

This is happening every few nights.

I've consistently used a cpap for over 19 years now and never experienced this until the past few months.

Every few nights, I wake up after several hours of sleep and my tongue is stuck to the back of my teeth, my lips are sealed, my throat and and nasal passages are bone dry. I have to get up and rinse my sinuses and drink some water.

It's very uncomfortable and I usually can't get back to sleep for a few hours.

What can be causing this?

[Julie]

Are you on any new meds? Are you using a humidifier? Are you in a new place where humidity is lower than old place? Some hints would be helpful, like which model of what machine, what pressures, etc. etc. Can you download Oscar (see Stickies) and provide some info?

[zonker]

as julie says, we need more info to go on. not everyone has the same machine and mask.

you say you've been on cpap for 19 years.

is it the same machine?

[ChicagoGranny]

Every few nights, I wake up after several hours of sleep and my tongue is stuck to the back of my teeth, my lips are sealed, my throat and and nasal passages are bone dry. I have to get up and rinse my sinuses and drink some water.

1. Are you still using Polident to keep your lips sealed?

2. Did you ever get the surgery to correct your enlarged turbinates and deviated septum?

Your symptoms are consistent with using a nasal-only interface and breathing through your mouth.

[vandownbytheriver]

With CG on that one... I had mouth leaking come with advancing age... less muscle tone during deep/REM sleep. Moved to a full-face mask (currently Vitera, love it) and mouth tape. Examine your leak graphs, that will tell the tale.

[sharlan]

I've had this ResMed Airsense 10 for 4 years. (I've had 5 or 6 different machines in 19 years).

I use the DreamWisp nasal mask. It's basically the same style I've always used.

No new meds or routines. Humidity is a bit higher due to the rains.

I haven't needed the Polident tape since I first started using a cpap. I took to using a cpap very quickly.

The graph shows 6 mins of leaking last night and 10 the night before.

[ChicagoGranny]

Less than five minutes of mouth-breathing can cause a very dry mouth.

[ozij]

Less than five minutes of mouth-breathing can cause a very dry mouth.

Very true.

[sharlan]

Well, I don't know what caused the issue but it hasn't happened again

[vandownbytheriver]

Well, I don't know what caused the issue but it hasn't happened again

Great! It will probably happen again sometime. Note that your water tub is dry or used a lot? Mouth-leaking! Loss of muscle tone comes with age... you might need to try taping your mouth, chin-straps, chin cushions etc. Next time look at the Oscar graph for that night and you'll see the leaks I bet.