Dry mouth, but…

[SleepyFred]

With my sleep apnea and cpap I can only safely sleep on my sides and I generally sleep well (I’m at least five years in). Thankfully, I’ve never required water with my machine to keep my mouth/throat moist, but here’s the weird thing:

When I’m sleeping on my left side, mouth moisture is normal, but when I rollover and sleep on my right side, within ten minutes my mouth becomes bone dry and usually eventually to the point where I wake up. When conscious I can “will” saliva to return, but as soon as I fall back to sleep the moisture disappears.

My question: is this unheard of? It’s not just a one-off, it’s every night.

[ChicagoGranny]

Which model mask are you using?

[SleepyFred]

The cpap is a Breas Z2 (or something like that) and I believe the headgear is called Dream Weaver, with the hose connection atop the head and soft nasal pillows. I’ve tried other systems and this is by far the most comfortable for me. I doubt it could have anything to do with my issue of only getting dryness when sleeping on my right.

[ChicagoGranny]

Dream Weaver

There is no CPAP mask with that name. Please communicate exactly less you get bad advice.

It sounds like you might have the DreamWear Silicone Nasal Pillow CPAP Mask - https://www.cpap.com/productpage/pr-dre ... k-fit-pack

Please confirm.

[SleepyFred]

DreamWear Silicone Nasal Pillow CPAP Mask is correct.

[vandownbytheriver]

DreamWear Silicone Nasal Pillow CPAP Mask is correct.

Typically this is caused by mouth leaking... your mouth is letting pressure out, drying out your mouth. This is bad for several reasons... your therapy may suffer, and it's not good for your teeth.

Folks use chinstraps, chin cushions, and tape... I prefer the tape. Full-face mask helps too... I use both, actually... the tape prevents drooling and mouth-breathing, which will dry you out even in a FF mask.

[SleepyFred]

Thank you. That makes a lot of sense. I’ll try the tape first! [Edit after first night:] Wow, I’m so lucky. It actually worked without using any additional equipment/tape. Sleeping on my aforementioned problematic right side, all I did was position my head on the pillow with my chin tilted slightly downward (towards my neck). I slept the whole night in that position (as far as one can know), woke up in that position, and my mouth/throat had perfectly normal saliva levels. Again, thanks for your input, particularly about the effect it can have on dental health which I never would have considered.

[ChicagoGranny]

Folks use chinstraps, chin cushions, and tape... I prefer the tape. Full-face mask helps too... I use both, actually... the tape prevents drooling and mouth-breathing, which will dry you out even in a FF mask.

+1