Dry mouth with full face mask

I had a nasal C-Pap mask and experienced dry mouth. Now I have a full face mask and am still experiencing this. It was easier to drink water with the nasal mask, now I have to take the whole mask off. Even if I am lying in bed trying to fall asleep, I am still getting dry mouth so I know I am not mouth breathing. Is it just the air blowing in my mucous membranes that is drying me out? I have my temperature set to 82 degrees and my humidity at 8 which is the highest level. How can I prevent this? Thank you.

Try using a ClimateLineAir heated hose if you aren't already.

PaulKTF wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 26, 2018 6:35 am

Try using a ClimateLineAir heated hose if you aren't already. Also try turning up your humidity setting on your machine.

If they have set a temperature, they have a heated hose. They already stated humidity is set at maximum.

prodigyplace wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 26, 2018 6:40 am

PaulKTF wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 26, 2018 6:35 am

Try using a ClimateLineAir heated hose if you aren't already. Also try turning up your humidity setting on your machine.

If they have set a temperature, they have a heated hose. They already stated humidity is set at maximum.

Oh yeah, good point. LOL! Maybe set up a humidifier in the room.

zinnia wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 26, 2018 6:16 am

I had a nasal C-Pap mask and experienced dry mouth. Now I have a full face mask and am still experiencing this. It was easier to drink water with the nasal mask, now I have to take the whole mask off. Even if I am lying in bed trying to fall asleep, I am still getting dry mouth so I know I am not mouth breathing. Is it just the air blowing in my mucous membranes that is drying me out? I have my temperature set to 82 degrees and my humidity at 8 which is the highest level. How can I prevent this? Thank you.

With nasal pillows I only get extremely dry mouth if mouth breathing. I know CPAP humidifiers are designed to prevent the nasal passages from drying out. They are not usually designed to prevent mouth drying with a full face mask.

Still having a dry mouth is a pretty good indication you are in fact mouth breathing, at least some of the time.

I do not know it there is any way of adding humidity without causing rainout in the mask or its tubing.

What model mask are you now trying?

Just a thought- the dry mouth could be a medical condition that has nothing to do with the CPAP therapy at all. I think they make special mouthwashes that can help alleviate dry mouth. You really shouldn't normally be getting dry mouth with the humidifier up that high.

How about using a chinstrap to keep your mouth closed?

I'm only 7 weeks in and at first I had a really dry mouth to the point I had a dry cough during the day.

I have a FF mask and it seems to be getting better. I just wish I could get rid of this sinus headache.

Sometimes less is more. Have you tried turning the hose temp and humidity way down?

Using a full face mask won't necessarily stop dry mouth...even at maximum humidity.
First of all the humidifier can't crank out enough moisture to hydrate the oral mucosa in the mouth. The oral cavity is simply much too large. These humidifiers were designed to hydrate the nasal mucosa...much smaller cavity to have to deal with.
Second...it's not the air blowing from the machine that is the problem...it's the mouth breathing itself that is the problem.
To really eliminate the dry mouth from mouth breathing you have to stop the mouth breathing first.

Now yes...some people will have mouths that just dry out easier/faster than others for any number of reasons....medications maybe or other health issues.

But for the bulk of people who just get dry mouth too easily from mouth breathing and increasing the humidity delivered doesn't fix the problem or causes more problem.....those people will usually end up using some sort of product designed to promote adding moisture to the oral cavity like one of the Biotene products or some other product. Usually it's trial and error finding one that works for the person because again this is an area that comes with that big YMMV sticker.

So a full face mask can't necessarily fix the dry mouth problem. It will maybe fix the problem that can affect therapy effectiveness should the mouth breathing cause massive loss of therapy pressure out the mouth.
Not all mouth breathing and subsequent dry mouth equals massive leaks that mean serious loss of therapy pressure effectiveness though. I have done some mouth breathing with my nasal pillow mask and I have learned that all it takes is about 5 minutes of mouth breathing to dry out my mouth. That mouth breathing doesn't always show up as a massive leak though...got the software reports to prove it. For that reason I usually suggest that people evaluate the leak graph first if they are using a nasal interface mask and see for sure if therapy effectiveness has been seriously compromised before even going to a full face mask unless it is something they just want to do since going to full face doesn't always fix the dry mouth anyway.

hi, zinnia.

you may wish to try xylimelts. this is a lozenge that you put between teeth and cheek. it stimulates saliva and thus eliminates dry mouth.

this is OTC and should be at some drugstore near you. i believe it can be found on amazon as well.

good luck!

Thank you for all the feedback. I will make some adjustments on the machine. I also bought the xylitol lozenges mentioned.
I am using an Amara Full View Mask. I also have a Res Med Airfit N20 Nasal which I used last night, but that always shows up as leakage even though I don't feel any leakage and I always get more dry mouth with that one.

Using all these various products for dry mouth are only temporary fixes (i.e. while the product is in the mouth!) - I know because I've used them. I get a dry mouth even with taping my mouth shut (I use pillows and/or Brevida mask) - how does this happen? The taping makes it impossible to open my mouth to spray in Biotene when this problem wakes me up. I don't have a medical condition or use medication that would cause this that I know of. I've used CPAP for 7 years and never had this problem before the past 6-7 months. However, I did start on Xarelto (blood thinner) and Sotalol (heart rhythm med) at about the same time it started, but dry mouth is not thought to be a side effect of these. Am I just getting old?? (am 74) It's very frustrating!

Dry mouth is often a sign of simple dehydration. Try drinking more water throughout the day. Yes, sometimes something simple like that is the solution.

CarCulmer wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 27, 2018 8:04 am

The taping makes it impossible to open my mouth to spray in Biotene when this problem wakes me up.

Mouth sprays are not the correct treatment. They only provide relief for a few minutes. I use a good dry mouth gel with my FFM. It lasts all night.

http://www.gcamerica.com/products/preve ... /index.php

CarCulmer wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 27, 2018 8:04 am

Using all these various products for dry mouth are only temporary fixes (i.e. while the product is in the mouth!) - I know because I've used them.

xylimelts DO last all night.

or, at least, they do for me.