Dry Mouth and Return of Symptoms?

[mcman56]

I have been on CPAP for a while.  Recently, I have been waking in the night with extreme dry mouth such that my mouth is just about glued closed.  I have not woken with the "air blowing out of the mouth" issue but may be sleeping through it.  I also just realized that I now have the symptoms that I originally prompted me to get tested for apnea; feeling groggy during the day.  However, my AHI numbers are very good.  Is there anything in my my Oscar data that suggest an issue?  (I don't see anything.)  Or, could this be related to allergy symptoms?  I have been having intermittent sneezing fits.     

   

[mesenteria]

I think....THINK...I can explain what is going on, but I have nothing other than your description to go on: The dry mouth is an indication that your sleep has changed in some way, and whereas you were not getting some, or all, of the machine's output circulating in your mouth, now it must be.  Maybe your tongue's tone has changed during your sleep and it no longer lies up against the pharyngeal tissue like before, so now the air encounters no resistance into the new cavern that is your mouth.  Naturally, your mouth will be bone dry after even 10 minutes.

Further, the new way of sleeping, and maybe with just a hint of detection by your subconscious that this is going on, you are not getting the same quality of sleep as before.  In fact, it is rather poor, probably including not much REM or deep sleep any longer.  You need both of these in quantity. They come cyclically, on after the other. Your new problem is disrupting the cycle regularly, and when you do awaken enough to notice, you have that horrible dry mouth.

It's just a hunch.

You may need a chin strap, you may be sleeping on you back more, maybe you need to tape....dunno.  But you'll have to try something to keep the back of your tongue area raised.

[DancesWithCats]

Your humidity is set on 2, so if you have dry mouth without known mouth open leakage, (certainly not much for "large leaks" shown on that chart)  you could try turning that up?

[Deborah K.]

Yes, I agree that turning up the humidity should help.  Some people develop dry mouth from drug interactions or dry bedroom air.  My husband and I use Xylimelts, little tablets that adhere to a molar and the gum.  These work very well at controlling dry mouth.  I buy ours from Amazon.

[SleepyDawg]

Hi DeborahK - I’ve never heard of these but I’m going to get some and see if it helps me overnight! Thanks for sharing.