Pasty mouth

[Rcgop]

When I wake during the night, my tongue seems  to be glued to the roof of my mouth. This started only about 2 week ago. 

Some facts:
Two months ago I gave up my chin strap and was doing very well with leaks. No major leaks (over the 24 threshold) or very few of short duration. 
My sleep cycles have become longer and deeper. This might be in the same time frame. 
Humidity in my room is 45% or better. I have my humidifier set on 4. I should have enough humidity. 
Ahi jumped from <1 to between 1 and 2. 

Any ideas on what might be the cause of this or how to cure this? Or is this simply what dry mouth caused by mouth leaks?

[Gideon]

I find that the heated hose helps me.  I use it in Automatic.

Mouth breathing definitely increases dryness.

[PaulaO2]

You are mouth breathing. Or leaking. Have you checked the data?

[Rcgop]

You are mouth breathing. Or leaking. Have you checked the data?

Yes, and my data looks good. (I think). MyAir reports zero leaks and sleepyhead reports "no major" leaks. (Over 24 l/min). I do have some leaks of very short duration, however.

 I was hoping it was a matter of my ability to keep my tongue forward and it was getting stuck there. Since my sleep quality improved, I was hoping I would not have to go back to the chin strap.

[PaulaO2]

It doesn't take much of a lip leak to make it nasty in there. Take a look at the leak graph and see if there are any (or too many) places where the graph goes up then kinda sorta flattens for a while. That flat top is a mouth/lip leak. Vs the sharp up/down of a mask leak.

Some say if the humidity is too high, it can resemble being too low? Maybe turn the humidifier down. Although if you have it on auto vs manual, it should adjust itself, right?

[Rcgop]

It doesn't take much of a lip leak to make it nasty in there. Take a look at the leak graph and see if there are any (or too many) places where the graph goes up then kinda sorta flattens for a while. That flat top is a mouth/lip leak. Vs the sharp up/down of a mask leak.

Some say if the humidity is too high, it can resemble being too low? Maybe turn the humidifier down. Although if you have it on auto vs manual, it should adjust itself, right?

Here are some screen shots of last night. The entire night plus a small segment where I woke up after a brief power outage. When I woke up, my mouth seamed to be glued shut and could not have imagined that I was mouth leaking.  

Also my room has a humidity level of 41% and my humidifier is set at 4. Maybe this is too high and I should turn off the humidity. 

http://imgur.com/a/k1380
http://imgur.com/a/z4WHo

[PaulaO2]

Those leaks between 22:20 and 23:40 are mouth breathing or lip leaks. So is that one at 1:00 and right after 2. Maybe the one starting at 3:20. With the power outage happening right after that, it's probably why your mouth was so dry.

Start with turning the humidifier down, not off. Maybe go to 3 or 2.

Your AHI is freakin' awesome!

[Rcgop]

Those leaks between 22:20 and 23:40 are mouth breathing or lip leaks. So is that one at 1:00 and right after 2. Maybe the one starting at 3:20. With the power outage happening right after that, it's probably why your mouth was so dry.

Start with turning the humidifier down, not off. Maybe go to 3 or 2.

Your AHI is freakin' awesome!

Thanks for the advice. It seams that my leaks are lip leaks.  I have been looking at what is happening at the end of the leak and it appears I will wake up and instantly the leak goes away. I bought a cervical collar and for the past 2 days it seams to have helped.

Another observation. When I first wake up in the morning I would feel tired. Not sleepy tired but out of breath tired.  Like I had been working too hard.  The collar seemed to help this.  At least the "pasty mouth" subsided some and I seem to sleep better. 

Thanks for the help.

[PaulaO2]

Yeah, flat tops like that are mouth/lip leaks. Mask leaks are sharp peaks and rarely sustained for that long.

Glad the collar is working. I have had to wear them for neck issues and find them digustingly uncomfortable and hot and they make me whiny. No way would I sleep with one! Blech. But, hey, if it works for you and so many others, go for it.