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+--- Thread: [CPAP] DreamStation Humidity Issue (/Thread-CPAP-DreamStation-Humidity-Issue)
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DreamStation Humidity Issue - bry248 - 01-05-2017
I'm having issues with my dreamstation since I got it in October. No luck with humidity settings.
Anyone else have or heard of an issue like this?
I'm about the return the whole thing or toss it outside in the snow.
Fixed setting #1 has no humidity
Fixed setting #2 floods the tube and then wakes me up. Water in the mask also after 2-3hrs of use.
Adaptive settings up to #5 supplies no humidity. Get severe dry mouth after 3+hrs of use. Can go days without seeing any water being used in the reservoir with using it 3-4hrs each night.
A month ago ROTECH replaced the heater reservoir assuming it wasn't heating properly and gave me a heated tube.
Heated tubing seems to activate the adaptive settings and I still get severe dry mouth at humidity setting #5, even when turning tube heat to 0.
I think the unit is defective. I can't find any information to make adjustments to the humidity other than the standard settings. Also haven't found any complaints with similar issues.
Any help is appreciated
thanks!
RE: DreamStation Humidity Issue - trish6hundred - 01-05-2017
Hi bry248,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
Hang in there for answers to your question and good luck with your CPAP therapy and getting it adjusted to meet your needs.
RE: DreamStation Humidity Issue - Russatrice - 01-05-2017
Hi Bry, I have the same machine but have no trouble with the humidifier. It does sound like there is something defective when the #2 setting "floods' you with so much humidity. As far as the dry mouth goes, I have these issues too, but pretty sure they come from involuntary mouth breathing, not from a problem with the humidifier. If you were to use software like Sleepyhead, you could see if there are leaks recorded, which is often a sign of the mouth being open.
RE: DreamStation Humidity Issue - chill - 01-05-2017
What temperature is the room you are sleeping in? #2 with an unheated hose and in a cold room could produce rainout. The heated tube can be set to use fixed humidity levels, I do that. You can get the clinicians manual from the CPAP Setup Manuals link above.
All that said, I think the problem is not your humidifier but that you are breathing through your mouth when you are asleep. No level of humidity is going to make that pleasant. You need to try a full-face mask (FFM) or a chin strap. Longer term, you make be able to train yourself to seal your mouth with your tongue. Search this forum for "tongue suck technique". Googling that is probably not for the faint of heart.
RE: DreamStation Humidity Issue - bry248 - 01-06-2017
room temp is usually 70°-72° F in the winter. Summer we keep it around 69°-70° F.
wife likes it warm as she is always cold. She has a nerve disease and can't take a cold room.
my machine shows the mask fit is 100%. I can usually hear it at night if it leaks even in the slightest bit.
I'll have to look into how to use sleepyhead when I have a chance.
I have never been much of a mouth breather.
My apnea events are centrals, so my brain is just shutting down when I sleep from what I understand.
I slept for about 5.7hrs last night and still woke up with really dry mouth. Used fixed setting #2, non heated hose. Reservoir was about 1/2 full this morning, so at least the machine was using water.
I had it at max level 3 days ago on adaptive and it didn't use any water with 7-8hrs of use.
As for the heated hose, I looked at the machine in the base user settings and didn't see that fixed could be used. Also reviewed the manual online here, and didn't see in the clinician mode that humidity could be adjusted.
thanks for the responses
RE: DreamStation Humidity Issue - MitchS - 01-06-2017
Welcome to the forum, bry248.
If I understand right you want to set your humidifier to manual and still be able to adjust your hose temperature and humidity levels. It is my understanding you can only do this in the clinician's menu. If you haven't already obtained the clinician's manual you can do so at the clinician's manual page. You will need it to get into the clinician's menu and it will also give you a good overview of the settings and functions of your machine.
With your heated hose attached, get into the clinician's menu. You will find the humidity settings in the comfort menu. You should be able to set your humidifier to manual from there and still be able to control your tube and humidifier settings from the patients menu and the home screen while you are running the machine. I tried this procedure and it seemed to work on my Dreamstation CPAP pro.
Another issue could be mouth leaks. I have been fighting mouth leaks since I started cpap. They usually aren't bad enough to hear. They do get bad enough to approach the large leak level without quite showing up as large leaks on the machine display or in DreamMapper. You really need to download [url=http://OSCAR Official Download Page ----> CLICK HERE ./]SleepyHead[/url] and post some data for someone to look at to rule out mouth leaks. If it turns out mouth leaks are a problem you may need a chin strap or full face mask to resolve them.
I would suggest using Biotene to alleviate the dry mouth until you can get this resolved.
RE: DreamStation Humidity Issue - bry248 - 01-08-2017
Thanks for all the feedback and recommendations!
Hope to figure this thing out with your help. Still getting really bad dry mouth even with fixed humidity setting the last two nights. Only getting 3-4 hrs until I wake up with a super dry mouth. And the last two nights with fixed #3, getting water in tube and mask.
I reviewed the sleepyhead software and it's too much info to digest in one morning.
I put all of my data on google drive, public, " bry248 CPAP JAN 7 "
My only thought right now on the data, I'm having increased apnea events later in the night and my mouth dries out really bad, then I wake up.
RE: DreamStation Humidity Issue - chill - 01-08-2017
I've had the same experience. Whether you are much of a mouth breather or not, you are opening your mouth and relaxing your tongue in your sleep. That causes a large volume of air to blow out of your open lips and results in a mouth slightly drier than sandpaper. No level of humidity is going to compensate for the drying effect of that stream of air.
RE: DreamStation Humidity Issue - bry248 - 01-08-2017
how fast can your mouth dry out?
my data shows that I didn't have a sizeable leak until about 15min before I woke up
my AHI goes from about 1 to 10-11 about 1.5hr before I wake up. No change in leak rate during that time.
RE: DreamStation Humidity Issue - chill - 01-08-2017
How fast? Try it and see. For me, 5-10 minutes. I doubt I could tolerate it that long awake.
It sounds like you are either rolling onto your back or have a higher AHI in REM sleep. You can try to avoid sleeping on your back for the former and the latter likely needs more pressure. Downloading SleepyHead and looking at the data is what you need to do.