Mouth dry staying at hotel; is it me or my environment?

[willo]

I started CPAP in mid-November. I’m achieving compliance, but not yet able to say I’m simply sleeping without being constantly aware of wearing a machine.

Several weeks in, I started to mouth breath when it hadn’t been an issue before. Here’s my thread about that:
http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-...ks-of-CPAP

Now, I’m staying at a hotel while visiting family for the holidays. I’m also taking some different medications, so my sleep environment and conditions have changed radically. Since I’ve been here, I’ve had some of the best sleep yet with CPAP. I slept straight through the night for the first time (7.9 hours), and have had another night with only a single wakening. I could live like this!

But I am also experiencing vastly more severe dry mouth when I do wake up at night. I actually tried my CPAP humidifier for the first time since the hotel gives me enough room to set up the whole DreamStation (unlike my home bedroom.)

After my first thread, I bought paper tape and solved the problem by taping my mouth shut. My need was more for a “reminder” level of taping, and a little square did the job. Here, I’m waking up still taped shut so I wouldn’t think I’m leaking air, but my mouth is SO DRY, almost painfully so. Is getting deeper sleep relaxing my mouth even more to where I would need a bigger tape seal? Have people had more than one level of deeper sleep = drier mouth?

The climate here is much wetter in winter (PAC NW vs. New England where I live), but the hotel has forced air heat. At home, I have radiators and I run a room humidifier.

This could also be my new meds, which I do take at bedtime, but I’m not noticing a dry mouth at any other time, so I’m more inclined to blame CPAP.

Do CPAP travelers notice wildly different responses while staying away from home? Especially with forced air heat vs. baseboard hot water radiators?

The one night I used the humidifier (on its lowest setting), I woke up with nasal stuffiness that cleared quickly—the first time CPAP has done that to me. I like therapy less with the humidifier based upon one night’s experience.

My nose and skin under the mask felt quite moist this morning relative to usual and that was WITHOUT the humidifier. Though I have some seasonal allergies, I’m not exhibiting my usual allergy symptoms here and now.

Anyone have any thoughts? 

Thanks!
—willo

[mesenteria]

Absolutely, staying in a new environment, especially sleeping, is always going to present a challenge of some description and degree.  Most hotels must comply with local/state regulations for air exchange, and they do tend to be dry.  Not only is the space novel, but the noises, diet, level of awareness and alert (meaning a bit of stress), access to privacy and toilet function...they add up.  If you travelled by air, are you likely to be somewhat dehydrated?  We drink differently when visiting.  I always get constipated, or at least slow, and dehydrated when I travel.  It's the way the cookie crumbles.

[PaulaO2]

Yeah, it's the dry air at the hotel. Happens to me sometimes, depending on season.

You can get an itty bitty "personal" humidifier that uses a regular water bottle. Any of the Big Box Pharmacies should have one. I had bad bronchitis a few years ago and we got me one and sat it here on the desk. At night, I just turned up the humidification on my machine.


You can also call your home pharmacy (or one there) and ask about the medication side effects. It is possible it's that. Or a combination. Just give the name of the med, the dosage, and ask if dry mouth is a side benefit.

And drink water, drink water, drink water. Whatever else you drink, have the same amount of water after.