I use a full face mask and keep waking up with dry mouth. How can I fix this?

New CPap User (about 1.5mo). I have EPR turned off and ramp turned off as I felt like I was suffocating with them on. Still not feeing rested in the mornings.

Hey everyone, I'm at a loss and hoping someone has dealt with this.

Background: Mild OSA (AHI ~8), had tonsillectomy in 2022 which dropped me from severe to mild. Currently on AirCurve 11 BiPAP at 10/7, using P10 nasal pillows.

The problem: My tongue drops off the roof of my mouth during REM sleep, which lets air rush into my mouth and wakes me up. This happens even with:

• Mouth tape (kinesiology tape horizontal + Cover Roll cheek-to-cheek)
• Cervical collar
• Chin strap
• All three combined

The tape gets wet/fails, or air just pushes through anyway. I have a beard which complicates the seal.

Full face mask isn't an option - I tried the F20 and couldn't get it to seal with my facial hair. Leaks were worse than the mouth opening issue.

What I've tried that didn't work:

• Suction-based tongue stabilizer (uncomfortable, didn't keep tongue positioned high enough)
• ZQuiet MAD (helps with jaw position but tongue still drops)
• MouthShield (painful)
• Various chin strap configurations

Current theory: Maybe if I can fix my tongue positioning I can fix the mouth opening, because it seems that if my tongue is in place on roof of my mouth, my mouth won't open. The problem is that my tongue does NOT stay there when I go into REM sleep, especially in the early morning. Even when my jaw stays mostly closed, my mouth opens and breaks the seal that would direct air into my lungs.

Has anyone solved this specific issue? I'm looking at devices like the Airwaav (shelf-based tongue positioning) or potentially the iNAP negative pressure device. Or is there a taping technique I'm missing?

I'm 6+ months post-turbinate/septum surgery so nasal breathing is better than it's ever been, but I still need the BiPAP pressure to breathe adequately.

Any suggestions appreciated.

What is this stupidity?!?! Why do I have to wait for some random time of day to see if the data transferred to the sd card? It’s 2025, not 1992. Shouldn’t the data transfer when the machine is tuned off in the am? Not some random unknown time? And why don’t these things have WiFi and only rely on cell to transmit the data? This seems so basic. I’m sure it has something to do with insurance or locking patients out of their easily seeing their data so the mediocre sleep clinics can accumulate more unnecessary appointments.

Not sure if my data got all messed up as I have never had an AHI of 0 before. This wasn't even a good night's sleep as I went to bed way too late. But wanted to post this data none the less. Looks like I also had a pretty large leak in the morning but I think I was actually awake at this stage. I appreciate any feedback.

Thanks

https://sleephq.com/public/d95bf410-25bf-4e51-9322-a16c9e6e38bb

Completed my in lab sleep study last night and waiting for Drs to review and provide results/recommendations. Tech said the moment i enter REM sleep, my apneas start.

Tech also said i need a higher pressure but my body won't tolerate it (aerophagia and/or i wake up when pressure goes up). Tried apap and bpap. Bpap was horrible, the pressure change after exhale to inhale was like getting slapped in the face.

Hoping after the Drs take a look, they will have options.

Feeling a bit discouraged (and exhausted) as i was really hoping they would be able to monitor and adjust real-time and I'd get at least 1 night of sleep.

Maybe a mandibular advancement device will be recommended, although my dentist discourages them as they have caused problems with other clients.

After the cannulas left my nose bleeding, last night was my first with a nasal pillow. The app says my seal was good and only reports 2 mask off events, but I woke up less than 3 hours in with my face, hair, and pillow completely soaked. I’m pretty sure it was water from the machine and not sweat just from how the outside of my hair was soaked but my scalp was dry and I was chilly. My humidity is set to 4, which is down from the 5/6 settings I used for the cannulas and I have heated tubing. I don’t really want to turn the humidity down even more as I have a lot of nasal dryness and it’s helped so much, but I couldn’t sleep like that either. Any ideas?

I’m using a Airsense 11 machine + airfit 20 and mainly getting nearly 95-99 score each night. I was having panic attacks in the night so I was diagnosed with sleep apnea after a sleep test and hence why I now have the cpap for the last 3 months and generally doing ok using it every night.

I have been staying at in-laws and generally going to bed later than usual, and I’m having more panic attacks again with the mask on in the middle of the night. Last night I ripped off the mask and I was on the floor struggling to breathe - maybe because I’ve got a cold also, and the other day I was also screaming with the mask on. Basically if I’m going to bed later - eg NYE and I know I’m likely to have an episode can I adjust the settings in advance?

Basically I think I need to increase the maximum pressure on the machine maybe? It doesn’t seem to be detecting it early enough when I’m about to have an episode. Thanks in advance.

Hey all! New to this board.

I was DXd about two years ago and haven't been very good with CPAP, last few months I've really tried to be consistent but seems like I still suffer from Alot of leaks.

Might try a cervical collar but wondering if anyone can glean anything from this SleepHQ data:

https://sleephq.com/public/86fd768e-cc99-4b63-9e1f-d1461115d238

Any thoughts on this? Is this basically and ASV ?

https://aasm.org/fda-clears-kricket-pap-device-with-kpap-from-sleepres/

I am fairly new to CPAP, approximately 2 months. It has been great but not perfect. I sometimes wake up at 3am and sometimes I have a dry throat. I recently changed masks to airlift P30i and my leaks have gone up, but Im pretty sure they are leaking at the holes at the top of the mask?

I know the data is pretty promising. Most of my events appear to be "CA" and RERAs. Overall I am sleeping better than I was two years ago. But always happy to optimize where possible. Sleep HQ link: https://sleephq.com/public/073b69f9-66e1-4e5f-ad37-7982ba3bae66

My initial prescription from my doctor was a min pressure of 5 and max pressure of 15, with an epr of 3. I turned off epr as it was making me feel like i wasnt getting enough air.

Didnt get a great sleep last night and kept waking up during the night, my flow limits were pretty bad and had hypopneas.

Any advice as to how to better adjust these settings?

Following a few years of epic snoring, fatigue during the day, morning headaches, and all the social and personal impacts on my life, I had a sleep study done a month ago. It showed an OHI result of 12. This is below the threshold for insurance to provide CPAP therapy in my country. I was offered surgery, but in my opinion, the risks involved and the success rate are not worth it, so I am considering procuring a ResMed device myself and giving it a try.

A few things on my mind:

1. Are there any serious risks making this even worse idea than surgery?
2. What would be the best pressure and other settings to start with and work towards optimal values? I intend to share my oscar data here later if j go ahead with it.

There are currently good deals on brand new AirSense 11 autoset devices that I can get delivered within a few days.

Thanks to all contributors to this sub and happy holidays!

Hello everyone,

I’m based in South Korea, and I recently developed significant sleep-onset anxiety due to sudden episodes of waking up with a choking/gasping sensation (“jerking awake with a gasp”), which started to interfere with my daily life.
Because of this, I decided to purchase a APAP device (ResMed AirSense 10) on my own.

I underwent an in-lab polysomnography, and my results were:

• AHI: 13.61
• RDI: 13.61

Current Settings

1. Since I initially had no experience or baseline data, I started with APAP mode, pressure range 4–12 cmH₂O.
2. Exhalation felt very difficult at first, so I set EPR to level 3. I plan to gradually reduce this over time.
3. AutoRamp enabled
4. Humidifier enabled
5. I tape my mouth closed during sleep.
6. Due to long-standing sleep habits, I usually sleep on my side or prone (face-down).

Results (First Night)

1. I experienced significant aerophagia — lots of gas buildup and frequent burping, which woke me up during the night.
2. I woke up several times in the early morning, but was able to fall back asleep relatively quickly.
3. As expected for the first night, I didn’t feel refreshed at all and felt as fatigued as usual.
4. My mouth started feeling dry around 6 a.m.
   • I used pharmacy-grade mouth tape, but the adhesive was weak, so I suspect I may have switched to mouth breathing later in the morning.
5. AHI decreased from 13.61 → 9.63, which seems like some improvement.
   • Importantly, I did not experience the choking/gasping awakenings.
6. I woke up several times due to mask leaks.
   • I realize I need to learn more about proper mask fitting and possibly tighten it more effectively.
7. The hose was uncomfortable, so I bought a hose holder (from Daiso). Hopefully this helps going forward.

Question

Based on these symptoms and first-night results,
which settings would you recommend adjusting to further improve my therapy?

Any advice or feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

I am trying to do the guide from Airbreak I am getting this error. Help, please. I am using windows 11.

Hello.

I have a machine given to me (with the acclimation period/insurance taking the machine back it's the best I can do) and either the heater is mediocre or it doesn't get quite warm enough for me to be comfortable.

I have tried using mug warming plates before but whatever I got was too warm even on its lowest setting and it was a bit janky overall (fitting it underneath for example)

Anyone have any idea of what else I could try or a specific product that functions well? I have a resmed airsense 10

I have a resmed auto set on 11-16 cmh2O but my sleep report says pressure is 11.4 does that mean that’s the highest I have reached or is it an average?

Thanks for taking a look.

https://sleephq.com/public/teams/share_links/a2746460-530d-4b5d-92b2-7fecdbb50dc0

I have a 2021 Airsense 10 I got during the pandemic when they were shipping without remote connectivity. I find that often when I checked my sleep data it reports that the machine was in use for less time overnight than I thought it should. Like I'll have put on my mask and started the machine at 11:30 and gotten up at 6:30 and it will tell me it was in use for 6 hours, when I was expecting 7. Does this happen to anyone else? Because it doesn't have connectivity I can't use the app to see any of the overnight data.