My Life and Sleep Apnea

If you have ever had problems with nasal congestion or allergies then you probably have also had problems with dry mouth. It is very unpleasant to wake in the morning with the feeling that cotton is stuffed in your mouth. If you have sleep apnea then dry mouth is a problem that you regularly have to deal with. In my own case it seems every morning I wake up with a raw throat and a dried mouth. Not only is dry mouth a problem with sleep apnea but so is sore throats. As I have written before you may still have a sore throat after you are fitted with a cpap machine. Luckily the newer cpaps also have a humidifier that helps the air stay moist so your throat doesn’t dry out. There are other things that you can do to avoid dry mouth. One is to keep your room temperature at a consistent temperature, this will definitely help. Of course if you don’t sleep with your mouth open then you shouldn’t have this problem but with sleep apnea that is pretty much impossible. The blockage in...

When I was using the cpap mask years ago I probably made it through about 4 or 5 hours before I would pull off the cpap mask . After I did that it seemed like I slept better. Although looking back I probably didn’t sleep better with the mask off it just seemed more comfortable than having the mask off. From what I have read I’m not the only person who did that. In sleep apnea forums I have found that it is common for sleep apnea sufferers to wake up in the middle of the night with a dry throat, or dry gums or just irritated from having the mask on. Of course I used a full face mask which creates a whole series of problems for cpap users. The biggest problem with that is leakage; at least it was a problem when I used the cpap. I’m sure that there have been improvements made to the cpap masks now. Another problem is panic, as in panicking because you think that your air is being cut off. That happened to me a few times. I never had a problem with claustrophobia but some folks do ...