Any ideas?

[Irma]

My poor husband started a new drug about 3 months ago and since starting it, he has the driest mouth, but that's not a known side effect. It's like something has caused his salivary glands to shut down. Any ideas?

 

[gmommy]

Either call the Dr. or talk to the pharmacist. Either should have some ideas as to what is causing this. It has to be related to the medication if it only happened since he started taking it.

 

[DixieMarie]

I agree with gmommy. That has to be very uncomfortable and the Doctor or Pharmacist should have some advice of what he can do to help this. Also the doctor may want to try something else instead of what he's taken now.

 

[AppleMay]

I would definitely call the doctor and find out what is going on. It is probably the medicine but you never know, there could be another cause and you would want to know and I'm sure the doctor does too.

 

[ThymeforRodney]

I do the same with some of my medications. I keep a glass of water with me constantly. If I'm not in a situation where that's feasible, I use gum or candy to stimulate my salivary glands to work. Chewing especially works well, so the gum works better. There are also some products especially for dry mouth that help a bit.

I do agree to the advice gmommy gave about contacting the doctor or pharmacist about the issue though. They may be able to transition him to another drug that has the same or similar effect on his condition but doesn't promote the same problem.

 

[Aletha]

That's awful! How uncomfortable he must be. Yes, as TFR suggests, there are products for people who have a dry mouth for some reason. There are quite a few patients who have cancer and are in treatment who have dry mouth. It can be very, very bad for your teeth to have too little saliva.

 

[Gracie]

I would call the doctor for sure. You don't want to mess around with a new drug. A lot of medications cause dry mouths and they might just tell you it's fine.

 

[Irma]

He did see the doctor and the doc is sending him to a specialist, because it's not making sense to the doctor as there is no known side effect like this for the meds he's on.