Help! I have gone from excessive spitting of mucous at night to now being awoken by a severely dry mouth. I read old posts on the topic that recommended certain products. I have the Biotene toothpaste but no other dry mouth products.
Does anyone have any specific ideas of how to address the dry mouth problem during sleep? Would a vaporizer work, or cause problems with its moisture?

Danny G.

Hi Danny, I drink water late a night and find it helps a lot. Don't know about a vaborrizer.
Cathy

The vaporizer works, but it will not do it all. You will still be waking up all night long with your mouth dry as a bone. You have to learn to sleep with your mouth closed. This took awhile for me. After about a year, things got a little better for me. My one functioning salivary gland kicked back in, and while not enough to keep my mouth wet, it helped. I used nasal decongestant sprays whenever I had a stuffy nose which made it easier to not mouth breath. Eventually things will settle down, but you will always wake up several times a night to drink and swish your mouth.

Brian,
Thanks for your reply, as usual. I think that I have been breathing through my nose for so long that I must , as you said, " learn " how to breathe through my nose. God game me this big nose for a reason!
Funny the natural stuff that we must learn to do. I ran into my cousin the other day on the driving range who is a radiologist, very experienced with head and neck cancers, and every time I spit, he kept encouaging me to swallow the mucous to practice my swallowing. It was easier said than done.

Danny

This may sound a little weird but try this. I was a chronic mouth breather, and relearning to breath at night through my nose was difficult but here's what finally worked. Touch your tongue to the roof of your mouth and then without moving it swallow. This creates a very small vacuum or rather a suction within your mouth. Try to relax with this situation in place, breathing through your nose. It worked for me.

Try Biotene Oral Balance Mouth Moisturizing Gel. It works fairly well. Brealthing through your nose is a real help. Sudifed helps with this.