Suffering With Dry Mouth And Extreme Burning. On Medication For Heart, Over The Counter Aids, Aspirin. Suggest?

Posted on Sat, 1 Jun 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sat, 1 Jun 2013 Answered on

Fri, 21 Jun 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : I have a 85 yr old brotherXXXXXX, suffering with dry mouth. Three specilest later, no help. he has extreme burning & very dry mouth. His meds, are for heart & over the counter aids, asprin. He is getting despond.

Answered by Dr. Ilyas Patel (3 hours later)

Hi,

Thanks for query.

There are many causes of dry mouth, also known as xerostomoa.

Drugs are a common cause of dry mouth. Some of these include:
Tricyclic antidepressants, antihistamines, antimuscarinic drugs, anti-epileptic drugs, antipsychotics, beta-blockers and diuretics.

Other causes could be:
Dehydration
Senile, old age
Anxiety can also cause dry mouth.
Sjögren's syndrome - check antinuclear antibody titre (ANA).

Simple measures that help are:

Frequent sips of cool drinks.
Sucking pieces of ice.
Sucking sugar-free fruit pastilles.
Eating partly frozen melon or pineapple chunks.
Sugar-free chewing gum - which stimulates salivation in patients with residual salivary function.
Petroleum jelly - which can be applied to the lips to prevent drying and cracking.

Pilocarpine may be given to improve the dryness.

I hope you might be satisfied with my answer. You are welcome to ask more queries.

Regards.

Dr. Ilyas Patel MD

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Shanthi.E