Dry mouth

Hi Wendy

I had enough saliva to be able to speak at 6 weeks, better by 12 but didn't abandon my water bottle till a year.

Auricular acupuncture gave my saliva a real filip. Chewing xylitol gum helps enormously

Hi Wendy dry mouth can be a A long standing side effect I’m 3.5 years post and would say mine is around  95% most if the time but can still have periods where wham it’s dry. I chew sugar free gum with xyitol I use orbit sugar free, I found none of the gels effective for  longer than a few minutes Water I carried with me everywhere .At night I still use xyimelts available online I find they give me a full nights sleep. Boots do a dry mouth spray it’s quite minty so may be too strong but worth a try they do a handbag size one again doesn’t last long. 
You can try a tiny bit if coconut oil swirled round yiur mouth but up again it doesn’t last long.I also had acupuncture which did kickstart my saliva it worked for me

Sorry there’s no magic wand but time does help I found I am still getting small improvements even this far out..

Hazel 

Although we all react a bit differently this is really common. Like the others I found (and still find) chewing sugar free gum really helps get the saliva flowing. I get tubs of Extra gum from the local supermarket. Mine has improved over time and I wake up for a sip of water rarely now 15 months after treatment ended. It’s another case of baby steps I’m afraid. 

Hi Wendy

Dry mouth can be a real problem.  I had 2 lots of radiotherapy at different times so mine is rather long standing although it has improved over time. I find that xylimelts at night works the best for me and I get a good nights sleep without having to take sips of water.

For me the dry mouth is not so bad during the day but I still need to use Oral 7 mouth spray and sips of water from time to time.

I did try auricular acupuncture as I had heard good results but as I had more radiotherapy than normal it did not kick start my salivary glands. However I would definitely give it a go as many have found it works well for them.

I would definitely try chewing the xylitol gum but if you have dentures give it a miss as it just sticks to your teeth and then you spend ages trying to remove it.

I also suck Therabreath dry mouth lozenges and that gives good relief.

Lyn

Hi Wendy - surgery only for me but I too suffer from lack of saliva.  Over 2 years since the operation that hit the saliva glands.

I drink sips of water constantly throughout the day.  It does come and go and is normally a problem when I eat or an asleep.  My fluid intake during the day is high (even if I ignore the coffee and alcohol). In the evening I drink around 1ltr before bedtime to try and get through the night.  I have stayed off any stimulants for saliva aside from water.  Keeping those for the day I may need to recover from radiotherapy.

Being a man all this water does have consequences!  I think my wife may divorce me for getting up constantly to go to the bathroom 

Actually, an oral surgeon recommended using a spray of water to counter that effect, but I find it easier to totally hydrate the body than just a bit of me.