Recovery - Almost There But....

Hi Bob and welcome back 

The xerostomia can be a real nuisance and difficult to cope with. 
I found chewing gum helps a lot and I had a couple of years of acupuncture which I feel helped too. 
Have you tried abandoning food that’s dry and needs a lot of chewing? Toast is better than bread. Try poached eggs on top. Lamb is a good meat to try with lots of gravy. Tinned peaches slip down easily. Porridge  with cream is my breakfast standby. 
Hope that helps 

Hi Bob. Dani has said it all. I too had acupuncture I swear it did kickstart my saliva. Plus I still chew sugar free gum to stimulate saliva . At night time I used 1/2 an xyimelt which helps during the night. I too found toast far easier than bread only cheap white sliced to start with lots of lurpack. Cheese on toast with poached  egg. Dip biscuits in coffee even if yiu can’t drink the coffee. Pour an ensure  over a slice of Swiss roll or make a smoothie using ensure. Mashed bananas 

Tru bioxtra mouth wash on prescription that’s gentle on your mouth 

I too couldn’t use the sprays although boots do a small dry mouth spray which I could  use. 
Alwats hsve a warm drink or water tj wash food down fir the time being. It does get easier but takes time. 
Try crumpets as well cut into quarters and eat up to crust part.

https://bahno.org.uk/_userfiles/pages/files/makingmealsmakesensecookbook.pdf

this may help you as well 
Hazel

Hi Bob,

Good to hear from you and that things are getting better. I'm only a few months ahead and still drink lots of water with meals. Mouth is only completely dry when I wake up. I never really liked the saliva spray but use the bioxtra gel at night. 

I started on very sloppy weetabix, very buttery toast and creamy sauces with pasta / fish. When I was ready to try sandwiches the dietician recommended soft brown bread, less claggy than white, but that's after the toast. Not a big egg fan, but scrambled was good sometimes with smoked salmon to get taste buds going, it's also soft. Dipped biscuits my treat. 

I still have emergency ensure on hand. Dietician also prescribed some Altrajuice which is nutritionally similar to ensure, but a break from all the dairy. 

Hope you find something soon,

Gill 

Hi Bob

It's so frustrating isn't it when you think you have sufficient saliva to be able to chew something but it all just seems to disappear into the food?

I only used the Biotene products between meals when my mouth was,dry, just to help freshen it up and moisturise it.  While my saliva wasn't great I just had to experiment with more sloppy consistencies or foods that I could manage without too much difficulty.

I didn't try acupuncture but have heard some good results.

In time most poeple find their saliva does improve so you can eat a much more varied diet again.

Good luck.

Linda x

The idea behind toasted bread is that the toasting closes the pores that “raw” bread has. The pores soak up saliva.