Dry Mouth Problems

The main causes of dry mouth (xerostomia) range from the simple ones such as stress, to the serious causes - such as Diabetes.

In between the two extremes are various niusance ailments including Thrush (Candida), a yeast infection or fungal disease which usually chooses to live in your mouth or even your private parts. Woman are especially susceptible to these internal maladies. The symptoms of yeast infections usually include itching and a whitish discoloration in the infected areas. They can make you feel quite ill and lethargic.

The best person to diagnose what causes your dry mouth would be your family doctor or MD. If you cannot afford to consult a professional physician, then sometimes your local dispensing chemist can offer helpful and knowledgeable advice. Even a trained nurse or paramedic may be able to help you; but understand they are not legally or ethically allowed to make a medical diagnosis. That's a doctor's job.

Stress is really difficult to diagnose, even for a trained health professional. Why? Because to figure out what's at the bottom of the problem, they have to understand everything that's happening in your life... and they need to understand how your own mindset operates. For example, some people actually thrive on stress. And one person's stress is another person's thrill. For example, I would be absolutely terrified of tyring parachute jumping but other people love to do it for fun. Both they and I experience an adreneline rush but my body interprets it as pure terror - the jumpers enjoy it as a rush.

Different people can have the same experience but interpret it quite another way. One can hate what the other person loves.

Thrush or Candida can be diagnosed by an experienced clinician. Your dentist will certainly tell you if he spots signs of a mouth infection there and can prescribe a limited range of medications. He can also send you to a doctor or a dispensing chemist (pharmacy) for the correct potions.

Digestive problems of the stomach and digestive system are often triggered by eating unwisely. Junk foods are fine once in a while, but not every day. And overeating can be triggered by all the sugar that gets put into manufactured foods. This causes its own complications, such as obesity, dispepsia (indigestion), acid reflux or GORD which need to be diagnosed and treated before they cause life-threatening complications such as Diabetes or even Morbid Obesity (being extremely fat and overweight). But overeating deserves a separate article in its own right. This page is about having a dry mouth and some possible causes of that problem.