Dry Mouth...
& the Medications That Cause It

The more formal medical term for dry mouth is xerostomia. Now, knowing that little tidbit of information probably won't make you the life of the party but it could possibly help up the ante on your Scrabble skills. Here's another bit of trivia for you: more than 500 medications can cause this side effect, including lots of over-the-counter medicines. No, I won't be listing them all here but I'll try to cover the main culprits.

In a given day, the average adult produces about one and a half soda cans worth of saliva. ...It's not a very glamorous thought I know, but imagine going from that amount to about just a fifth of that... now that's dry mouth. Waking up in the morning with a parched mouth is one thing but when this becomes a chronic problem, it can be quite uncomfortable. Chronic dryness of the mouth can also lead to problems of it's own, these include:

• Burning tongue (a burning feeling of the tongue)
• Changes in taste
• Difficulty chewing
• Diffculty swallowing
• Dry cracked lips
• Gum disease
• Impaired speech
• Problems with dentures
• Sore mouth and sore throat
• Tooth decay
• Yeast infection of the mouth

So now you know... spit is good for so much more than wasting on the side walks and by-ways... or in peoples' faces...

Drugs That Can Cause Xerostomia

• Aciphex (Rabeprazole)
• Altace (Ramipril)
• Aripiprazole (Abilify)
• Atrovent (Ipratropium bromide)
• Buspar (Buspirone)
• Cardura (Doxazosin)
• Chloramphenicol
• Claritin (Loratadine)
• Desyrel (Trazodone)
• Diovan (Valsartan)
• Ditropan, Ditropan XL, Oxytrol (Oxybutynin)
• Effexor, Effexor XR (Venlafaxine)
• Elavil (Amitriptyline)
• Enbrel (Etanercept)
• Eskalith, Eskaltih CR, Lithane, Lithobid (Lithium)
• Fish Oil
• Flomax (Tamsulosin)
• Insulin
• Klonopin (Clonazepam)
• Lipitor (Atorvastatin)
• Lunesta (Eszopiclone)
• Luvox, Luvox CR (Fluvoxamine)
• Lyrica (Pregabalin)
• MS Contin, Oramorph, etc. (Morphine)
• Neurontin (Gabapentin)
• Nexium (Esomeprazole)
• Nicotrol, Nicorette, etc. (Nicotine)
• Norvasc (Amlodipine)
• Prevacid (Lansoprazole)
• Prilosec (Omeprazole)
• Prinivil, Zestril (Lisinopril)
• Protonix (Pantoprazole)
• Vasotec (Enalapril)

There is nothing so sickening as
to leaf through a medical dictionary.
- Jules Renard

Return from Dry Mouth to Common Side Effects

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May 1, 2009

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