Dry mouth

[alirob]

Hello,

I am a new member and the wife of somebody who has just been diagnosed with Type 2, being controlled only with diet. Since changing his diet my husband has been waking up every night with a dry mouth; so dry he says that he says his mouth is like sandpaper. He also has to go to the toilet 2 or 3 times a night. The doctor suggested that his sugar levels could be high during the night. Since then he has tested his sugar levels during the night when he has woken up and the levels have been in the normal range; not high at all. My husband thinks it may be caused by the switch to artificial sweetener; has anybody else experienced this?

He is becoming very frustrated with this!

Many thanks for any advice you can give us,

Alirob

 

[HOBIE]

Welcome 🙂

 

[Northerner]

Hi alirob, welcome to the forum 🙂 I don't tend to have much artificial sweetener myself, so can't really comment on that. However, it may simply be that he is getting used to his new regime and his body is adjusting to the change in diet. I know when I got diagnosed it took me a few weeks before everything settled down and became accustomed to the 'new me'.

How did he come to be diagnosed? Is he sleeping with his mouth open, by any chance? Perhaps he could try just drinking water in the evenings and avoiding the sweetener to see if that helps? I still find myself having to get up once or twice in the night to go to the loo, even though my overnight levels are fine, but I suspect it is due to my advancing age as much as anything 😱

I hope that things settle for him soon 🙂 As a newly-diagnosed person, it would be worthwhile having a look in our Useful links thread fr links to some good resources - in particular I would recommend reading Jennifer's Advice and Maggie Davey's letter, and getting a copy of Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year by Gretchen Becker, which will help to put things in perspective and explain what to expect and how to tackle things. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have, and we will do our best to help out! 🙂

 

[KookyCat]

Hiya
I had a very dry mouth before diagnosis but it was mostly caused by dehydration and anaemia. is he drinking enough fluid? I avoid artificial sweetner mostly but I find diet coke when I have it makes my mouth dry so it might be the sweetner. There's an excellent mouthwash available over the counter that's for dry mouth which helped me quite a lot so that might be worth a try whilst his body is adjusting. I'm can't remember the name of it but I do know boots do a wash and a spray in their value range which was also good. If it doesn't clear up I'd visit the GP again since it is very uncomfortable and not pleasant. Another little tip is vitamin E oil, a few drops on the tongue before bed helps, it not the most pleasant experience but it does help. You have to make sure you buy edible oil though. Hope it starts to clear up soon 🙂

Just a thought, some people are sensitive to phenylalanine which is present in artificial sweetner, so maybe he could try avoiding the sweetner for a day and if that makes a difference try a sweetner that doesn't contain it.

 

[alirob]

Thank you

Thank you. I will tell him what you have said and I will order a copy of the book from my local library. Hopefully he will feel happier soon.

Many thanks.