Throat and mouth dryness

[riley2000]

Dr. Gurudutt:  Dr:   For the last month or so, off and on, I have suffered from horrible dryness of my mouth, tongue and throat, which causes my throat to feel somewhat swollen.  I am taking the following medications: Allegra, Prilosec and Flovent (one puff a day.)  I have not taken the Allegra for two days to see if this would help the dryness, but it has not.  I do have an infection under a tooth where I had a root canal a few years ago.  I finished the antibiotic for the infection about a week and a half ago and still have a slight swelling around the site of the infection.   Also, it is dry where I live due to the furnace running, and I have been using a humidifier.  I have also tried hard candy to add saliva.  Do you have any suggestions that would alleviate what seems to be my excessively dry mouth, tongue and throat?

[Chelles46]

I was taking Omeprazole for acid reflux. I was recently going on eight weeks of taking it. I too WAS suffering from dry mouth and tongue and a severe burning sensation in my throat that was getting worse. I feared the worst, waking up with severe dry mouth, panic attacks as to what was happening. I couldnt even make a drop of saliva. I stopped taking the omeprazole last night. For the first time in weeks i slept like a baby. The dryness in my mouth stopped, and the severe burning in my throat went away. I had a consultation with my GI to do an endoscopy fearing i have throat cancer. I told him i was fine before i started taking the omeprazole. He said to stop taking it to see how i feel. So i did. I feel great! I do believe the omeprazole was the cause of my misery. So far no acid reflux....but it hasnt been 24 hours since i stopped taking it. I had H. Pylori and was treated for that about a month ago. At the same time i was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and started medication for that. My Gi believed that those were the main causes for my acid reflux and didnt see any concern for why i should continue use of the omeprazole. Im still going for my endoscopy to rule anymore concerns out. I hope you get to the root problem of your dry mouth. Medications tend to cause different side effects in people. Good luck