Dry mouth

I believe many people have experienced these situations. Sometimes when you get up to go to the toilet in the middle of the night, you often find that you are very thirsty; sometimes you feel thirsty after waking up in the morning; sometimes you feel very thirsty when you sweat a lot in the summer because of the heat, etc. The above situations often happen around us. Some are caused by external factors, while others are caused by our own factors, such as xerostomia.

Of course, most of the time we are really thirsty, but sometimes it is caused by diseases such as xerostomia. Having said that, many people may not know much about the disease of dry mouth. So, let’s take a closer look at the disease of xerostomia.

Xerostomia is a symptom of dry mouth rather than an independent disease. It is caused by many factors and can be divided into two categories: true dry mouth caused by decreased saliva volume and false dry mouth without change in saliva volume. The normal daily saliva secretion of an adult is about 1 liter, which has the functions of mechanical flushing, moistening, aiding digestion, assisting pronunciation and denture retention. The most serious complication of xerostomia is aggressive caries, which affects the patient's quality of life. Treatments for dry mouth include:

Treat according to syndrome differentiation

1. Lung Yin deficiency type: dry mouth, dry throat, chapped lips, dry nasal cavity, dry cough without sputum, dry and flaky skin, fever, red tongue with little fluid, little coating, and thin and rapid pulse. Treatment is suitable for clearing the lungs and moistening dryness. The prescription is modified from Adenophora and Ophiopogon Decoction: 15 grams of Adenophora, 15 grams of Ophiopogon, 15 grams of Pollen, 10 grams of Polygonatum, 10 grams of Dendrobium, 10 grams of Mulberry Leaf, 10 grams of Lilium, 6 grams of Fritillaria, and 6 grams of Licorice. Decoction in water, 1 dose per day.

2. Insufficient stomach yin type: bitter taste in the mouth and dry throat, loss of appetite, dry mouth and desire to drink, noisy and dull pain in the stomach, dry stool, red tongue with little coating, and stringy and rapid pulse. Treatment should be aimed at nourishing stomach yin. The prescription is Yiwei Decoction with modifications: 15 grams of Adenophora sibiricum, 15 grams of Ophiopogon japonicus, 20 grams of Rehmannia glutinosa, 15 grams of Polygonatum odoratum, 15 grams of Dendrobium candidum, 12 grams of Tangerine peel, 10 grams of Prunus mume, 10 grams of Pseudostellaria pseudoginseng, 10 grams of Rhizoma Anemarrhenae, and 6 grams of Licorice. Decoction in water, 1 dose per day.

3. Liver-kidney yin deficiency type: dry mouth and throat, dry eyes, hot sensation in the five parts of the body, aggravated in the afternoon, insomnia and frequent dreams, red tongue with little fluid, little or no coating, and a thin and rapid pulse. Treatment should nourish the liver and kidneys. The prescription is Zhibai Dihuang Wan with modifications: 20 grams of raw rehmannia, 20 grams of cooked rehmannia, 10 grams of yam, 15 grams of cornus fruit, 15 grams of wolfberry, 12 grams of Ligustrum lucidum, 12 grams of white peony root, 10 grams of Alisma, 10 grams of Moutan bark, 10 grams of Adenophora, 10 grams of Ophiopogon, 10 grams of Anemarrhena, and 10 grams of Phellodendron. Decoction in water, 1 dose per day.

Medicinal Diet Treatment

1. Almond and Ophiopogon drink: 6 grams of almond and 10 grams of Ophiopogon japonicus. Remove the tips and break the skins of almonds, wash the Ophiopogon japonicus, put them all into a pot, add appropriate amount of water, bring the pot to a boil on high heat, then simmer for about 15 minutes on low heat, filter out the residue and let it air dry. It can be drunk as a tea. Used for patients with lung yin deficiency.

2. Wolfberry porridge: 30 grams of wolfberry and 100 grams of polished rice. Wash the jujube and polished rice, put them into a pot together, add appropriate amount of water, put the pot on high heat to boil, simmer over low heat until it becomes porridge. It can be taken all at once or taken warm twice a day. Used for patients with liver and kidney yin deficiency.

3. Take 10 grams of Adenophora Root, 20 grams of Ophiopogon japonicus and 3 grams of Licorice, brew with boiling water and drink as tea.

4. Take 20 grams of wolfberry and brew it with boiling water as tea.

Of course, in the rapidly developing modern medicine, there are many methods for treating xerostomia, but because each person's body mechanism is different, the treatment methods used are also different. This is called different treatments for different people. But all these methods have only one purpose, which is to cure the patient's dry mouth.