Medical Questions » Sleep Questions » Question No. 923
| Question: | After several hours of sleep 1 wake with a very dry mouth and have to take a drink of water. This happens several times a night. Any suggestions for a cure? |
| Answer: | The most likely cause is that you are breathing through your mouth rather than your nose. The nose is designed to warm and moisturise air as it enters your body, but if the nose is blocked by a cold, hay fever, narrowed nostrils from a polyp or other cause, air has to enter through the mouth.
During the day you may clear the nose or it may drain better while you are upright, only blocking when you lie down at night.
You will need to have your nose checked by your doctor to find if there is a cause for it blocking. If hay fever or a cold is responsible, medications can be given regulatly to clear out the nose and prevent it from reblocking.
People who snore may also develop a dry mouth. Snoring can lead to disturbed sleep for both the victim and others nearby, and in severe cases can cause breathing to stop during the night. Snoring can be dealt with in a variety of ways including medications to clear a blocked nose, devices in the nose, surgery and machines that increase the air pressure you breathe through a mask.
There are a number of rare conditions and many medications that can cause a dry mouth, so these should also be excluded by your general practitioner.
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