Medications That Cause Dry Mouth: Top 5 & Solutions

Xerostomia, also known as dry mouth, is a common oral problem that affects people worldwide. It can hinder activities you enjoy and impact speech, chewing, swallowing, and breath freshness. Ageing increases the likelihood of experiencing xerostomia, while health conditions and medications can further elevate the risk.

Some common medications we take may seem helpful and harmless. Most of this medications produces symptoms of dry mouth as a side effect. In this article am going to give you a list of medications that cause dry mouth. However apart from medications there are also many other causes of mouth dryness. In my previous article, I tried to explain different things that can cause dry mouth. You can check out the post later, to know other causes of dry mouth.

Medications that cause dry mouth

• Diuretics : This medications is usually recommended for treating high blood pressure. Diuretics is a special type of medication that is designed to increase the amount of water that is being removed from the body. It causes a drastic reduction in the amount of fluids in your blood vessels. This helps in lowering high blood pressure, ensuring effective pumping of blood throughout the body. Diuretics decreases the amount of fluids in the entire body including the fluids in your mouth. Use of diuretics may cause side effect such as : allergic reaction, kidney failure, low sodium levels, headache, dizziness, dry mouth, muscle cramps and irregular heartbeat.

• Appetite Suppressants : this type of medication is mostly used by people that wants to lose weight. Just as the name implies, this type of medication helps in reducing your appetite. It also blocks the absorption of certain nutrients, increasing the rate of calories burning. Appetite suppressants can make you eat less food by reducing your appetite, making you to feel full without eating much food. Many people experience dry mouth after taking appetite suppressants for some period of time.

• Antihistamines : this type of medication is used for treating allergies. Naturally the body produces a chemical known as histamine when you come in contact with anything you’re allergic to. Histamine makes the nose to run, swell and sometimes itch. Antihistamines can help relieve your runny nose, swelling and sneezing by reducing or preventing the production of histamines. But medications like this have its side effects, this includes dizziness, drowsiness, headache and dry mouth.

• Decongestants : decongestants comes in two different forms, pill form or nasal sprays. They are used to improve proper air flow when your nose is stuffed up. They are cold drugs to clear up a stuffy nose. During cold decongestants are commonly used to clear away anything that interrupts air passage in the nose. Decongestants has its own side effects, it can cause dry mouth and an increase in the blood pressure.

• Muscle Relaxants : according to spin-health,  this are medications that act as central nervous system depressants and have sedative and musculoskeletal relaxant properties. It’s widely used to relieve discomfort, acute and painful musculoskeletal conditions. Muscle relaxants are prescribed because of its overall sedative effect. It’s very effective in treating skeletal muscle spasms, resulting to increased mobility of the affected muscles. This type of medication also have their side effects which includes dry mouth.

Take away

Any of these drugs can cause xerostomia, also known as dry mouth. If you experience persistent dry mouth symptoms and suspect that your medication may be the culprit, it is important not to ignore it. Speak to your doctor about your concerns. They can help you review all your medications to identify the ones that may be causing the salivary issue.