Dry mouth

Hi all, just wanted to start by saying that although I rarely post, this forum has been a big help to me over recent months. I want to thank the members here, especially those who keep returning to encourage others, even after they have healed (completely or mostly) from their symptoms.

So, my question is, is dry mouth a possible TMS symptom? I have had this since mid-Feburary. My mouth feels drier, and I don’t seem to make as much ‘spit’ as I should.

There are several reasons why I think it might be TMS:

I’ve had a number of TMS symptoms throughout my life, and with the exception of migraines, they have all been more autonomic nervous system based; IBS, IC, low blood pressure, orthostatic intolerance, etc. I have recently read that the autonomic nervous system has control over the salivary glands; specifically, the parasympathetic nervous system (which I know is the one that is dominant when we are relaxed, NOT stressed) increases salivation.

I have experienced dry mouth before during acute episodes of anxiety,

In early January, I had dry mouth for a couple days; I was freaking out over coming off of antidepressant medication. I didn’t think much about the dry mouth then, and it went away at some point, I don’t even remember when.

This current episode began when we visited my parents. My dad had been recently diagnosed with prostate cancer, and has begun treatment. I’m stressed about that, and also the coronavirus crisis that has been constantly in the news.

Over the past few days the dry mouth will seem better at times. Not 100%, but better. And I swear that when I’ve had to talk to people who stress me out, it gets worse.

That being said, I haven’t been to a doctor yet to rule out a structural cause. I made the mistake I think a lot of us here have made, and googled dry mouth. It seems that in some cases, it can result from an autoimmune disorder, and the idea of that freaks me out. I can’t see my dr. until May, unless I get a cancellation before then. I guess that I’m looking for reassurance that it’s possible for dry mouth to be yet another manifestation of TMS, and not necessarily a structural issue.

 

That's a big YES. I had terrible dry mouth for years, particularly during tax season, three constant months of it - until I discovered Dr. Sarno in 2011. It still comes back, but I just go "oh yeah, I remember you - and I don't care" and it goes away pretty quickly. I'm having a bit of it right now, thanks to tax season AND the coronavirus (I'm in Washington state where things are shutting down right and left, and where someone in the other Washington has threatened to quarantine the whole state.)

Anyway, a lot of people believe that autoimmune disorders have their genesis in emotional stress and distress. For the physiological processes behind that theory, I strongly recommend reading When The Body Says No, by the brilliant Dr. Gabor Mate, a book that blew my mind wide open (and an open mind is what you want for doing this work, right?) He makes a very compelling case. He's also a wonderful and compassionate writer, apart from the some of the physiological sections which were at times a bit over my head. But you can skim those.

 

Jan, thanks so much for your emphatic reply! Thank you for the book recommendation, I read an excerpt online last night, and I'm definitely going to order it. I'll have a lot of time on my hands for the next couple of weeks at least. I'm in New York state...I think us and Washington are neck-in-neck as far as coronavirus cases go. They are shutting down things here too, like my kid's school, for two weeks at least, no large gatherings, etc. I have friends whose kids won't be going back to school until May... All that, plus my dad having cancer, have set me off, I think. My parents live in a neighboring state, so that increases my worry, because I'm not right there.

Anyway, thanks again, it helps to know that this symptom could be TMS. I still want to get it checked when I can. I know we are discouraged from talking about symptoms, but I've stayed mostly away from the news today, and have been keeping busy doing things with my family. My mouth feels better, and I've even forgot about it at times, which I guess is progress...

 

We always say that if you can't get the concern out of your head, you should have new symptoms checked out. Eventually, you'll get tired of doing that, and you will find it easier to automatically think "Oh, right, it's probably TMS. Let's assume that's true, and ignore it".

Of course, what we want to do is ignore the symptom, but acknowledge that something is going on emotionally that our brain wants to repress - and use some kind of technique to figure out what that is. There are the obvious surface stresses (you listed plenty of them) but the key to your brain's fear is what do those stresses mean to your deeper emotional self?

Have you done either of our programs? Alan Gordon's program, or the Structured Educational Program? They are both free, with no commitment or sign-up required. Just dive on in. Now that you have the time...

BTW, I never had my dry mouth checked out. Due to the timing, every single year (and miraculously gone on April 16) it was just too damn obvious that it was related to stress - and that was years before I knew anything about the TMS brain mechanism and learned how to get it under control.

 

Hi Kati. I am experiencing low blood pressure after eating as well. Could that be tms?

 

Yup, it definitely can be! It's a manifestation of dysautonomia. I have to add the caveat that dysautonomia symptoms can be caused sometimes by disease processes like diabetes, MS, etc. but if you've been checked out and they 'can't find anything wrong', it's very likely to be TMS.
I had this pretty bad for awhile, but it has gotten a lot better as I have progressed in calming my nervous system down. It flares up every once in awhile but doesn't stick around b/c I'm not afraid of it anymore.

 

I get cold after eating. Sometimes if you sit for too long the blood pools in your legs and it feels weird to get up, but walking around helps redistribute the circulation.

 

Isn't dysautonomia like very severe POTS when someone almost blacks out while standing up, like on the severe end of TMS? The kind we're talking about is in solid TMS category and is much more manageable.

 

I think mine is more like POTS because of my symptoms. I feel weak, light headed, achy muscles and joints etc.... do you know of anybody who has recovered from pots

 

We shouldn't be diagnosing here, especially any condition that might be related to heart or circulation. OTOH, all the descriptions of POTS sound like a lot of TMS symptoms. IF you've been told by a qualified medical professional that you have POTS, and that there's nothing to be done, but it doesn't seem to be concerning anyone, then you might as well treat it as TMS. Which would make your question moot.

 

I get the same thing with my TMS flareups. Don't worry about POTS doing the work should be fine.

 

For sure, I probably should've mentioned that I got a cardiology workup when I started getting those symptoms, to rule out anything serious.

@Balsa11 , dysautonomia simply means that the autonomic nervous system isn't working properly. The symptoms themselves can range from a mild annoyance to very severe. I shouldn't have even used the term, tbh, because it's very medicalized and can sound scary.

@samuelp180 , I didn't meet the strict diagnostic criteria for POTS, but I had what I guess you can call 'POTS lite'... heartrate increasing dramatically upon standing, 'graying out' when standing, exercise intolerance, chronically low blood pressure, etc. But yes, people have recovered from 'real' POTS by doing TMS work. TMS M.D. Dr. Howard Schubiner mentions POTS syndrome in the book Unlearn Your Pain as being a form of TMS (he calls it MBS or MindBody Syndrome).
On the website for the Psychophysiologic Disorders Association, (Psychophysiologic Disorders is yet another word for TMS, I wish they would make up their mind and come to a consensus of what it should be called, lol) POTS syndrome is listed as a condition caused by stress/emotions , here . Dorado, a member here, had dysautonomia, including POTS-type stuff, and he recovered.
All that being said, if you are having symptoms and haven't gotten checked out yet, you really should.

 

Oh and I forgot the obvious- stay well hydrated.

 

Right, I was going to mention @Dorado , but I'm glad you brought his story up.

 

I had horrible dry mouth this summer for a month which was a result of hearing of a friend who died of Covid. The grief came up and I pushed it down immediately. Part of my TMS makeup is difficulty processing emotions in real time. So, I started noticing dry mouth that evening and the next day. Obsessed about it for about a week (which of course is its entire reason for being there!) Eventually I got to where I could share about my sadness, tried crying (I’m still hopeless at that!) but squeezed out enough tears to activate self compassion and then the dry mouth went away.
Of course the symptom imperative kicks in for me all the time, I’m definitely a level 5 tms-er!!!!

 

hi everyone, I wanted to tell my story as I feel so alone and confused with what happened to me... I woke up 9 months ago suddenly with a dry mouth and throat, two days prior I had Angular cheilitis..sores around the sides of mouth and boom dry mouth just like this.. I didn't think much of it as I thought maybe its something I ate, but then I realised I also lost my taste buds, partially and thought it was very strange.. the dry mouth was just unbearable and i started to panic and get scared , I thought about a million reasons why I have this and went down the rabbit hole.. I saw so many doctors and one of the oral specialist in UCLA said I had acid reflux in my mouth causing this .. another ENT Doc said your vocal cords are perfect and there is nothing wrong with you. feeling helpless my level of fear was very heightened that my symptoms started changing .. I started to have excess saliva and spitting stickiness in my mouth and very weird scary sensations .. I ran so many tests and everything seemed normal, people were saying maybe you got covid tongue where the saliva glands are attacked, but I did the antibody test and it was negative. I did an MRI as well where they found tiny lesions in my brain but the neurologist did a thorough exam and excluded anything serious .. I also did the antibody test for Sjögren's syndrome and I was negative, I have multiple symptoms ranging from acid refux stomach aches numbness and tingling low grade of tinnitus and the list goes on.. but my mouth symptoms are still there and they change ever so often, the drooling and excess saliva stopped and im left with really strange symptoms in my mouth from dryness that can become severe to tightness of the cheeks, sticky toffee feeling to clicking noises.. I don't know what to do? no doctor has helped and I am thinking this could be TMS? but I just don't know if I had covid early on and it went away and I am left with phantom symptoms that my brain is creating .. I know that something is really off and Im sad .. I used to be so positive and a happy go lucky person that never really sweated the little things. this has made me so depressed anxious and scared for the last ten months. I would be so grateful for any input? thank you so much!!!

 

I recommend listening to the Mind and Fitness Podcast with Eddy Lindenstein. It’s excellent. The latest episode with Sarah Dahkili is a brilliant explanation of Polyvagal Theory and the role the vagus nerve plays in TMS.
Also read The MindBody Syndrome by Kevin Martillo Viner. His recommendations for recovery include daily listening to Sarno and TMS podcasts, journaling and relaxation techniques to calm the nervous system.
the great news is there is now a ton of material out there to support us, a ton of scientific and medical research to back it all up and shed loads of recovery stories too!!
I’ve had/have all your symptoms. Every one. The obsessive mind of TMS’ers keeps us thinking about all these irritating and fearful symptoms instead of the real issue - the buried emotions. But you can and will recover. And the beautiful thing is of course that there is nothing to heal anyway!!

 

Hi Banjoman! Thank you so much for your kindness, and time it took you to respond. I really appreciate your positivity..It gives me great comfort to know I'm not alone and someone out there has been through something similar and its reversible! I just found the podcast and listening to the latest episode that you recommended! I will bury myself in my expressive journaling and take out all the emotional gunk I can do without..And I agree with you ultimately there is nothing to heal .. non duality concept

 

Nicole Sachs is the journaling/writing guru, and SHE had a really horrible mouth symptom - so scary that my brain has blocked out the actual symptoms (I read her book and listened to her first podcast quite a while ago). Highly recommended - start with her very first podcast episode, I think from 2018?
About Nicole Sachs | The Cure for Chronic Pain — The Cure for Chronic Pain

 

Indeed, Nicole talks about her mouth issue on Eddy’s podcast!