Misc Unisom and dry mouth

[HigherAwareness]

Lately I have been taking Doxylamine Succinate to sleep. It works pretty well as far as making you sleepy.However it makes your mouth extremely dry. Were talkin major cotton mouth. Subsequently you cannot sleep due to waking up with your mouth severely parched. You have to have water every 5 min or you cant stand it. You wont be able to spit or swallow your mouth will be so dry. Also you keep waking up to pee due 2 all the water consumption. Anyone else experience this or have a redemy?

 

[StaySedated]

there is no real remedy, its an annoying common side effect of sedative antihistamines. my suggestion is talk to your doctor about rx'ing u some decent sleeping pills like a benzo, ambien, or the non addictive trazodone.

 

[Cane2theLeft]

^no remedies? Xerostomia (dry mouth) is a medical symptom so naturally there are medical treatments.

The drug pilocarpine is an M3 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor agonist which will produce salivation and while I do not think this will reverse the desired effects of the anticholinergic drugs like doxylamine succinate, it may.

There are also oral mouthwashes intended for xerostomia/dry mouth such as Biotene and others.

Lastly, when the dry mouth is caused by a drug like doxylamine, not only is drinking water not helpful, it could exacerbate the discomfort both orally and lower due to urinary retention.

EDIT:
I used a drug interaction checker between pilocarpine and doxylamine succinate and it didn't list any interactions. I believe that the sedation caused by the ethanolamine antihistamines (diphenhydramine, doxylamine, dimenhydrinate, etc) is produced by antagonizing other antimuscarinic acetylcholine receptors such as M2.

 

[HigherAwareness]

Wow thanks....I guess I will just take it if I absolutely must from now on.

 

[StaySedated]

the sedation comes from the antihistamine action as well...

 

[StaySedated]

also, tolerance builds to the sedative effects of antihistamines within a few days.

 

[Cane2theLeft]

The the action on histaminergic receptors does not produce the sedation, its the action as an anticholinergic.

If sedation was caused solely by action on histaminergic recetors than drugs like zantac, claritin, allegra and many others would be sedating.

 

[HigherAwareness]

Hmmmmm

 

[StaySedated]

The the action on histaminergic receptors does not produce the sedation, its the action on acetylcholine and muscarine.

If sedation was caused solely by action on histaminergic recetors than drugs like zantac, claritin, allegra and many others would be sedating.

good point, guess i was wrong on that one

 

[Cane2theLeft]

^we're all wrong sometimes! That's why discussion boards are great, we can keep each other's info in check and share our unique experiences.

 

[chompy]

doxylamine, and many other antihistames have anticholinergic effects. drink gatorade, put some butter in your mouth, etc

 

[TerminalIsland]

Try adjusting your dose down. I am rx'd just basic benadryl, but it is much stronger efficacy wise, in my personal use, than OTC.

So when i went from OTC to rx, I had to step down from 100mg as a sleep aid to 30mg (about half the powder of a 50mg cap), to combat drymouth when taking them. It seems more something about it drying my sinuses to the point of breathing being uncomfortable and me primarily breathing through my mouth when I sleep (gross right?)

I would wake up in the middle of the night, tongue felt like cardboard... so try stepping down your dose.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

Hydroxyzine's predominant mechanism of action is as a potent H1 receptor inverse agonist (IC50 = 0.1).[17][18][19] Unlike most other first-generation antihistamines, it has very low affinity for the mACh receptors (IC50 = > 10), and therefore does not produce any clinically significant anticholinergic effects.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroxyzine

I would look into getting prescribed Atarax; I don't remember having dry mouth when on it.

The lower affinity for the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor (mACh) should reduce the amount of dry mouth when compared to doxylamine.

If you wanted to stay with doxylamine, you could try a lower dosage, which might reduce the degree of this side effect, though I'm not sure if that would reduce it's overall effectiveness or not.

 

[HigherAwareness]

Try adjusting your dose down. I am rx'd just basic benadryl, but it is much stronger efficacy wise, in my personal use, than OTC.

So when i went from OTC to rx, I had to step down from 100mg as a sleep aid to 30mg (about half the powder of a 50mg cap), to combat drymouth when taking them. It seems more something about it drying my sinuses to the point of breathing being uncomfortable and me primarily breathing through my mouth when I sleep (gross right?)

I would wake up in the middle of the night, tongue felt like cardboard... so try stepping down your dose.

Yeah, I know your mouth is so dry you can't sleep. I drank a whole bottle 375 ml of grapefruit juice once in 3 awakenings one night. All my friends dont like benadryl cause it dries them up. I never noticed it but now Doxylamine is making my mouth so extraordinarily dry I just refuse to take it anymore. I think.