Dr. Al Danenberg ● Nutritional Periodontist
April 18, 2021
Complex issues contribute to dry mouth, heartburn, and coming down with a cold or flu virus. I’m not going to discuss the abundance of diagnostic tools and medical treatments to deal with these conditions. A proper diagnosis should be obtained from your medical doctor or healthcare professional, and then you should follow the appropriate course of action to resolve these issues.
However, I have personal anecdotal experiences with some remedies for these problems. And I have had some success.
Let me emphasize that I am not recommending these as treatment for you. They may work, or they may not. They even may be contraindicated for you because of underlying medical conditions, which first must be evaluated by your healthcare practitioner.
That being said, I want to share my experiences with you.
Dry Mouth from Mouth Breathing
I wrote about Mouth Breathing in a Blog I posted in November 2017.
Many factors could cause mouth breathing. Some of them include:
- Obstructive sleep apnea
- Alcohol and sedative medications
- Smoking
- Underdeveloped jaw
- Inadequate space for the tongue
- Deviated septum or soft tissue interferences along the nasal passage
- Chronic nasal congestion
- Sleep position
- Being overweight
- Anatomical changes with aging
- Hypothyroidism
If you’ve been breathing through your mouth during your sleep, you could wake up with fatigue, a dry mouth, and a sore throat. The following remedy has worked for me for a dry mouth.
My Anecdotal Remedy …
Occasionally, I have had to deal with a very dry mouth in the middle of the night. Obviously, I was mouth breathing. To help keep my lips closed and encourage me to breathe through my nose, I taped my mouth shut. Not permanently – just with a little paper tape that is easily removed.
The way I did this was to use a piece of Micropore Tape. I placed the tape across my closed lips from one corner of my mouth to the other. I folded over a small piece of the tape on both ends to make a “tab”. This makes it easier to quickly remove.
If you wanted to try mouth-taping when you go to sleep, I suggest that you experiment first for about a half-hour a couple of times during the day. This will help you get used to the feel of the tape. Then, when you are ready, start taping your mouth shut when you go to bed.
Mouth-taping not only forces you to breathe through your nose during sleep, it also could be a diagnostic tool. If you had to take the tape off during the night because you could not breathe through your nose, then you would know you didn’t breathe properly that night. If that were the case, you might need to schedule an appointment with a medical specialist to determine if you have sleep apnea or an obstruction in your nasal passages.
Heartburn (Acid Reflux)
Heartburn is a symptom of acid reflux. Heartburn happens because stomach acid backs up in the esophagus and enters your mouth (acid reflux). There are various medical conditions which could cause acid reflux resulting in heartburn.
- A flaw in the valve known as the lower esophageal sphincter, which connects the esophagus and the stomach
- Certain acidic or high-fat foods like citrus fruits, tomatoes, onions, chocolate, coffee, cheese, and peppermint
- Medicines like aspirin, ibuprofen, some sedatives, and blood pressure medications
- Smoking
- Being overweight or pregnant
- Too little stomach acid allowing undigested food to push up stomach acid into the esophagus and into the mouth
Various causes of low stomach acid include:
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- Increasing age (over 65)
- Chronic stress
- Deficiency in zinc or the B vitamins
- Acid reducing medications (antacids, H2 blockers, proton pump inhibitors)
- H. Pylori infection
- Gastric bypass surgery
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If heartburn is a result of low stomach acid, the following remedy may be a simple and effective cure.
My Anecdotal Remedy …
The stomach requires adequate amounts of chloride to produce hydrochloric acid. The best source of chloride is sea salt.
When I have had heartburn in the past, I put a few grains of Himalayan Coarse Granulated Salt in my mouth and let them dissolve. Then I drank a glass of spring water. The sodium chloride in the Himalayan Salt assisted my stomach in manufacturing and balancing hydrochloric acid. The heartburn went away.
Viruses
We all are aware of upper respiratory infections from various viruses – from the simple cold to the flu and now to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Most of us recover after a virus has taken its course through the body. But if you could get to the virus before it had a chance to settle in and cause its systemic damage, you might be able to stop it early in its track. I had a personal experience, which I wrote about in March 2021.
In that previous article, I cited medical reports which suggested that nebulized hydrogen peroxide in a proper dilution may assist in killing microbes and inactivating viruses in their early stage of invasion.
The hydrogen peroxide solution for a nebulizer is made by adding 1 teaspoon of Himalayan Salt along with ¾ teaspoon of 12% Food Grade Hydrogen Peroxide into 16 ounces of distilled water. This makes a saline solution containing 0.1% hydrogen peroxide. I store it in a sealed 16-ounce Mason jar in the refrigerator.
My Anecdotal Remedy …
If I have early signs and symptoms of an upper respiratory infection, I add ½ teaspoon of the solution into the medication cup of the WAVE Nebulizer. My preference is to use the adult mask included with the WAVE Nebulizer to inhale the mist.
On 2/23/21, I woke up with a sore throat that was persistent from the previous day. I wanted to be proactive. So, I used the nebulizer hourly starting in the morning for 6 consecutive treatments.
Each treatment lasted about 10 minutes, at which time the solution in the medication cup was used up. By the next afternoon I felt normal – no sore throat, no runny nose. Fantastic!
Summary of My Quick Remedies
I am not suggesting my quick remedies will work for you. My independent research of published medical papers suggested they could work for me. And they did. If you are interested, first consult with your medical doctor or healthcare professional to get his or her opinion.
But the bottom line for me was that they were effective!
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