I Used To Wake Up With The Tip Of My Tongue Hurting

But repurposing some bandage technology stopped that

Nope, not soft BDSM. Photo by author

Yes, I have been taping my mouth shut at night thanks to a casual mention of “dry mouth” in someone else’s post.

Dry Mouth

My wife and I have been struggling with dry mouth for years now. It started when we moved to a retirement community fifteen years ago and totally ignored that the home we bought has forced hot air heat. Forced hot air lowers humidity drastically and can be unhealthy. Static electricity is the least of it; dry skin and mouth is the worst.

We should have known better: our first home had forced air but we had quickly replaced that with hot water. We forgot the downsides of hot air heat in New England; our retirement home soon reminded us. It’s a smaller home with no cellar; converting to hot water would be difficult. Electric might be too expensive. I think we are stuck with it.

Humidifiers and all the rest

We used humidifiers, but they only provided partial relief. My doctor tells me that getting older hasn’t helped — I’m trying to do something about that. Some of the pills my wife takes for pain also contribute, which is just another of those “rock and a hard place” choices life hands us.