Dry Mouth

Your mouth feels parched. The tongue sticks to the palate, the lips become rough, speaking grows laborious, swallowing a small effort. Sometimes a glass of water is enough — and ten minutes later the feeling is back. You drink, and yet this inner dryness remains, as if something deeper in you doesn't want to become moist.

Medically this is called Xerostomia — reduced saliva production. The causes can be many: medications, autoimmune diseases such as Sjögren's syndrome, radiation therapy, dehydration, nerve damage, hormonal changes. All of that is real and deserves medical evaluation. But beneath the physical level lies another that cannot be measured in lab values: the level of meaning.