Make the bottle easy to use
The best bottle is the one you can actually operate.
Things worth thinking about:
- Can you open it easily?
- Can you lift it comfortably?
- Does it leak all over the bed if it falls over?
- Can you drink from it while sitting in the position that is comfortable and safe for you?
- Can you tell how much is left without wrestling with it?
A flip-straw or easy-sip bottle can be brilliant for some people, especially when one hand is busy with a cannula or line. We have a favourite example in our recommendations, but anything similar that you can genuinely manage easily can work.
But if you have been given swallowing advice, use the cup, bottle or method your healthcare team recommends.
Keep it within reach
This sounds insultingly obvious until you have spent twenty minutes staring at a bottle on the locker that may as well be in Belgium.
Before whoever is helping you leaves the bed space, ask them to put your drink somewhere you can actually reach it.
Same goes for the phone, glasses and call bell.
Tiny bit of preparation. Enormous reduction in pointless frustration.
Dry mouth is not always the same as thirst
A dry mouth can happen for lots of reasons, including illness, medicines, some treatments and long stretches of being nil by mouth.
If your mouth feels dry, regular small sips of water can help when you are allowed to drink normally. Lip balm can help if your lips are dry too, and pharmacies can advise on dry-mouth gels, sprays or other saliva-substitute products.
If dry mouth is persistent, painful, makes eating or speaking difficult, or you think medication may be contributing, ask your healthcare team, pharmacist, GP or dentist rather than simply putting up with it.
Do not stop medication because your mouth feels dry
Some medicines can cause dry mouth.
That does not mean you should stop them yourself.
If you think a medicine is the reason, ask the person who prescribed it or another appropriate healthcare professional what to do.
This is one of those places where “I read online that…” is not a treatment plan.
Taste can go weird
Illness and some treatments can change how things taste.
Sometimes plain water suddenly tastes metallic, bitter, too sweet, too warm, too cold or simply wrong in a way that is impossible to explain to someone whose mouth is behaving normally.
If you are allowed to drink normally, experiment with temperature, a different cup or bottle, or whatever options your own team has said are suitable for you. One of our go-to tricks is a tiny bottle of squash or concentrate that can add a quick squeeze of flavour to water without taking up half the bedside locker.
Do not force yourself through litres of something you hate because somebody at home has decided hydration must happen in one particular bottle.
A practical setup that makes drinking easier is the goal.
Lip balm is small but mighty
Dry lips are miserable in a very petty, persistent way.
A plain, unscented lip balm can be useful for many people.
Keep it somewhere you can reach and do not share it around the ward like communal stationery.
If you are using oxygen or have been given specific advice about products around your mouth or face, follow that advice instead.
Mouth-care products: ask rather than guess
Dry-mouth sprays, gels and lozenges exist, but not every product suits every person or every situation.
A pharmacist can help choose an over-the-counter option, and your treatment team may have their own recommendations if dry mouth is related to treatment.
If your mouth is sore, bleeding, has white patches, or the dryness is making eating, speaking or swallowing difficult, get clinical advice rather than treating it as merely annoying.
If somebody is bringing things in
Ask what the person actually wants.
The wrong drink, huge bottle or strongly flavoured product is not helpful just because it looked hydrating in the shop.
A familiar easy-to-use bottle, the lip balm they normally use or the exact dry-mouth product their team has recommended is far more useful than an experimental wellness hamper.
This is practical guidance, not medical advice. If you have been told to be nil by mouth, restrict fluids, use thickened drinks or follow specific swallowing advice, follow the healthcare team’s instructions. For persistent or troublesome dry mouth, ask a pharmacist, dentist, GP or the team looking after you.
Printed from thesicklist.co.uk/guides/dry-mouth-in-hospital