I cannot be quenched!!!

All I do is drink and I cant stop or my mouth and lips get dry. Even my teeth get dry! My tongue gets sticky and i can hardly even talk if I try to go 30 min without drinking. It's been like this since I was able to drink. I dont wait the 30 min before and after eating because I wouldnt be able to swallow even thick soup. I've always been the type who would rather have drink than food,(I was a diet coke junky) but it seems to have gotten worse! I drink de-caf tea with splenda, shakes with half milk-half water, and the protein fruit drinks that you just add water to. I cant be dehydrated, so what's going on? I obviously have no problem getting my 64 oz. I've been doing that since the day I got out of the hospital. My biggest fear is that i'm gonna mess something up if I constantly drink even while eating, What do you guys think?

My surgeon NEVER told us not to drink 30 minutes before a meal... just the 30 minutes after. You do NOT want to give in and drink with meals because that is one of the things that is common to MOST people *****gain a significant amount of weight!  One of the best tricks is to suck on small ice cubes after a meal if you really need to... your mouth will get re-moistened but the actual amount of liquid swallowed will be minimal.  For the lips, try putting on lip gloss or lip balm after eating.

Lora

Try Oasis Mouth Moitruizing Spray and/or rinse.  It is the only good tasting mouth moisturizer I have ever found.  I don't know what I would have done without it from the day of surgery through the next 3 weeks. I, too, had no problem with the amount of water I had to drink, but  the body is going through some major trauma after surgery and the anesthesia wil dry one out too.

I had the same problem for a couple of weeks after surgery, I found that sucking on SF Werther's really helped.