Dealing with dry mouth and possible dehydration?

[stanw]

My mouth always seems to get really dry before swimming or diving and I feel thirsty. I think it is a bit of nervousness and also just the way I am. I tend to have dry mouth above water also/

1.) How does being dehydrated contribute to the possibility of decompression sickness?

2.) Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks.

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

Dehydration is considered by many, but not all, to be a significant contributing factor to decompression illness. There's plenty of anecdotal evidence but proof is hard to come - as the only way to really prove a link would be to put a group of hydrated and dehydrated people in a chamber and see who gets bent first. Any volunteers?

It's also not really known how dehydration can cause decompression illness. The most popular theory is that the reduced volume of plasma in the blood hinders the circulatory systems ability to transport and offgas nitrogen.

Drink plenty of fluids before a dive. As it takes a while for the body to hydrate start a few hours at least before hand, if not the night before.

If you have clear pee before a dive you're hydrated. Being hydrated will also help you deal with the loss of water during the dive due to breathing dry air.

Cheers,
Rohan.

 

[cvrle1]

There is a really good article about this topic in the December issue of Dive Training Magazine. I just picked it up today from my LDS (it was old so I got it for free )

 

[Tortuga68]

My mouth always seems to get really dry before swimming or diving and I feel thirsty. I think it is a bit of nervousness and also just the way I am. I tend to have dry mouth above water also

I think you can get dry mouth without being dehydrated. So, if you're properly hydrated, as advised by previous posters, I don't think it will be an influence on DCI risk, more of an inconvenience

You can (or could anyway) get a little squeeze bottle attachment that allowed you to inject small amounts of water into your mouth via your reg - but that's not going to help if you're dehydrated, just relieve the symptoms of dry mouth

 

[vixtor]

As already stated, it is considered that there is a strong link betwee dehydration and an increased risk of DCS.

a few days before going for a dive, try to keep a bottle of water with you and drink from it at every 15-30 minutes. This might be more water than needed, but you'll get used to a habit of drinking enough water and maybe it will become a daily habit for you. Maybe you are not drinking enough because you want to avoid the need to pee under water?

Also, if the dry mouth is caused by breathing from the regulator, a metallic second-stage will help.

 

[vladimir]

If I get cotton mouth from the dry air I curl my lip a little and let a little salt water in--just a trickle. Obviously drinking salt water is not a strategy for coping with dehydration, but it can alleviate dry mouth near the end of a dive.

 

[don Francisco]

Dry mouth and dehydration are two totally different and unrelated things.

Since, in your case dry mouth tends to occur before swiming or diving I'd chalk it up to nerves or, as you say, your normal condition. Dry mouth of this kind is purely an irritation and won't affect you're risk of DCS. If it bothers you, manage it by chewing gum or sucking on a hard candy.

Dehydration is more of a problem, but your body does a pretty decent job of maintaining proper hydration automatically, unless you throw it out of whack some way, such as with hard excercise in the heat, or by eating/drinking things like alcohol or caffeine which tend to dehydrate.

The solution is to make sure that you drink plenty of water so that your body can keep what it needs and dump the surplus.