What is Cotton Mouth and how to fix it

Dry mouth, called xerostomia in the medical context, is a common side effect of cannabis and is often referred to as “cotton mouth” or “cotton mouth” by cannabis users. Many people wonder if this side effect is due to smoking, cannabinoids, or dehydration.

What causes dry mouth when high?

Smoke can dry out your mouth and make you feel like you have a cotton mouth. However, the dry mouth you experience from smoking is different than the dry mouth from cannabis. Smoking doesn’t cause cottonmouth, but it can make it worse.

The endocannabinoid system (ECS) plays a role in modulating many different biological processes, including saliva production. Cannabinoid receptors are located in the salivary glands. Marijuana causes cottonmouth because of the way the chemical compounds in the cannabis plant interact with your salivary glands. When cannabinoids from cannabis bind to receptors in the salivary glands, those glands secrete less saliva. Both the CB1 and CB2 receptors play a crucial role in Cottonmouth.

Photo by Mayara Klingner/EyeEm/Getty Images

According to recent research, CB1 receptors modulate salivary flow, while CB2 receptors appear to modulate salivary consistency and content (eg, sodium levels). Consuming cannabis results in a significant decrease in saliva production, resulting in the parched, dry mouth feeling that defines cottonmouth.

Does Marijuana Dehydrate You?

So, if using marijuana gives you dry mouth, is marijuana dehydrating you? While a dry mouth or dry mouth can make you thirsty, marijuana does not dehydrate you. This is one of the reasons why cannabis doesn’t cause a hangover the way alcohol does. While cannabis does not cause dehydration, you can try drinking a little more water when using cannabis to see how it affects your experience. Your hydration level is one of the 15 factors you can control to improve your cannabis results.

Do edibles give you cottonmouth?

While smoking can make dry mouth worse, cottonmouth is caused by cannabinoids interacting with receptors in your salivary glands. In short, any ingestion method that gets you high from THC will cause cottonmouth unless you’ve built a tolerance to that specific side effect.

How to alleviate dry mouth from cannabis

Here are some general suggestions on how to mitigate the side effects of cannabis, and then we’ll explore some specific suggestions on how to fix cottonmouth.

Try a new product: Different cannabis products contain different chemical compounds, such as cannabinoids and terpenes, which can have different effects. Use Jointly’s Product Finder to discover new premium products.

Try a new way of taking it: In addition, how you take a product changes how it affects you. Smoking a cannabis flower joint can produce slightly different effects than vaping, although both methods of ingestion involve heating cannabis and inhaling the active ingredients. Each method of ingestion has its own benefits and may produce different effects or side effects. To learn how different methods of ingesting cannabis produce different effects, read our article The Best Way to Ingest Cannabis for Wellness Purposes.

Add a companion food: Did you know that weed companion food can enhance your cannabis experience in a number of ways? Mangoes, dark chocolate, green tea, and thyme are all companion foods for weed. Chemical compounds in these edibles can alter your cannabis experience and potentially mitigate side effects like drowsiness. To learn more about these foods and how to incorporate them into your cannabis wellness routine, read our article Do These Foods Get You High?

Find Your Minimum Effective Dose: Most of the unwanted side effects of cannabis are caused by taking too high a dose of THC. Although you cannot die from ingesting too much cannabis, a THC overdose is a real risk. The most effective way to mitigate side effects is to microdose and up-titrate your dose until you find the minimum effective dose of cannabis to get the desired effect.

Photo by Kampus Production by Pexels

Turn the dials to the 15 Factors: According to cannabis experts, there are at least 15 factors that can affect your cannabis experience and play a major role in whether a cannabis product will get you the feeling you want or produce adverse side effects like cottonmouth. You may find that when you consume cannabis after a good night’s sleep, you rarely experience a cotton swab. Or maybe you discover that a training session prior to using cannabis eliminates this side effect, all other factors being equal. With the Jointly app, you can track the 15 factors that can impact your cannabis experience. When you optimize your cannabis use, your favorite cannabis products will work better for you.

How to fix Cottonmouth

We’ve discussed a few ways you can mitigate side effects in general, but what’s the best way to fix Cottonmouth? Can Cottonmouth be prevented at all? Because cottonmouth is such a well-known side effect of cannabis, there are specific products like cottonmouth oral sprays that are formulated to help eliminate this side effect. Chewing gum is believed to help block signals to suppress saliva production, so chewing gum when consuming cannabis can allow you to prevent cottonmouth completely. Cough drops are demulsifiers, which means they cover the mucous membranes with a protective film. This film prevents dry mouth. You could try sucking on a cough drop during your cannabis experiences to fix and prevent cottonmouth.

Start your cannabis wellness journey

Have you started your cannabis wellness journey? Jointly is a new cannabis wellness app designed to help you discover purposeful cannabis use so you can achieve your wellness goals with cannabis and CBD. In the Jointly app, you can find new cannabis products, rate products based on how well they’ve helped you achieve your goals, and track and optimize 15 factors that can impact your cannabis experience. These 15 factors include your dose, the environment you use cannabis in, who you are with when you take it, how hydrated you are, the quality of your diet, how much sleep you got last night, and more. Download the Jointly app on the App Store or Google Play Store to start your cannabis wellness journey.