Whenever I get thirsty, sticky stuff starts to form inside my mouth. What is that stuff and why does it form?
“Interested in fashion, Harmonica?”
“There were three dusters like these waiting for a train.
Inside the dusters were three men. Inside the men were
three bullets…”
–Once Upon A Time In The West
That’s actually a disgusting question Ed. I’m not really sure what your talking about but I imagine it’s just your saliva drying up…if you were to spit on the hood of a car for example, the spit would dry up but it would leave a noticable trace. Therefore, as the saliva is drying up, much like anything else such as pepsi or whatever, it becomes thicker and stickier until it is dry. This is just a guess though so if anyone else has a better answer, go for it.
Our bodies are really very smart. We feed our bodies truly absurd things like fried pork rinds, head cheese & zucchini (see the Nasty Food thread), and yet they seem to be able to extract useful nutrients from this junk.
When things become unbalanced, our bodies are quick to let us know about it. We need to stay hydrated, and when the low water level light comes on, we’re made to feel that sticky, gunky consistency in our mouths as if we’ve eaten a whole box of Ritz peanut butter crackers.
By depriving your salivary glands of water (causing your saliva to congeal), you are driven to wet your wistle at the first available water fountain. And as long as the water is in your mouth, why not go ahead and swallow it, huh? Sometimes our bodies have to resort to trickery to get what’s best for us.
Thanks, Opus. I’m just going to have to remember to pack a bottle of water the next time that I go meter reading. It isn’t going to get any cooler…
Oh, Spedrick? That question I asked was pretty tame compared to the others posted on this board. Do you know what question Cecil Adams once answered in his column? “How many calories does sperm have?” Yes, Cecil really did answer that question (which you can read in the first Straight Dope book) and proved to the world that he is ready to answer any question, no matter how gross, immoral, or stupid it might be. Welcome to the Straight Dope Message Board!
“Interested in fashion, Harmonica?”
“There were three dusters like these waiting for a train.
Inside the dusters were three men. Inside the men were
three bullets…”
–Once Upon A Time In The West