[DoctorBeaver (OP)]

What causes it & why do I get more when I drink a lot of coffee?

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[neilep]

.....are you using filter coffee ?....filter coffee makes your tongue get the shivers and therefore makes it grab it's fur coat, and that's a documented fact !...if it's not filter coffee you are using then I may be forced to make a silly response up !

Men are the same as women, just inside out !

[Hadrian]

Dehydration is one of the main causes of this so is sleping with your mouth open. Do you snore?  
 


What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.

[chris]

Hadrian's right. Furry tongues as a sign of dehydration, or at least a dry mouth, but they can also be a sign of a poor diet. The tongue and mouth have an incredible cell turnover which is intended to replace cells rasped off the mucus membranes as rough foods are chewed and swallowed.

As a result, if an individual eats too little fibre, more cells grow than get scraped off, thickening the surface of the tongue.

But to return to the coffee conundrum. Caffeine is a diuretic and will reduce your total body water, drying you out. It also potentiates the action of adrenaline, the body's stress hormone. Anyone who has ever been "dry mouthed" before an interview knows only too well the effect that increased adrenaline has on saliva - it reduces saliva supply and thickens it.

So your dry mouth provoked furry tongue could be for two reasons - dehydration due to the diuretic effects of caffeine, or dry mouth secondary to stodgy saliva provoked by increased adrenaline signalling thanks to a caffeine hit. I favour the latter!

Chris

"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception"
 - Groucho Marx

[DoctorBeaver (OP)]

quote:Originally posted by chris

Hadrian's right. Furry tongues as a sign of dehydration, or at least a dry mouth, but they can also be a sign of a poor diet.

Diet? My diet consists of about 50 cups of coffee (yes, Neil... filter mostly - Douwe Egbert's Dark Continental) per day and very little food. Fibre? What's that? []

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