Evaluation of the effect of chewing gum on thirst, dry mouth and nausea in patients undergoing hemodialysis treatment

This experimental intervention study was conducted to evaluate the effect of chewing gum on thirst, dry mouth and nausea in patients undergoing hemodialysis treatment. The sample of the study consisted of 75 patients; the gum group, the mouth spray group and the control group. "Patient Information Form, Charlson Comorbidity Index, Thirst Assessment Questionnaire Form, Thirst Severity Measurement Tool (Visual Analogue Scale), Dry Mouth Assessment Questionnaire Form, Dry Mouth Measuring Tool (Visual Analogue Scale), Rhodes Nausea Vomiting and Retching Index, Saliva Flow Rate Measurement Tool (Graduated Tube) and Saliva Flow Rate Patient Follow-up Form, Oral pH Measurement Tool (pH Meter), Oral pH Measurement Patient Follow-up Form" were used for data collection. Gum group patients were given xylitol gum and chewed them for 10 minutes five times a day for six weeks. Patients in the mouth spray group used two puffs of mouth spray three times a day. At the 2nd, 4th and 6th weeks of the study, data collection tools except "Patient Information Form and Charlson Comorbidity Index" were re-applied to all groups. Percentage, mean, median, standard deviation, Shapiro Wilk, Mann Whitney U, Chi-square, Kruskal Wallis and Friedman tests were used to evaluate the data. While there was a significant difference between median scores of the first encountering, the severity of thirst on 2.,4. and 6. week (9.0, 5.0, 4.0, 2.0), the severity of dry mouth (9.0, 5.0, 3.0, 2.0) experience of nausea (5.0, 4.0, 4.0, 4.0), retching experience (2.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0), retching formation (1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0), nausea distress (1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0), retching distress (1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0) and total distress (5.0, 4.0, 4.0, 4.0) among gum group patients; significant difference was also found between the severity of thirst (8.0, 6.0, 6.0) and the severity of dry mouth (8.0, 6.0, 6.0) at the 2nd, 4th and 6th weeks among mouth spray group (p<0.001).