spitting during sleep?

[mela36]

Over the past few years, I noticed I started to literally spit in my sleep. I usually always drool, but this is not drooling. I literally will hawk back and spit in my sleep, sometimes more than once, and it isn't until afterwards that I know I did but by then I am half asleep and don't think or do anything of it instead I roll back over and go to bed. I never thought about it too much but I decided to ask because I googled it and couldn't find anything on the matter, aside from infants and children spitting up.

Does anyone else do this? Is it something I should be worried about?

[Enoch Choi, MD]

Many people do different things in the middle of their sleep.  Spitting isn't as much a concern as much as the reason for feeling the need to spit.  If it's from a feeling of being unable to breathe, that could be from sleep apnea which can be evaluated by a sleep study

[sleepspitter]

THIS SAME THING HAPPENS TO ME!  Only I don't hawk, I just spit.  It's very strange.  This morning I woke up from spitting, and I was like, "Did I just spit!?! Then I looked ALL OVER my bed for it, and it was IN MY HAIR!  So just know that you are not alone. Peace.

[Jimenchr]

Haha me too I dreamt that I accidentally drank water that had ashes in it and I washed my mouth out in the dream while spitting into the sink in my dream then I actually spat irl I was aw wtf and had to get up and go wash my face after I woke up from actually spitting x'D

[Ins2bhere]

Exactly me too, just didn't dream of drinking ash. I was dreaming that I was dipping Skoal (which I use to do but haven't in over 15 years now). The funny thing is, I do remember a few other times I woke up from me spitting real spit in my sleep but once I was dreaming I was playing soccer and the other time I was back in the army on a road march. That last dream about the road march though made me wake up laughing.

[mela36]

thank god im not the only one! isn't it crazy when you wake up and ask yourself "did i really just spit? did i really just do that??" its so bizarre...i wonder where it comes from.

[Abhijeet Deshmukh, MD]

Hi.

I suggest you consult a sleep specialist to improve your sleep quality. There probably is an imbalance in the REM and NREM stages.

DrAbhijeetMD

[net65]

I have been suffering from hypersalivation (especially at night) since fall of 2006.  

I have had so many tests (GI & ENT) with no positive results.  The GI finally gave up - in writing!  

This is so bizarre and so many people can tell me about drooling but not specifically about hypersalivation (espcially at night).  This is literally sitting up to spit every single night and very often.  I am so tired.

Hoping for answers.

[floridagirl317]

LOL!  I thought I was the only one as well.  This has happened to me maybe 3 times in the past 3 or 4 years.  It always happens when I'm between sleep and being awake.  It's like I'm dreaming that I'm spitting and so I do it and then wake up thinking "Oh my God!!!  Did I seriously just do what I think I did!?!"  I decided to look it up today because I thought maybe it could have some correlation with eating (something you shouldn't be eating)  maybe like being lactose intolerant and continuing to eat milk products?  Is that too far fetched?

[Hdizzley]

I do the exact same.. It only started happening this year but it's happened like 3 times.. I'm kinda half awake half asleep dreaming.. And usually it's a dream about something I'm trying to spit out.. as soon as I actually spit I was up and am like.. Awh crap.. I just spat on my pillow..

[Suri123]

Hi mela36 and floridagirl317, how are you doing? It seems bit strange that you spit while sleeping and could be just a sleep habit as most of people do not get disturbed in their sleep even if it is an unusual event. Can you ask any of your family members to observe for any other abnormal behavior leading to spitting up? Also a chronic dry throat can cause irritation and raw sensation making you to clear your throat or a postnasal drip due to sinus infection. It is better to see a sleep doctor and a ENT doctor and get evaluated. Share your thoughts. Take care.

[Meg1000]

Is it mostly women or men who spit whilst sleeping?  "I wonder if it is related to suppressed sexual abuse memories???  Just a thought...  Not that boys don't endure abuse...

[wbug405]

I'm glad to hear that others do this too. My new husband spits in his sleep. It has caused me to wake from sleeping and see him doing it twice so far. Is this physiological or psychological, because so far both times it's been in my direction but never on me. Maybe it was in my direction because he faces me when he sleeps. Before I never saw him spit only heard him making a light spitting sound while he was asleep. Any advise on stopping this or dealing with it?

A tired wife :-/

[teahood]

its weird i really did think i was the only one who did this and maybe that i was going a little insane? but ill be having dreams that im brushing my teeth and ill wake up to a chin full of spit and its not even like im sick when this happens it has happened maybe 3 or 4 times with in the past month or 2. im very dream superstitious and thought maybe it was my body wanting to rid something apart of me on the inside like a personality trait of some sort, idk does this make sense to anyone else this has happened to?

[MarineGirl]

I too am a sleep spitter.  I don't spit during the day, so it's not a habit or anything.  It is also not because of excess saliva or mucous.  I believe that I do it when I'm disgusted with someone or something in my dreams.  "I'm so made, I could spit."  Ever heard that expression?  That's what I think it is.

The sexual abuse theory is interesting.  Although I have never been forced to perform a "distasteful" sex act, there may be something to this.

[dream_weirdo]

This is freaking me out! I'm a sleep spitter also! I would have dreams that im at the dentist or eating something nasty or something and i would spit. It isnt til after i do it that i wwake up and be can believe i just did that. This has happened to me like 3xs this month. Somebody go see a doctor or something and let me know watz going on bcuz im off medicaid..lol..seriously, im very concerned!

[wendylady642]

I am so glad that I am not the only one!  I wake myself up in mid spit so to speak.  This is a new event since I have started taking Celexa, I thought that it might have been related to that.  I am not having any correlating dreams at the time I wake up ... I am just "ptooey" spitting right on my bed.  I am NOT a spitter so it isn't a habit.  Anyone else taking Celexa?

[chunkylander]

yeaah its crazy.....i thought it was just something wierd i did that no one else did.....lool does anyone else talk in their sleep though?? cuz i do.......so maybe its something to do with the reason i sleep talk?....but ye ill be just about to go into a deep sleep wen im thinkin about something like i ate something horrid or im at the dentist or something and i just spit in my sleep then wake up like "did i just actualli spit onto my pillow!!!!".....crazy.....could it be linked to why kids pee the bed?

[shibujimmy]

Today was the first time I had this experience, I was dreaming kind of like in a discovery chanel. I saw on the banks of a river, a injured deer/antelope, And then I saw a crocodile and a cheetah advancing towards the deer from the opposite sides. The crocodile gets it first, grabs by the lower torso and lifts it up back into the river, cheetah is angry and lashes at the crocodile, then suddenly another crocodile enters the scene, the 2 crocs fight while I see the cheetah literraly fedup and scared by the splashing saying to the crocs "Go Home". I was on top of a hill when I saw all and then these cute baby crocs climbing towards me. That was the time when I stepped back and spit on the ground, i could feel the spit moving out of the lip and I woke up to see I actually doing it, and it was really a big glob of spit that I spat on the sheets. I couldn't go back to sleep, I woke my wife up and had her change the sheets. She felt disgusted and I embarassed. Does this make any sense for anybody?

[Seli5]

It woke me up today too from that...ughh first last night i had sleep paralysis and today i have spitting wtf man......it happens maybe once or twice a year..which is too much for me....and i always seem to spit on the left side for some reason...and it woke me up today cause it was in my hair..and when I woke up Im like why the hell did I just do that...I dont understand this anything anymore...!!

[chell_chell]

Wow. I have noticed I have spit in my sleep a couple of times in the last few months, this is the only place online that i have found anything about spitting in your sleep though. . And all there are are theories here. Lol. . . I want to know what causes it. It is so gross. But both times it has happened I was dreaming that something tasted bad in my mouth so I was spitting it out. . Then I wake up mid spit and have it on my freaking pillow or running down my cheek! LOL it is so gross :[

[RuM22587]

KeWl!!!!........AlL oF uS tHoT wE WeRe ThE oNlY oNeS tO BE So WiErD. UnFoRtUnAtElY, tHoUgH wE FoUnD oUr BrOs AnS sIsSiEs, wE StIl DiNt FiNd An AnSwEr.....
       aNy DoCs OuT tHeRe?.....AnYbOdY lIsTeNiN' tO uS?
...i ThInK wE nEeD hElP

[rhaiken]

there was one time where i rose up, opened my window and spit phlegm and got back to sleep again. and then i thought, was that real? my goodness! it isn't normal anymore! i've spit like 5x in a year already.

just this morning i thought it was a dream. then i was like, my mouth tastes like this since, you know, it wasn't opened for the past few hours. but when i woke up, there was saliva in my bed. mehn!

is there no scientific explanation for this yet? i hope one medical practitioner may bump into this forum and explain this unusual event >_<

[twicked]

Hey today is my 2 day spitting in my sleep right be for i wake up and I don't hawk but I just spit. I smoke but i stop smoking as much and its a habit for me to spit when i smoke!

or can it be something els is it something I should be worried about?

[Wicked20]

Same here! Two nights in a row I found myself spitting between sleep. Its hilarious..I don't know WEIRD, but truly funny ;DDD I am a 20y female, sometimes smoking...what else? While I was dreaming I just felt like spiting and first night I woke up before doing the actual thing but full mouth of saliva ;DDD and the next night I woke after spiting on the sheets, that was realy grooooossssss but I just rolled over and fell asleep again muahahahahah ;DD I can't take it!! this is so disgutlingly hilarious!! ;DDD V peace! Goood luck night spitters! ;DDD

[lacecase]

I read somewhere it could be related to sleep apnea..  I did it this morning at first i thought it was just a dream until i stood up out of bed and stepped in spit.. NICE!!! =/... im currently in nursing school.. ill ask some of my teachers and see if they have heard of it at all being that some of them are doctors.  happy spitting!!! =D =/

[Onecleanem1]

I had a dream last night that i was spitting. As soon as i spit in the dream i instantly woke up and realized i also spit in my bed. It happened once before too haha.

[ksvj]

omg.. Today morning i jus spit on my bed.. I had a dream of spittin and when i woke up i had already spit on my pillow... Its terrible to spit on it and to sleep again.. Why does this happn?