Dry Mouth

Technorati Tags: Bad Breath, Dry Mouth, Dry Mouth Solutions, Dry Mouth Syndrome, Halitosis, Stop-Bad-Breath

I’m in the process of being diagnosed with Sjogren’s Syndrome. I have dry eyes, dry mouth, arthritis and fatigue.

My eyes are very painful, dry, sting, burn, feel like there’s sand in them.

I saw an ophthalmologist and he said they’re extremely dry and told me I should be putting in eye drops even when I don’t need them. He also mentioned plugs for my tear ducts, but I said I wanted to try the drops first.

I’ve tried Polytears, Refresh and Systane. So far, Systane has been the only one that’s helped.

Any recommendations for the best eye drops for dry eyes? Where I live Restasis isn’t available.

Thanks.
Thanks John. I did try two different gel/ointmens for dry eyes, I’m not quite sure of the names. I think one was viscotears. I found them really uncomfortable. When they touched my eyelashes my eyes would itch like crazy and after putting them in I couldn’t see for about an hour after. I thought it was good that the eye drops don’t last that long, less likely to become contaminated etc.

Thanks

Hi there- I would continue with the systane AND add a carbomer gel in 4x daily( including a spot before bed and a spot in the morning upon waking- Such carbomer gels are Viscotears or GelTears. If these do nt work for you then perhaps an OINTMENT prep is necessary before bed- Such as Lacrilube- Downside about any of the drops(bottles) of artificail tears is that they only last a very short while whereas Gels and ointments lubricate for much longer- The downside about taking gels and ointments(especially the ointments) is that they are a little more difficult to put in the eyes and therefore a little messy- You CAN use more than one product /type of product in conjunction with one another- I would keep with the systane and incorporate either a carbomer gel but if this doesnt work substitute the carbomer gel with Lacrilube ointment- The punctal plugs may beworthwhile trying as most eyes seem to respond well to them i find..I hope this helps-

How can she treat this? She says her tongue feels burned and that her saliva feels acid-y. Her mouth and lips feel dry. This started a week ago. Thanks in advance.

The burning mouth syndrome remedies will depend on what is causing them and the way to relieve this discomfort is to counteract these factors. This syndrome can be brought about because of deficiencies, nerve problems, a dry mouth, hormonal imbalance and menopause, use of alcohol and tobacco, strong medicines, bacterial infection of the mouth and allergic reactions to certain foods. To relieve these symptoms avoid foods which heat up the system like spicy oily foods and processed foods. Instead stick to simple nutritious foods which will cool the system. Fresh fruits and vegetables are highly recommended with a lot of green leafy vegetables like spinach, broccoli and parsley. The diet should help to produce new blood cells and be rich in vitamin B12 so that the tissues can rebuild themselves and the damage be healed. Foods which are rich in vitamin B12 are liver, poultry, egg yolk and milk.

The body should be well hydrated as the burning could be a result of insufficient water consumption. Flushing and detoxifying the system first thing in the morning with a lot of water helps to keep it cool. Ensure that you drink a lot of water through out the day too and if the fluids are in the form of fruit juices these should be sugar free ones. Sucking on an ice cube relieves the burning sensation. A cold glass of milk with a spoon of honey in it increases the blood circulation to the tongue and cools the body while relieving the discomfort. Alcohol causes dehydration and should be avoided.

Hope some of this helps her, must be bloody awful. x

I have severe dry mouth from Sjogren’s syndrome. I have been taking Salagen (Pilocapine) for years and it is very effective but all the saliva is produced at once which means you have to keep swallowing frequently or you will drool upon yourself. My prescription is to take 3 pills 3 times a day but it is too long a period of time between doses. I called my pharmacist and asked if it was ok to take the 9 pills in a sequence of 2pills three times and the final dose at bedtime to be 3 pills as it still comes out to be 9 pills a day. She said to check with the doctor but I went on-line to look up information about Salagen. I could not find the answer to my question in the literature. Also I would like to know what is the safest maximum dosage which also could not find the answer to and the pharmacist didn’t know either. The total dosage I take in one day is 45 milligrams. I would really appreciate an answer to my questions.

Actually the recommended dosing schedule is to take Salagen 4 times per day: once after every day and once at bedtime. If you can’t get relief, some doctors are willing to go up to 2 pills per dose (aka 10 mg per dose), four times a day. You should ask your doctor before you increase your dose though. Call your doctor and ask if you can get a script that says to take it 4 times per day. I’m saying this because of the insurance issue: if you start taking the drug 4 times per day and it runs out and you try to get another refill, your insurance may not pay for it early, just because your prescription says "Take 3 times per day."

Are you using artificial saliva spray? I know it doesn’t sound very appetizing, but my mother uses it for her dry mouth and she says it works very well in combination with her prescription. She uses Salivart Synthetic Saliva spray.

Another thing is that maybe Salagen just isn’t working for you. Have you tried other anti-cholinergic drugs? There’s another drug, called cevimeline (brand name Evoxac) that is also used for dry mouth in Sjogren’s syndrome. There are also some alternative drugs that aren’t specifically for dry mouth but may provide some benefit. You should talk to your doctor about your options (if you haven’t already). Hope this helped!

Im 21 years old. I have celiac disease, hypermobile syndrome, asthma and raynauds.

Since I was 8 years old I’ve been experiencing flare ups of achy, stiff swollen joints. Before this year, I’d have a flare up once every two years or so and then I’d go away.

In October last year I started getting swollen, sore, stiff knees and fingers. This progressed to my toes, shoulders and hips. I developed a dry mouth when I was about 15 years old and ever since I have drunk about 1.2 gallons (4.5 liters) of water each day. In April this year, over night I developed dry, burning, gritty eyes. I also have nose ulcers, fatigue and vaginal dryness. My skin is not overly dry. I have joint pains but no muscle pains.

I have a positive ANA, in the past year my ESR has been elevated a few times. Everything else (full rheumatological work up) was negative.

I saw a rheumatologist who said she thought it was fibromyalgia (which I told her I disagreed with). She thought maybe drug induced lupus (although my recent flare up started before the medication). She thought reactive arthritis, but I’ve had no infection. She completely dismissed the possibility of it being Sjögren’s.

I got sent to an Ophthalmologist. He said I have severely dry eyes and scaring from the dryness. My schirmer test was normal but the orange and green dyes and whatever he could see when he looked at my eyes apparently told him they were very dry. He wanted to put plugs in but I wasn’t so keen. He said I definitely have Sjogrens with an overlap of Rheumatoid Arthritis.

I’m so confused. The rheumatologist is humming and harring and I’m getting worse. There are no other rheumatologists for at least a 5 hour drive away. The opthalmology will only treat my dry eyes but my joint problems are fatigue are my biggest complaints.

Any advice?
Oh and I have vasculitic rashes. My GP said they’re very common in autoimmune diseases. And my SSA and SSB were negative. But it was done after a course of prednisone and I was completely symptom free at the time. The rheumatologist said the prednisone would have had an impact on my blood test results, yet she still ordered them and now she won’t reorder them!

If you want to feel better, you will have to drive the distance to see another rheumatologist. No one here can solve your problem. You need a doctor who will work with you.

For the past 3 years I’ve been having problems with various symptoms and regardless of what doctor I went to they couldn’t find out what’s wrong. I have dry eye syndrome and was prescribed restasis. I was also prescribed provigil for the extreme fatigue after taking a sleep study. All they want to do is treat symptoms not problems. I need help finding out what it is. My symptoms are: dry eyes with blurry vision and floaters, dry skin, dry mouth and lips, excessive thirst, fatigue and sometimes shortness of breath and dizziness. mild psychological symptoms as well like memory loss, trouble concentrating and irritability. Most important part is I know exactly what cause it – Alcohol. and I only have one kidney too in case that effects anything
I’m only 20 years old and I workout regularly. Drink nothing but water except for the occasional sweet tea and I’ve stopped drinking alcohol. Been to plenty of doctor’s and had plenty of test and they want to keep putting it off as depression when they don’t know what it is. I’m just looking for suggestions to give the next doctor when I get a chance to go back

According to information in a popular medical book, you may have an underactive thyroid gland. Your hair, skin, eyes, and mouth are very dry; you’re very sensitive to cold temperature.
Fibromyalgia, a common condition in this category, is a painful and frequently long lasting set of pains. Fortunately, fibromyalgia doesn’t progress to crippling, but there can be substantial disability from pain and fatigue. People with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) have tender points at 18 specific places on the body and usually have sleep problems so that they awaken feeling as though they never had been to sleep at all. They may also have irritable bowel syndrome, morning stiffness, anxiety, and other symptoms, such as memory problems.
I hope this helps you. And good luck.

I am a 18 years old female. 128 pounds
For the past four months I have been feeling totally different.
I feel so tired all the time
My legs and arms feel so weak
I have soar throat most of the time
Even when the room is not hot i feel like my face is burning
I get the chills at night mostly
I sometimes have trouble sleeping
breathing
and chest pains
dry mouth

What if it is chronic fatigue syndrome!
Please tell me it is not!

I am a bit anemic (not soo low)… so I don’t know if that has to do with anything

Thank u

go to the dr and have some blood work ran, sounds like some type of auto immune, maybe get tested for stds too (dont freak out just sounds like alot of the same symptoms)

insistence that things will get worse and worse, and other unusual environmental factors and behaviours, responsible for some people diagnosed as "mentally ill" coming to believe that it has some significance, even to the extent that a minority continue to willingly take psychiatric drugs, even in circumstances where research and other available outcome statistics have overwhelmingly demonstrated that they harm and not help?

(e;g. Bagnall 2003, US clinical trial 200 and review of Bagnall 2001-2205, Abbot 2010, official stats published in Switzerland, report in Nature Science magazine in November 2010 stating that a number of pharmaceutical companies including Astra Zeneca and Glaxo SmithKline had announced that they withdrawing from pharmacology associated with treatment of "schizophrenia" having finally accepted that it isn’t effective)

Surveys suggest that 14% of people continue to take psychiatric drugs. It doesn’t seem to make any sense to me that that such a high a proportion of people would do, unless the effect is attributable to factors like the ones that I’ve mentioned above.

It’s interesting that the Bagnall report only seems to have looked at a small subset of the adverse effects (side-effects) that have been shown in research. (But this was enough to be considered conclusive of serious harm.) The list shown there only comprises: agitation, movement disorders, impotence, dry mouth, nausea and vomiting, dizziness, weight gain, death, malignant syndrome, seizures, hepatic dysfunction, cardiac problems.

the doctors are god syndrome …
they cannot be wrong etc etc etc
doctors should activethly promote other healing therapies and get their patients off these things
what is vitally important is to choose your healing route- for this problem —– carefully from good information—that means knowing drugs/meds treatment for this can/will be damaging to your mind and body .drugs only mask the symptoms they do not cure.

This info well –it will save —years of suffering = if you apply it ..

All treatment recommended by the doctors should be tested and approved and quite rightly so.
That makes sense
It costs millions of pounds to test and approve just one treatment.

Drug companies pay for most testing and will only and I mean only look at treatments, which show the promise of good deal of a profit, –they will actively dismiss any therapy which does not have profit potential— thus your doctor will only recommend therapies that have been tested with profit potential in them.

Despite The fact that some of these other therapies mentioned below do have overwhelming benefits some, which have saved massive amounts of suffering

Drugs are not the answer for any mental illness– at best they mask symptoms

This is a fundamental principle grasp this fully –

I am a 24 year old healthy female. For the past few years, I’ve had several infections in my Parotid glands (salivary glands). I saw an ENT and he said my blood test was "speckled" with nuclear antibodies. Now, he’s referring me to a Rhuematologist because they think I may have Sjogren’s syndrome or the early stages of it…However, I don’t have a dry mouth…if anything, my Parotid glands produce too much saliva (it just slows down overnight) and my eyes aren’t dry…dry mouth and eyes seem to be the main symptom of Sjogren’s syndrome…also, they say Sjogren’s syndrome runs in the family and NO ONE in my family has any history of any autoimmune disease…

Any ideas? Any have experience with Sjogren’s syndrome or can give me some information on if I could really have this, or something else?

As i’m sure you know by now, Sjogren’s syndrome is an Autoimmune disease, when your bodie’s white blood cells attack the Saliva producing glands…
However, its possible in some cases that your body is trying to repair itself, by increasing the amount of energy in the Patroid glands in order to protect itself. (this is without medication)

If you are on medication, a doctor most likely prescribed a Steroid of some kind in order to fight the Auto immune disease.

Its just a theory, but if you do have Sjogren’s syndrome… then that’s probably what’s happening… otherwise, you probably don’t have it… and may have a different disease.
Though the EMT might be looking too far, and it could simply be the same thing i said before, about the body trying to protect those glands by adding energy, to fight the infections. It could be many different reasons, my guess is… its simply an infection… and all you need is Antibiotics. Get a blood test.

Hi i have Sjogren’s syndrome and i am 18 and female. i was taking my plaquenil medication at 400 mg perscribed by my doctor for a while and i have always felt fine, so i decided to lower the dose because my doctor always said i was healthy and her most energetic patient. i never had the symptoms dry eyes or dry mouth and i went to get a second opinion and that doctor told me to take 1 pill instead of two also. i still had no problems. Then i decided to just stop taking it all together because my mom told me i should, and for about 2 and 1/2 months i felt fine, until 2 nights ago i felt really tired and my legs were hurting me because i was constantly doing things all day. Then last night i started getting a red rash on my legs with slightly swollen ankles, the same rash that i got and went to the doctor for and found out i had sjogren’s. Should i begin my medication again? i’m scared to restart it now that i’ve been off of it for so long!
i also have been taking supplements Vitamin E, B complex, Fish oil, and a Multivitamin

You went off your meds and your disease re-emerged. I can not see why you would be afraid to start back up again knowing that the meds will push it back. What you need to do is to go back to your doctor, fess up about going off the meds and then get back on. You may need to start back up at a higher dose and be followed more closely for a bit, but being afraid and doing nothing isn’t going to get you well. So, you will have to face a small, "I wanted to try going off my meds, I know now that was dumb, my bad, won’t do it again"…but that is so much better than letting yourself get worse and worse…
So, yes, call your doctor, fess up, get back on meds! It won’t be that bad and the sooner you do it the sooner you can feel better