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Dry mouth

Posted , 4 users are following.

heather72469
heather72469

i have been to doctors several times concerning my dry mouth but get palmed off. The other symptoms I have are blurry eyes and sore cheeks maybe it is a sinus problem or  Sjögren's syndrome I am also diabetic. It occurs whether blood sugar hi or low

0 likes, 6 replies

6 Replies

  • maureen42261
    maureen42261 heather72469

    Posted

    I think you should go back to your doctors again, it sounds as though you have sjogrens!
  • aitarg35939
    aitarg35939 heather72469

    Posted

    Hi Heather

    I agree that you should go back to your doctors. In the meantime there are a number off things you can do for yourself, keeping in mind that a dry mouth is very unhealthy for your teeth.

    If you don't already, start sipping water all day. Chew gum preferably the healthy kind. Use dry mouth-friendly toothpaste AND rinse, without rinsing mouth with water in between. Use tears replacement/eye moisturizers

    When all else fails and my mouth is dry I eat a spoonful or two of unsweetened applesauce.

    I hope docs figure out what's wrong and help you.

  • lily65668
    lily65668 heather72469

    Posted

    Hi Heather,

    Pain on pressing over your cheekbones can be a sign of sinusitis. Sinusits often occurs in people suffering from SS, which tends to cause drying and thickening of nasal secretions.

    Blurred vision can be down to sinusitis, as well as diabetes, but dry eyes cause blurring too.

    I think you need to go back to your doctor. Unfortunately, SS is very difficult to diagnose, and most sufferers have symptoms for years before they get a diagnosis. Ten years in my case.

    I'm wondering whether you're in the UK. If you are, you could try booking an eye test at a high-street ophthalmic opticians, being sure to stress that you have a dry mouth and eyes. These days they can do a simple test for dry eyes - it's a kind of mini-Schirmer's (the longer diagnostic test an ophthalmologist can do). They can't diagnose SS, but they can tell you if your eyes are too dry, and this information might help convince your doctor to look into it further.

  • heather72469
    heather72469

    Posted

    I thought ss could be diagnosed with a blood test but the doc wld have to advise it I might get checked by my opthalmic doc as I get a check every year cos of the diabetes but am not due but maybe there is a prob there
    • heather72469
      heather72469

      Posted

      My ENT said it might be but the only way to get a diagnosis is a lip biopsy and she did say I should have one so how will I ever know just accept the dry mouth for ever Hm?

       

    • lily65668
      lily65668 heather72469

      Posted

      Well, if your ENT doctor is prepared to order a lip biopsy, what's the problem with having one?

      I would, however, say that getting a firm diagnosis of SS won't necessarily mean your doctor will be able to do very much about the mouth dryness. There's no cure for it, all you can really do is follow all the measures the other posters have described. SS is for life, but many of us have remissions. I had very bad dry mouth for the first six months or so - it was the first symptom of SS I ever had, and no one knew what it was then. But it cleared up after that, and I've had hardly any problem with it for 20 years now. I find that the SS moves around my body from one system to another - mouth, eyes, joints, tendons, peripheral nerves etc. - but I rarely get more than one or two symptoms at the same time.

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