i had my first appt with rheumy on monday but i forgot to ask him why i have dry eyes and mouth and my teeth are seem to be decaying a lot, is this something that goes with RA. what do i do about it... just wondered if anyone could tell me more....thanks guys
Hi Emma. There is a condition called Sjogren's Syndrome that is related to connective tissue diseases of which rheumatoid arthritis is one. Sjogren's syndrome is characterized by dry eyes and mouth.
I would mention this to your doctor. You can get some artifical tears and artifical saliva or saliva stimulate such as pilocarpine and hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil).... Good LuckJust so you know, the most common tablet treatments for dry mouth are
called Exovac and Salagen, and neither are available in Australia I have
secondary sjogren's and it sucks harder than a vacuum cleaner! I use Refresh
Tears Plus during the day and Viscotears eye gel at night. Biotene is pretty
good for the dry mouth, as is sugar free chewing gum. If your nostrils dry
out like mine do, you can use NozOil. It's used by people on oxygen, it
smells a bit funny, but it works well. Remember to drink more water, but
don't guzzle it as that dilutes the bacteria fighting abilities of your saliva.
Just sip it.
Ummm, that's all I can think of at the moment. I have a couple of links to
some sjogren's sites, I'll dig them up.Oh, and the teeth thing is totally related. I've never had any teeth problems,
not even a filling up until now. It's because you don't have enough saliva to
flush the nasties away, so they eat at your teeth.
I've got it too. Aggrevating more than anything at this point for me. I've got so many problems....this ones seems small. It can be serious though. Albear; weren't you the one that posted that great link at RAF? I'll see if I can pull it up and post it for you Emma.
It can actually be a very serious problem....and there's several things involved that you might not have even known were related.
Emma~Here's the link I was telling you about. There's very good information on the subject here:
http://www.medfriendly.com/sjogrenssyndrome.html#sign
Originally posted by: Albear
are you on any meds? I have had this problem as a result of various meds, particularily methotrexate. I have this problem too. I went for a eye exame with a specialist because these weird things were happening with my eyes it turned out it was migraines you do not need pain to have a migraine just flashes of light exct. Anyways when he was doing all this stuff he discovered I had the syndrome. My eyes are really dry and my teeth even though I go to the dentist every 6 mnths were falling out chunks and caveties too anyways you use artificial tears and a daily flouride mouthwash and now I am going to the dentist every 3 mnths. It is managable ......TERESA