employment with dry mouth

[Meld256]

slccom,

I fear you may be exactly right about the "liver flush guy."  It reminds me of a friend of mine with rather severe Crohn's, whose meds were no longer working for her.  She went to consultations with a woman who was supposedly well-known for a "bean diet" to help IBS issues.  Beans, of all things! 

I kept quiet about my concerns for her while she ate this many beans, more beans, cut out so many things out of her diet, etc. for months.  Finally, it came down to my friend telling the "expert" that it wasn't working for her.  And, you guessed it- the woman told her it was because she wasn't disciplined enough! 

[slccom]

Please tell me that your friend finally saw the light!
Sharon

[Dolly Dimples]

 Dear Karen, Even with all the suggestions on oral meds etc, working in an enviroment with AC all day will play havoc with your mouth and Eyes, in fact all the airways too.  Look for another job if possible,   open air markets. swimming baths , etc'  I realise that will be difficult, but that would be your best chance of keeping moisture around you.  I hate shopping malls , department stores, any where that has windows wide open, in fact I'm becoming a virtual recluse! There is no pleasure in shopping , eating out, pubs, etc,  Hate to sound so depressing, but this complaint is exactly that, and it is up to us to find the most comfortabe place to spend  our working time.   Hope you manage to overcome all the obstacles, and keep us informed how your doing, Regards Dolly x

[KareninOhio]

I'm amazed at the sense of humor some of you have in the face of this     And I noticed one of you referred to 'your coughing fit'.  That is how I refer to it, as well.  Just curious whether fragrances can set you off on a coughing fit, too?  Chemicals, perfumes, etc. really bother me.  they never used to. 

I worked today and had to go inside the refrigeration cooler and when I came out the change in temperature set me off on a coughing fit     So far the boss has been very accommodating and lets me have water, gum, anything that will help (around the corner out of site.)  This is a blessing.

[Nancy60]

I've found my dry cough is often because I have thicker mucus in my lungs that won't come up.  Even if I dont "feel" it. 

I using Mucinex regularily for several days when I develop the dry cough and it would loosen things up enough to bring up some mucus plugs for a few days.  Once I wasn't bringing anything more up I stop taking it and don't have the cough. 

When it starts up again, I do the Mucinex again.  It has worked almost every time. 

Be sure you drink extra water with the mucinex to help it work. 

Nancy

[deeindiana]

I don't have anything else to add. Just know that you are not alone. *hug*
Dee

[Scottietottie]

 Hi KareninOhio 

Chemicals and perfumes really bother me too now in a way they never used to. One of the girls at work used some hairspray and I had to go to another room. I could hardly bfreathe. I wasn't even in the room when she sprayed it - it was the residue on her hair. Nearly anything out of a spray can brings on a coughing fit now. I hate dept. stores with all the cosmetics counters near the front doors. I have to take a deep breath before entering and hold my breath until I'm past them.

Take care - Scottie 

[Meld256]

Karen,

That was me with "the coughing fit"   Might have been something like my mother would have said, but can't describe it any other way.  It starts with that little nagging tickle, then gets worse...the more you try not to cough it just breaks out into a full-blown "hack, hack, hack! "  Sounds like you're choking which makes people stare and wonder if you have something contagious.  We need a sense of humor in all this.

I hope you find some helpful ways to relieve your symptoms at work.

Sharon,
Yes, my friend "saw the light" with her bean specialist.  When the woman told her she wasn't disciplined enough she let her know she would not be back, she had complied with everything asked, and she felt taken advantage of with the amount she'd paid for the consultations. 

I was so surprised my friend did this at all; she's an intelligent woman, but I can understand the feeling of grabbing onto to "something" when nothing else seems to work.  Fortunately, she's now working with a new gastro who is trying different meds to help. 

[KareninOhio]

Meld256:
  You described the cough 'to the T."  My friends try to understand and mean well but sometimes I really think that they think it is in my head, that I can control it or something.  Before I was diagnosed it seemed that many Sundays right after the singing was over and the minister would step to the podium, I would start coughing and have to slip out of church service.  My friend observed this one day and made kind of a comment like "Isn't it a coincidence that you can usually sit through the singing but leave when the minister starts."  I was really hurt by the comment, like I could control the situation. 

Later when I was positive for Sjogrens it made so much sense to me that my mouth was going dry from singing and it would make me cough.  I shared with my friend that her comment bothered me, that of course I had no control over the cough.  She did not realize what she was saying.  Thankfully, she is a good friend and was tough enough to take itl

Now it seems more and more that the dry mouth makes me cough while eating.  I drink alot of water with meals but I am getting more and more self conscious and have had to excuse myself while eating out a few times and go outside to recover 

[Meld256]

Karen,

You're right that I think many times others think we can should be able to control thisbecause they can.  Just like we may have used to ourselves; a little mint, etc.  Just not that easy anymore.

I'm glad you were able to talk honestly with your friend.  I've actually learned a valuable lesson myself these past few years being ill with this; one that I really needed to learn.  Not to be so judgemental about others.  We just never know what issues another person might be dealing with.  Maybe you were able to enlighten your friend just a bit. 

You may need to be more careful while eating, too. So annoying...anything dry or spicy sets me off.  Sometimes I forget. 

Talk about trying to keep humor. A while back my husband had BBQ potato chips he got for his work lunch and I sampled a few late at night because I hadn't had any in forever.  Tasted so good, but even though I drank something with it, the first couple of chips seemed to stick in my throat and I started hacking...and hacking.  He's sound asleep, no one else in the house, and I started thinking "Ok, this will be my demise.  I'm going to choke to death on a BBQ chip!  How will they write that in the obit??" 

Hope you have a good day

[slccom]

Since the sicca really hit, when I start to cry I sneeze now!

[star723]

it is the small things in life that make me get all bent out of shape ~ like enjoying some potato chips and a soda pop!  When I was a kid my grandma made us feel real special when we visited her.  We would all sit around the kitchen table talking for hours, enjoying chips/cookies and a Pepsi.  (I can relate to Meld256 story), cant eat just one chip......as the commercial use to say ,well I cant get one down without the feeling of choking, now any soda feels like it is ripping my mouth up,  I don't eat anything anymore that there is not a large drink close by.    Hamburgers were the first thing I noticed that I could not get down.  My doctor said that ground beef was a common food to have problems with.

I chew gum all the time but found I had to change flavors as that to tears up the inside of my mouth.  trident spearmint has been working for me right now.  I know without saliva your gum don't last very long. I use a LOT of lip balm, I dont know how many times I have been chewing gum and think what is on my lips? I guess the lip balm and gum sometimes don't like each other. What a mess that is.

Haven't been able to sing in Church for a long while now~ but I CAN HUM with the best of them!!

Karen I hope you find something that helps you~ but in the mean time lets toast with a glass of water that we found this website~ the people on here are AWESOME!

[Skylar]

(((HUGS))) Since you just started this job, I would expect that you're also dealing with exhaustion from the hours at work, standing on your feet and learning the work routine. I can feel your misery. Hopefully with time you'll adjust to that part of the job. I can see though that coughing like that, when serving food to a customer is a real problem - I hope your bosses and customers are considerate = most people are when it's explained that you are not infectious, just part of your autoimmune disease.

Lately I'm finding just keeping gum in my mouth at all times helps. I hate that I'm always chewing gum but it does keep a certain level of moisture there so that when I speak I can move my mouth normally and not find my teeth or tongue sticking. I keep a pack in my pocket with me at all times. I'm having good luck with the Extra brand Sweet Watermelon - this is the only flavor I can tolerate.

I tried Biotene spray and gel and they work great for 10 seconds, then you swallow and they are gone and so is the moisture.

I also tried two brands of lozenges that stick to the roof of your mouth. I wrote reviews on these products awhile back. Didn't like them although I found one was better than the other. They are worth trying.

As for those coughing fits - OMG they are so embarrassing. I always turned beet red and stayed red for hours afterwards. However I managed to stop having them when I switched to a new diet - Dr. John McDougall's diet - I haven't had any for 4 years now. You might want to consider checking into your diet to see if some foods encourage coughing fits. Dairy products are a common problem. I'm not sure why mine stopped but I don't miss them at all and I hope they never come back. I used to get them sipping water or trying to swallow saliva. I did find sucking on a really strong peppermint candy helped because the strong mint flavor would make saliva run quickly. I also tried to visualize myself as calm, trying to mentally relax myself and my muscles - it sounds New Age type of stuff but it did help.

I would not do anything that had no merit such as a liver cleanse - our poor livers take a real beating with all the medication we take as well as health issues we suffer from. There is no legitimate medical research showing that liver cleanses do anything except make money for people selling them. There can be real harm done.

[season]

do you take blood pressure meds? I cant remember those that causes sever coughing but mine had to be changed a couple of years ago due to severe coughing.

sometimes just keeping something in your mouth will help such as gum, mints, sprays

[KareninOhio]

You guys are so great!  Great suggestions and encouragement I truly appreciate. 

Skylar, about the no coughing fits for the past four years.  I am very interested in getting rid of these.  Did you switch to vegetarian?  I googled the doctor you suggested and it looked like that's what he suggests.  I'm tellin' ya if it would get rid of the cough, I'm game.  I am so tired of it.  And I know what you mean about the biotene mouth spray, it is just a quick fix and doesn't seem to last long.  Gum has helped me the most.  I chew Trident Spearmint.

And I am not on blood pressure medicine.  I do take Nexium (but have tried not to take it much recently because of the long-term side affects).  I've been trying to take a couple tablespoons of aloe vera gel in my tea during the day and it has helped the hearburn and Gerd tremedously.

So far I've been taking the job 'one day at a time.'  I haven't really coughed too much with a customer but I coughed again after being in the cooler for awhile and then coming out.  It's funny but the cough doesn't happen right after I come out of the cooler but about 5-10 min later...it's weird, I know.  And I have been trying to do as was suggested about relaxing and trying not to get nerved up over it (which only compounds matters and makes it worse!)  I even treated myself to an hour massage Friday, and wow was that wonderful 
Keeping my chin up here in Ohio and I'm so thankful I have my peeps to talk to now