Sudden very dry mouth

[Nomad]

I was blessed with very little dry mouth for years.

Had trauma and was placed on Wellbutrin. Had bad dry mouth on Wellbutrin. The depression lifted. Was taken off Wellbutrin. Omg...the dry mouth remains. And it's very bad. And I have suddenly super bad dry eyes too.

Has anyone had this happen? Or anything like it?  Super fast?

I react strongly to meds so I think I might need a script, but huw much? Which one?

I'm using everything under the sun with little to no help.

Water seems to make it worse.

Should I drink normal amounts of water anyway to avoid dehydration?

While chewing gum it feels better, but the second I taje the gum out of my mouth...it's worse.

The xylimints help a little , but I talk funny.

I'm worried about being socially appropriate and bad breath!!!  Is bad breath a potential issue fir us?

Need advice! Thank you.

[araminta]

Not sure what caused this for you, however I've always had the dry mouth, and always have chewing gum in my mouth except when I'm eating (even at night, though I don't recommend that unless you're absolutely sure you always sleep on your side - better to use Xylimelts if you don't).

I break the chewing gum in half so it's only a very small piece in my mouth during the day, and a lot of the time I keep it in the side of my mouth.   It really doesn't interfere with my speech!

I don't have an issue with bad breath - maybe because of the chewing gum, which keeps a little saliva going.   Of course the chewing gum is sugar free.

[Judie P]

I don't know how much help I can be to you, but I can tell you that earlier this year it was the first time I started having really dry mouth and I have been diagnosed for years.  I had mostly the internal problems with Primary Sjogren's.  Digestive issues, constipation, pernicious anemia, etc.  But this year I started getting really dry mouth and was thinking I was diabetic.  Nope, the dry mouth is from Sjogren's.  I have always had a very dry nose and am dealing with that currently after dental surgery.

Needless to say, my dry mouth came on suddenly as well.  I am not diabetic and find my mouth dries up much more often.  Water seems to wipe away the little saliva I have and my mouth gets drier after water.

[janny]

Well, my dry eyes came on slowly. That was the very first symptom I got with Sjogren's (before I knew I had it). My dry mouth did happen immediately overnight! I went to bed fine, woke up, took a drink of my coffee and knew something was very wrong! It scared me to death, I can tell you that. That started my whole Sjogren's journey. I, too, went on Wellbutrin years down the line for depression caused by my Sjogren's. I could not tolerate it as it made me very angry. I have not found one anti-depressant that I could tolerate. All I can say about the dry mouth is that I drink a lot of smoothies, as they seem to coat my mouth for a little while. I make them very thick. I use Xylimelts day and night. They are my one must-have. I used to chew gum a lot, but was getting TMJ from it and had to stop. I will say that you do get somewhat used to the dry mouth and some days it can be a little better than others. I wish you well!

[meirish]

Agreed..the dry mouth is from the Sjogrens. I have had dry mouth since late 1960's and I have sucked on everything I could think of and drank a lot. Ended up losing all my teeth and having a ton of cavities and root canals first and huge dental bills. You would have thought dentists would have a clue.

I got diagnosed with Sjogrens in 2003 with a positive lip biopsy. I had doctored for almost 40 years prior to diagnosis. GERD, arthritis, bladder issues and so many things that wold come and go. Doctors treated me like I was crazy. After the lip biopsy came the blood work that turned positive after never being positive all those years. Also I had carpal tunnels in both wrists and 3 surgeries by 2003. Everything I had was related to Sjogrens. Sjogrens diagnosed as primary in 2005 by Sjogrens research clinic at U of MN.

Plus, diagnosed with Bullous pemphigoid 2002, my first autoimmune disease, Myasthenia grams 2006, Hashimotos 2006 (hypothyroid 1989 but never checked for Hashimotos) and severely low t-cells. Treated with high dose IVIG every month since November 2006. Last autoimmune diagnosis was autoimmune hearing loss 2016. Deaf right ear since 1997 and losing hearing in left ear.

So..for many years I have chosen to suck on no sugar cough drops as they are easier for me to tolerate than some of the candies.Yes, we are more prone to bad breath. There are 700 or so bacteria in our mouth that get all screwed up when we don't produce normal mucus. This adds to the increase in cavities and to our bad breath. There are many products on the market now to rinse with , etc and we can pick and choose what helps at times. No solid answer but at least some things to choose from. Everyone has to make their own decisions how to deal with this.

Sjogrens is certainly the gift that keeps on giving and usually we have more than one autoimmune disease. Good luck and take care. meirish