dry mouth + mouth sores

Hi Angela, I've had the dry mouth and eyes too. I'm not dx'd with sjogrens, but was using a rx which increased my saliva. The one I used was salagen and it worked well for about 2 hours at a time and I could take it 3x a day. You might like the Biotene mouth wash too. It is very different than other mouthwash. I bought a little spray bottle and filled it with the Biotene mouthwash . . . that way I could use it frequently and not waste it. It was helpful to keep it on my nightstand so I could moisten my mouth in the middle of the night w/o getting up. I'm not sure if my dry mouth issues were from meds or sjogrens, but I've gone quite a while w/o any problems this year and it is just now returning. This time my eyes are more dry than before and they feel gritty sometimes. I'll be asking the doc about that when I see him. Be sure to let your doctor know that you have the dry mouth issues. This is VERY hard on your teeth and should be addressed pronto. Blessings!

It didn't for me. I thought it was worth a try. If it did cause a problem, you could either discontinue it or use it less often. I had great control over when I was taking mine so that the increased saliva happened when I needed it most. For me it was morning, mid-day and evening. I did make sure my last dose was at least an hour and a half before bed-time so I didn't have an over-abundance of saliva while sleeping.

Hi Angela--
I take a newer drug than salagen, called Evoxac and my rheumy who is really good says it works much better than salagen with less side effects. i don't notice any but if I take too much I might have too much saliva. I like the evoxac because it makes my eyes and nasal passages and gi tract all less dry, though it works mostly on the mouth. I haven't had a sinus infection since I've been on it and that's been over a year. I think I went through a sweating period, at night, for a few days in the beginning, but adjusting when I took it and how much. I have liver disease and am allergic to tons of drugs and I can take it no problem without excess sweating. That's just my experience. I don't use any sprays or mouthwashs, one pill lasts me the whole day because of my liver, but most people take it two to three times a day. In the beginning you might have too much saliva or sweat, but it goes away as your body gets used to the drug and you figure out what dose you need.

Sores in the corners of the mouth are often vitamin deficiencies but all that went away for me with the evoxac, so who knows. It's worth a try. it got rid of the tartar on my teeth and staining due to proper amount of saliva. I didn't even notice the dry mouth, I just figured it was just the way it was, my eyes were the bad part and it even helped them some.

Also, I have had both submandibular glands removed due to sjogrens, so I should be pretty dry and I'm not. Sorry to sound like an ad. I hope you feel better soon and can get this dry mouth cleared up. Chewing sugarfree teeth whitening gum helps me too. I used to use Carmex in the corners and it helped some.

Oh, that's too bad. It seems to help me a lot. Your mouth will get lots of infections with all kinds of stuff if it is dry, so you are probably right that you have more than one problem there. One sure sign of a dry mouth is lots of tartar on the teeth. But right now that might be hard to tell. Well maybe the salagen will work.