Please can someone help?

[Didisquat]

I’m really hoping someone can help me as I’m at the end of my tether.
I’ve had a really really dry mouth for about 6 months, it never ever stops no matter how much I drink, my saliva has become really thick and my gums feel tight and sore.
ive always drank lots of water so not remotely dehydrated. I’ve been the dentist and nothing wrong, been the doctors and had blood tests and all are ok, 1 pharmacist said I had thrush months ago and gave me gel that didn’t help so I went to the GP who said it wasn’t thrush and my tongue was healthy.
my tongue is covered in white stuff but it doesn’t look like thrush I think it’s just dry. It’s so much worse after I eat. I’m struggling to swallow and I’ve lost around half a stone and my BMI is now 17.7.
I feel like because the GP did blood tests and they were ok they kinda just sacked me off. Same with the dentist. I chew sugar free gum all day long but it only helps a tiny bit.
it sounds like such a trivial problem but it’s really starting to get to me.
does anyone have any idea why this is happening or know of anything that can help?!
I’ve tried sprays and gels also but they are no help either ☹️
im 42 and healthy apart form that, I had gestational diabetes’s 7 years ago but blood tests show all ok 🤷🏼‍♀️

Could it be this? The white tongue might be due to dryness and not thrush.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/sjogrens-syndrome/

Could it be peri menopause? I have that although not as severe.

I’ve looked into this but my eyes and skin aren’t dry so I don’t know if it could be that?? ☹️

I did think this but I have no other symptoms and still regular periods etc?! Maybe it’s worth asking GP to test for it? Is that separate to normal blood tests do you know?

Don't know how old you are, but although I'm close to 50 I still have regular periods (as much as I can tell from having the mirena coil) and no other menopause symptoms, but this dry mouth thing comes and goes which I've associated with early peri menopause hormone fluctuations. May be wrong obviously!

And regarding testing, my understanding is that if you're menopause normal age, ie over 45, blood tests are really not recommended due to the hormone fluctuations. This means that at the point you're tested you could be in a hormone 'high', suggesting normal levels which may not be the case.

If you're under 45 then the situation is different and I think testing may be appropriate. I'm not an expert though, you'd need to discuss with your gp :-)

Hi, did you get to the bottom of this? I’m experiencing almost the same thing for 2 months now and it’s driving me crazy. Been to doc and dentist and they seem stumped.

Nope ☹️ dentist and doctors basically not bothered as all blood tests and teeth are fine. It’s shit isn’t it

its really getting me down, I don’t want to go out or do anything anymore. Im having another lot of bloods next week and they are looking at autoimmune now (sjorgens I guess) but if that’s negative the Dr said basically nothing wrong. A couple of months ago I felt great and it just changed over night. Sorry you didn’t get to the bottom of it either.

Exactly the same as me! Just came out of nowhere and it’s been nearly a year now. I saw a really good GP but she was just a casual one and wasn’t normally at my practise and she tested for sjorgens and my blood results showed the rheumatoid factor and anti nuclear factor in my blood which then dr google told me is present in autoimmune disease such as sjorgens but GP never even contacted me about my results and I’ve just seen these on the app. I don’t think you can do much if it is sjorgens anyway so just living with it really. Some things make it worse like coffee and chocolate and dairy so just trying to figure it out on my own! Hope you have better luck than me x

Dry mouth-xerostomia-is a risk factor for dental caries; so your dentist should at least be considering prescribing high fluoride toothpaste.
This is better for dry mouth than artificial saliva:

www.biotene.com/amp/moisturizing-gel.html

It might be that constantly sipping water is the only relief though.
In my experience, xerostomia is usually medication-related, autoimmune or a side -effect of radiotherapy to Head and Neck.
Sometimes mouth breathers have dry mouths. Is this something you've noticed OP? Are your nasal passages bunged up?