Helpful Hacks

I have chronic cotton mouth as a side effect from meds. If I don’t drink water, chew gum or have a mint for even five minutes, my mouth gets so dry that my teeth stick to my cheeks. I was prone to mouth sores since my mouth was so dry, not to mention the halitosis. I even carry a travel biotene in my purse. Nights are the worst part of the day regarding cotton mouth. All I can think about is drinking water, which keeps me up. I currently take 5mg of pilocarpine 4 times a day. It helps produce saliva.

I’ve discovered some helpful hacks. Oil pulling with coconut once a week has cured the pesky mouth sores, not to mention my teeth feel super clean. I use sugar free mints at bedtime. I occasionally wake up during the night from dry mouth, so I pop a mint and typically go back to sleep.

I was struggling with horrible head pressure. I thought I was suffering from allergies causing severe sinus pressure. The pressure was so bad my front teeth hurt to bite down. I was taking allergy meds, Sudafed, using a neti pot and anything that promised to help relieve sinus pressure. At times I would throw up from the pain.

I was also having a hard time seeing the computer monitor or reading in general. I tried the generic readers from the drugstore, which helped a bit. Gradually my vision was fuzzy regardless if it was near sided or far sided. I had my eyes checked and thought a new prescription would do the trick. The new glasses did help with my vision but I couldn’t take the weight of the glasses on my nose. It would make me ill. I found weights that slipped onto the earpiece like a sock. The weights pull the glasses up, off my nose and it was an ok option.

I never thought the pressure could be dystonia driven. I was prescribed pilocarpine eye drops. I take 2 drops, 2 or 3 times day. I no longer needed eyeglasses, woot-woot! It causes the pupil of the eye to shrink, which decreases the amount of fluid within the eye, reducing pressure. It’s normally prescribed for people with glaucoma. I still suffered from cranial pressure but this definitely put a dent in the pain. I still use the weights with my driving glasses or sunglasses.