Thank you for the welcome. I am sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I first noticed the problems with my eyes when I started having difficulty wearing my contacts. Come to find out I had an ulceration in my right eye due to the dryness and rubbing of the contact against the cornea. I also had several corneal abrasions on my left eye. I had to stop wearing contacts and had to go back to glasses. Luckily the abrasions and the ulceration healed with very little scarring. After a round of antibiotics for a month I started on Restasis eye drops. They helped some but not enough so they added the Fresh Kote to it. It helped a little more. We have talked about doing the plugs but my eye doc wants to use that as a last resort. Last month he added an antibiotic drop called Azasite and an eye wash and those helped a lot. As far as the parotid gland, I have had 2 infections in the right side also. My doc said they were most likely caused by dry mouth and the natural bacterial flora of the mouth. A ten day course of antibiotics cured both. They were extremely painful and the swelling left me looking like a chipmunk on the right side. I started a medication called salagen that has helped with the dry mouth and I also started using Biotene products (toothpaste, mouthwash, and lubricant. They also make a sugar-free gum but because of a previous jaw problem I do not chew gum very often.) Those two things together have helped and I have not had another infection since. Hope this helps. If you have any other questions eel free to ask me. Cricket PS I forgot to mention my eye doc also has me taking an strong Omega 3 fish oil capsule twice a day. He says it has been shown to help improve the production of the natural oils that lubricate the eyes. You might check with your eye doc or rheumy about starting these. Post edited by: cricket183, at: 03/01/2011 07:00 AM RSD/CRPS, Sjogren's Syndrome, Palindromic Rheumatism, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, |
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