Anxiety causes dry mouth and abates my MGD.Any explaination?

[want_answers]

Hello,
I have been visiting this forum, and thought I could check if anyone has had an experiance similar to mine.

I first noticed dry eye about a 2 years back. I was going through a tough time emotionally and attributed it to depression.It went off by itself after about 3-4 months. However, about 8 months back it resurfaced and has been persistent since then. My shirmmer's test are normal. The doctor said I have mild to moderate MGD.

I am 28,female and with no health problems, other than nasal dust allergy. Have not been on any long term medication.

Offlate, I went through a period of high anxiety and I began getting dry mouth too. Ruled out thyroid,diabetes and auto immune problems since the tests came negative.

The funny thing here is, as long as the dry mouth persists(a couple of weeks in one instance), my eyes feel absoultely great. They are back to normal. I use the computer for hours and dont feel them burning, whereas otherwise an hour or 2 while using optive eye drops, still triggers sever burning.

Any explainations for this? Could high cortisol levels act as an anti-inflammatory? Are there any other tests I should undergo to understand what's happening internally? Doctors dismiss it as a coincidence or even being psychological.

Could my eye problem have been triggered by depression? I havent taken anti depressants though, so that's not a reason.

Any thoughts/insights are highly appreciated:-)

Thank you!

-Mita

[NYer]

I'd love to hear the reason for that. Anything that causes dry mouth for me also makes my dry eyes worse.

[baddabingtim]

Depression - dryness

I strrongly believe that anxiety, stress and depression all cause these health issues.

I am undergoing tests for sjorgrens - dry eyes and mouth - and am convinced that depression and stress have triggered these functions..

The mind is a powerful weapon that weakens the immune system

I was at the airport thursday and picked up a copy of a book called 'Deadly Emotions' by Don Colbert, M.D - excellent book explaining how depression, anxiety and stress all cause illness or contribute to illness

I am now practicing better health through laughter, positive thoughts, forgiveness and kindness toward others....

Let the healing begin

[rubyslippers]

My eye condition is directly connected to my level of stress. I am convinced dry eye is an emotional problem first, and a physcial problem secondly. I fortunately have found a way to manage the dry eye, and I have also made good progress with reducing the stress in my life too.

[jannz]

Mita,

Is your anxiety 'unexplained' ?? ...ie; Is there a REASON for your anxiety..??..
The reason I ask is because 'unexplained anxiety' can be one of the first symptoms of thyroid disease....before it starts to show in blood tests. It's what happened to me. I had anxiety for no apparent reason. The doctors wanted me to take antidepressants but thankfully I knew something else must be going on. And while I'm talking about thyroid -- what tests did they do to rule out any thyroid issues ? Some doctors only go by the TSH -- and there are other tests to consider.

Also, do you know if your DHEA is low? I know that low androgen and out of balance hormones can cause dry eyes so I'm thinking that maybe they can cause dry mouth too ..??... I have dry eyes that I think are hormone related. My mouth can sometimes feel dry too and I just attributed it to the hormones too.

I hope you get to figure it all out.

Best wishes,
Jann

[want_answers]

My anxiety is usually due to life stress. I wudnt call it unexplained.
SOmetimes it is the dry eyes that makes me anxious.
Let me check with my doctor and get my dhea levels checked. I havent had any obvious problems with hormones so far, so expect things to be normal..will give it a try. Thanks!