With winter just around the corner, this information may be most useful and timely! With winter weather comes heater use which can have very drying effects on skin, eyes and your mouth and the information below may be a useful way to deal with these issues!
I put the following post up about 2 to 3 years ago when I was known as "easilly" on this forum. I am reposting it so that it can be easily found by just clicking on my icon, the Orange melatonin capsule. With winter just around the corner, this information may be most useful and timely!
Dry mouth is a listed and common symptom of PD (> 50%), but I think when many PWPs go to see their doctor, it may not be their highest priority to talk to their doctor about it with the other PD symptoms possibly being more prominent in the patients mind.
Another consideration is that dry mouth is likely more common as we age. Another issue is that some medications are well known for causing dry mouth.
I get dry mouth at times and have had it bad enough where my tongue felt like it was glued to the roof of my mouth! That was a shocker to wake up and I could not move my tongue!
Dry mouth can also be a common symptom of Sjogren's Syndrome among other health issues that can also cause dry mouth.
Dry mouth can also contribute to "tooth decay" which is only going to make things worse in terms of overall health and total inflammatory burden.
What I have found is that a very simple mix I make at home seems to help alleviate my dry mouth temporarily. I make a combination of xylitol, food grade vegetable glycerine, distilled water or aloe vera juice, peppermint essential oil, spearmint essential oil. I mix the granular xylitol at approximately 5% to 10% with approximately 5% to 10% vegetable glycerine. I add these two to the distilled water or aloe vera juice and then drops of spearmint and peppermint essential oils to the mix to taste. Sometimes I use peppermint essential oil or both spearmint and peppermint oils. I shake this mix and then I fill a two ounce spray bottle with it and leave it on my nightstand, so on those rare occasions when my mouth gets dry at night, I reach over and put two sprays in my mouth and the dry mouth is controlled and refreshed by the spray. I try not to use more than two pumps because that is just enough to work and then I usually don't swallow any. When my dry mouth condition used to be worse and was noticeable during my waking hours, I used to carry another two ounce spray bottle in my pocket and spray as needed. Another advantage to this mix is that the xylitol can act to kill some bacteria as well as some biofilms as can the essential oils. Another benefit is that the combination of xylitol and vegetable glycerine has anti-irritant qualities as outlined in studies. This mix has other uses, but this is what I mainly use it for. I always use food grade vegetable glycerine and xylitol, the common sugar substitute, is already intended for internal consumption. Good quality essential oils are required.
Ingredients :
1 oz. food grade glycerin with an equal amount of xylitol granules mixed into it.
10 oz. distilled water
25 drops of high quality peppermint essential oil
Optional :
10 drops of high quality spearmint essential oil
Aloe vera juice as a replacement for the distilled water
Instructions :
Pour 1 ounce of food grade glycerin into a measuring cup and add xylitol granules to the measuring cup until the 2 ounce marker line is reached and mix until granules dissolve. Pour this mix into a 16 ounce bottle and add the 10 ounces of distilled water to the bottle. Add the peppermint essential oil and replace lid on bottle and shake vigorously. It is ready for use. Add the spearmint oil if desired.
I usually pour some of this mix into a 2 ounce spray bottle that I carry in my pocket and another 2 ounce spray bottle for my night stand. Two squirts is all it takes to instantly give lasting oral moisture and refreshment. This mix is also antibiofilm, anti irritant and antibacterial toward gum disease causing bacteria and cavities! To make less, cut ingredients in half.
The spray also makes an easy to apply skin moisturizer!
The other day I noticed that my lips were dry and slightly chapped so I used the xylitol/glycerine spray on them. I sprayed the tip of my finger and then rubbed my finger over my lips and that worked very well to normalize my chapped lips! This home made dry mouth oral spray acts as a skin moisturizer, but according to this recent study, this glycerine /xylitol combination also has anti-inflammatory qualities and skin barrier enhancing qualities suggesting other potential uses besides as a remedy for dry mouth or for dry skin!
Substituting aloe vera juice instead of distilled water should convert this from a moisturizer to a skin damage healer based on these two studies :
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/295...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/296...
Depending on what type of aloe vera you use in this alternate mixture, it may no longer be safe for oral use. You would have to use an aloe product such as aloe juice that is safe for oral consumption and then you can still use it as an oral moisturizer! This mix is likely to also be useful for bedsores.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/273...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/263...
It has worked well to keep my skin moisturized during the winter. I have been applying it to my face and it definitely works well for this purpose. As an added benefit, the face application has helped with dry eye issues! Since applying this everyday to my entire face, I almost never need to use eye drops any more! I imagine this is due to the moisturizing and anti inflammatory qualities of the aloe gel as well as the humectant and anti inflammatory qualities of the xylitol and food grade glycerine. Since dry eye is a symptom related to PD, I thought it was worth mentioning. For facial application, skip the peppermint essential oil in the mix as it can be irritating to people with very sensitive eyes. The spearmint oil could be an issue with the eyes too, so you will have to test it, but it will mainly depend on how much spearmint oil you use.
One other benefit I have found from the facial application is that my eye floaters have diminished by about 70%. Prior to this, the floaters have seemed to only increase over the years so a reduction of any amount is quite welcome!
All of these ingredients can be found at Amazon and possibly Walmart.
WARNING : DO NOT LET YOUR DOG GET ANYWHERE NEAR XYLITOL AS IT CAN KILL THEM!!!
Art
Coconut oil helps with dry mouth. 
Coconut Oil Recipes
Go get your ketones!
