I also use artificial tears, as I've been having problems with dry eye and mouth recently (I haven't resorted to an artificial saliva yet, but I do drink liquids all day). I am borderline low thyroid, and I also have fibromyalgia and autoimmune disease. I've been afraid that it could be a sign that my autoimmune disease isn't actually in remission (and could be Sjogren's syndrome). I have an appointment with my doctor in a few days, so we'll see if there's any indication in the bloodwork as to what's going on.
Something new, that I've never experienced before is when I wake up, my eyelids are coated in dried tears (crystals of salt). The eye lids aren't stuck together and there's no pain or severe itch like when you get conjuctivitis (pink eye) as I've had that before a couple times (when I worked in child care). Instead there's just this feeling of having sand and/or gunk in my eye (mildly itchy) and all this gritty salt in the eye lid crease.
I've also had some VERY rapidly growing dental cavities (and no dental insurance), and have a harder time swallowing very dry foods.
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