Does anyone wake up during the night with intens... - Ataxia UK

Ataxia UK

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Does anyone wake up during the night with intense fright and spouting out saliva either through the nose or mouth?

8 Replies
8 Replies
HarryB profile image
HarryBAdministrator

Hi Iain

I think you have mentioned before that you have some difficulty with swallowing. We do still swallow when we are asleep and I wonder if you are waking in such a way because of those problems.

Of course it could be absolutely unrelated to this.

In any event I would advise going to see your GP about it.

Best Wishes

Harriet

Thanks for the info Harriet. If it happens again I will certainly go and see my GP. It was quite frightening when I awoke in the early hours. It was as if I was choking on saliva while asleep. I sprung up like Jack-in-the-box and watery fluid spouted out from my nose, down my chin and onto my chest. I've experienced this before but not as bad where the fluid/saliva shot from my throat and into my mouth, which again woke me suddenly!

february profile image
february

Hi Iain, I have trouble swallowing when awake and can cough/choke on my own saliva. I have sleep apnea and use a C-Pap machine at night. Sometimes I start coughing/choking on saliva, even with my mask on, and this wakes me up suddenly. Obviously, with ataxia, the swallowing muscles are affected, so when we have saliva in our mouth, we can't always swallow it properly. My speech therapist explained it to me this way. Yes, I agree with Harriet, check with your GP... ;o)

Thanks for your reply february. Sleep apnea sounds an interesting answer to my problem but I'm not sure about this as a diagnosis. I'll leave that up to my doctor or specialist to decide. I do think though that I should speak to my doctor on the subject.

Thanks again. Iain

neta profile image
neta in reply to

Hi Iain,

I went through a period of screaming in my sleep and now, instead, I speak angrily. (Never did before). I have no saliva issue-- a slight "choking" on very liquidly objects like water, I think your frights are related to the anti-depressents or anti-anxiety med you might be taking or lack of them. My dr. also told me once that CA has its own affect on the brain.. behavior etc. I would discuss this too with your neurologist. Best, N

Fifa profile image
FifaVolunteer

Hello Iaini

I too wake choking and making to much salava. It got so bad I was frightened to go to sleep,. I saw my GP who thiinks it may be rerflux. he has given me some tablets which certainly make a difference. I now sleep!!!

Take care

Regards

Fifa

wobblybee profile image
wobblybee

Hi Iain,

So far my choking incidents have been restricted to during the day. I've just started

to use a whitening system for my teeth, this involves wearing splints overnight.

I was worrying in case these came off and I choked, it just never occured to me that

the saliva problem could happen during sleep. I can't imagine how awful this must

have been, and hope that you've got help with this.

Regards

Beryl

Hi ian yes this is a problem for me too. I wake up salivating and have a cloth over the pillow to catch it - a soft fleece so it absorbs it. It happens through the night but like you it wakes me up and its horrible. I also wake up with hiccoughing too. The Gabapentin I've just been put on has helped with the hiccoughs greatly. The speech therapist recommended something i could take on a spoon for the saliva problem to help dry it up but i felt i wanted to not do this so as not to compromise my swallowing any more than it is. It is a known neurological problem i believe.