My saliva is too thick and refuses to be swallowed or expectorated ( I hate the word spit!) Anyone got any ideas about how to reduce the viscosity before I write to the clinic of Dr. Costantini for suggestions. Life made miserable by one small thing.
Sandra Blattmann
Hi Art- lover45 I also have this problem and I will be curious to know what other people have been doing for this problem
NAC - N-acetylcysteine - is a mucolytic (mucus thinner) and has other beneficial qualities. It may help with Parkinson's but probably requires IV infusion for that benefit.
Another mucolytic is Ambroxol, which is thought to help with Parkinson's. You can read more about that here:
healthunlocked.com/cure-par...
healthunlocked.com/cure-par...
jamanetwork.com/journals/ja...
"but probably requires IV infusion" Do you have a reference for that statement?
journals.plos.org/plosone/a...
"Acetadote doses were prepared for each patient by a trained study nurse. The dose was 50mg/kg mixed into 200ml of D5W infused over approximately one hour 1x per week."
"It should also be noted that the current study provided the NAC as both an IV and oral supplement. It is known that the IV administration of NAC results in substantially higher concentrations of NAC in the plasma. However, it is not known whether these higher concentrations are required for any clinical or physiological effect in PD."
They definitely left the door open as to which is better.
park_bear
I thought there had been a study of NAC, dosed orally only, that failed, but I cannot find it. I do take NAC but as far as I can tell it has not helped my Parkinson's.
Is your mouth also dry? If so, try chewing a xylitol containing chewing gum such as EPIC or ACT. If that works , but you don't like chewing gum, you can make a xylitol/glycerol spray that will work very effectively and can be carried around in pocket or purse or kept on your nightstand.
healthunlocked.com/cure-par...
Art
Hi - I have alternately a very dry mouth or too much saliva…I use Biotene spray or lozenges. Idk if that would be helpful to you. I keep both next to my bed and use them at night and in AM.
Hello,You may want to make sure you are not dehydrated. If you fall asleep with an open mouth this can dry things over night. So I would suggestions first to drink water. It should help and maybe solve things. Maybe also try to brush a little your tongue to clean it, it may help. Keep us posted. We may think of other ideas.
Hi thereI use OraMD Original to clean my teeth in the morning (and normal toothpaste in the evening). Found it on this forum. Dentist says it is good for stimulating saliva ducts to work properly...Worth a try.
On the subject of dry mouth at night I find that a tiny bit of micropore tape vertically across the mouth helps remind my body to keep it closed while I'm asleep! Obviously I could open my mouth at any time and could still breathe through it if I needed. See Butekyo breathing method for more info.
I suffer saliva so thick you could platt it unless I take NAC daily (600mg), which improves things significantly. It's PD benefits may not be proven but it's mucus thinning properties are which is why it's given to cystic fibrosis sufferers.
Where do I buy this? I asked my GP about the connection to cystic fibrosis meds but he gave me his usual "totally unsuitable". Worth a try.
JUST ORDERED SOME OFF AMAZON
That's exactly where I get mine. Dirt cheap but get the capsules as the loose, granular powder is very sour.
There is much speculation about (unproven) possible benefits but there are also known benefits and it is used throughout the world in health systems, although looking again the cystic fibrosis benefits these were disproven (sorry, I should have re-checked).
All I know is it's cheap, works for me (saliva thinning) and I've had no ill effects from taking it nightly for 4 or so years. I don't think it has otherwise affected my PD progression one way or the other.
If you do choose to take it it would be good to get an update on if it works for you. Normally, if I've got lazy and don't bother for a couple of weeks (because my saliva is ok) or forgot to re-order then the saliva re-thickens but normally resolves after a few days back on so I hope you see some results relatively quickly.
grape juice...hang tough.
I don't have thick saliva but when I try to sleep at night I feel copious amounts of saliva gathering in my mouth and that in turn sparks my tongue into exploring my teeth and making purposeful efforts to swallow - this whole dance going on in my mouth keeps me awake - does anyone else have this. I take my last pill of 100 CL at 6pm (the others at 8am and 1pm) - maybe I need something to get me through the night or at least the falling asleep part. thanks in advance.
This is why I love the community! I have had the same problem for a few years and I had no clue that it is related to Parkinson's. It is almost gone for the last few weeks, and now I know why: for the last few weeks, I take Ambroxol, (300 mg. BTW) Thank you, Art_lover, for the question, thank you, park_bear, for mentioning ambroxol, thank you, everybody, for sharing your thoughts.
Stepan
You're very welcome. How many ambroxol tablets do you take and when. I have these cough tablets languishing in my kitchen and I really have no idea when and how many. So - if you can bear it please post about it. Thanks again. I must say it is wonderful to have a collection of "friends" who know what you are on about and not horrified at the symptoms.
Just a thought - this popped into my head after I pressed "send". My combination of dry mouth, thick saliva and the fear that I will choke on it when asleep prompted me to drop a little email to Oralieve - they advertise on the internet. I got a reply from a lovely girl who said "try this" Oralieve dry mouth gel along with a sample of the gel and some alcohol free mouth rinse and a mouth spray. It felt like Xmas!! When I am ready to go to sleep I take a last swig of water to rinse my mouth and then I squeeze a tiny bit of the gel between my teeth and let the rest happen naturally. Take too much and you have to swallow it which would be a waste. If I wake up in the night I do it again. Much better than drinking water which I have to be fully awake for otherwise It flows back out of my mouth and soaks my pillow - not drool - water. Give it a go. I like it better than the stuff I get on prescription from my GP - Biotene!
5*30 mg (morning) + 5*30 (evening). I am not sure it is the best dose. May be has to be 3-5 times more
Hey, I made a summary of research on PD I've read this week
Sinemet has saved my life, for now.
