Face pain and constant saliva

[Flo60]

I have had ME/CFS since 1884 and fibromyalgia joined in a few years later. In 2014 one day I suddenly got a very heavy rush of saliva, at some points it was so bad I had a job to talk or to swallow. It has eased a little over the years but is still constantly present. It is at least uncomfortable and at worse causes me face pain, ear ache and gland pain in neck. I have been treated for both sinus issues and gastric reflux to see if either of these were causing it but neither treatment made any difference. A dentist suggested it may not be excess saliva but rather difficulty swallowing saliva but I can feel the saliva constantly pooling in my mouth. A maxillary surgeon took a look and he said that some of my saliva glands seemed a little inflamed but there were no stones so probably nothing to worry about. Ibuprofen doesn’t seem to touch the pain and I even tried anti histamines just in case it was some sort of histamine reaction but that didn’t work. I cut out all the usual suspects as far as food intolerances go such as soya, dairy, wheat etc but nothing seems to make a difference. It is really horrible and some days the pain drives me to distraction.

Can anyone think of anything that I may not have already thought of please?

As a side note, the saliva started off very thin and fluid but has now become a bit thicker and slimier, but still as persistent. I don’t use any mouth rinses and my toothpaste is natural so contains no nasties.

Will be interested to hear views.

[JayCeon]

Hi Flo,you've prolly seen the colgate & quora pages on excessive saliva... Not that helpful, but a little bit. They don't seem that relevant anyway, as it's the associated pain you are seeking to improve: It does sound like some ENT inflammation.

Do your bloods show inflammation?

You've said you've tried eliminating single foods, but what about the AIP diet?

Anti-inflammatory foods are ones that would provoke more saliva in me, have you tried those tho? (E.g. curcumin from turmeric, ginger, garlic, capsaicin; these I might tolerate: resveratrol in berries, spirulina, green tea extract, and oils are OK with me: fish oil & omega 3.)

Then these are said to be anti-inflammatory: Vitamins: D, C, A, E. Enzymes: bromelain, SAM-e, serrapeptase. Mineral: zinc. All of them except bromelain are said by some to maybe improve FM. (Myself I'm testing serrapeptase at the moment, and 2 fibromites I know are joining in, seems to help for some things, incl. the Ache and sleep. Next up are zinc and SAM-e. Whilst I need to take vit. D all along and C & E in high doses didn't help, A I get from eating a lot of carrots.) I'm actually not a supp nut at all, but that's all that's left for me to try...

I have a strange tooth inflammation since a few days, dentist will dissect it in 2 weeks, but in the meantime I'm putting Marigold essence and tea tree oil on the outside part (altho it doesn't help). I've increased the serrapeptase dose and will be adding zinc & ordering SAM-e due to these ideas. The inflammatory seeming aspects of FM I can alleviate a bit with a short cold shower, I'll do that now, altho I don't really feel like it...

As far as saliva goes, I always thought I had a lot when I went to the dentist's, but now I often suffer from a pretty dry mouth. This has been due to amitriptyline in the past, and now due to some of the amino acids I'm taking, so I do think there may be supps which can reduce the saliva flow as well as avoiding spicy stuff to not exacerbate it.... If you're interested I'll have another look into that too...