Atropine....saliva management

[Boyyo]

Hi All,

Wondered if anyone had used Atropine eye drops as a way of sometimes managing the build up of saliva?

J has a number of tissues to hand at all times in an attempt to manage saliva escaping her mouth. I'd heard that eyedrops containing Atropine can act to dry the mouth. The consultant also said that it can be used as a management tool, but what have your experience been?

There seem to be eyedrops with and without Atropine...is that true?

Have you sourced the eyedrops through the doctor or over the pharmacy counter?

Cheers

[Yanno]

Hello Rod

There's a useful factsheet on the MSA Trust web site about saliva control and that mentions Atropine. The link is here: msatrust.org.uk/wp-content/...

Good luck, take care, Ian

[ChocolatePot in reply to Yanno]

I read through the leaflet as hubby has problems with saliva as well, and he is already on amitriptyline and carbocisteine. LOL. I will keep the eye drops in mind for when it gets too bad again. But good to know what is out there and reminded that I should have another look at the fact sheets from time to time, as things progress.

[heysunshine in reply to ChocolatePot]

I'm going to revisit those fact sheets as well! I seem to have more & more questions and there's probably a lot of useful information to help me sort everything out!

Thanks for the reminder Ian!

[JillMSA Moderator Staff in reply to Yanno]

Hello All,

I see Yanno has kindly directed people to our factsheet but I just wanted to add

If you are living with MSA and have the symptom of excess saliva and would be willing to complete a 10 minute survey about this symptom please follow this link surveymonkey.com/r/EPDA_sia...

The information gathered will be used to educate health care professionals, thank you.

This survey has been extended until 30th November and you can indicate that you have MSA rather than Parkinsons

[Courgettegrower]

Hi, my husband has been started on atropine whilst in our local hospice. He says it is worth trying, he does get a dry mouth which he prefers to constant drooling. Has to be prescribed for use as saliva control I understand .

[Tusker1953]

Hi,

Alan tried Atropine eye drops for saliva control. It was recommended in the fact sheet and our GP prescribed it. It did work very well on the saliva control but then Alan started behaving strangely at odd times. He then had a very scary hallucination where I had to hold him down in his wheelchair while trying to get my daughter on the phone (she’s a nurse). She quickly asked questions and then asked ‘any new meds? ‘ I was astounded that a tiny drip of an eye drop on the tongue could have such an effect on him. However I must add that Alan recovered quickly and was totally unaware that anything had happened, so no harm done to him it just left me reeling with shock. So the answer to your question must be that it is worth a try. If anything happens you’ll be prepared!

All the best

Jan

[Hidden]

Hello I guess it all comes down to how much it bothers the person.it doesn't seem to bother dad so we haven't used it because of potential side effects. We have some nice soft flannels that we just place on his chest under his mouth to catch anything.then we have to be aware to change them so that the skin underneath the flannel doesn't get wet and risk developing thrush or something.I think for people with an impaired swallow it is useful to discuss in more detail with the speech therapist about the pros and cons of different levels of saliva in the mouth.

Take care

K

[Diane831]

Geoff used them at times. His patches of drooling being an issue came and went but he really didn’t like it when it was happening and so we got them prescribed by the GP on the advice of the MSA nurse. At one of his hospital admissions he was given a supply in individual doses in little plastic droppers which was brilliant as they had a longer use date and you could just take these little things out with you in case it was needed. He didn’t complain about the dry mouth, but then he was extremely patient and didn’t complain about much!

[Janeyl]

Our GP was very wary of using atropine “off label”, but our hospice nurse suggested atropine patches, applied behind the ear. Infinitely adjustable and, we found, very helpful in managing saliva. Good luck

[Courgettegrower in reply to Janeyl]

Was it atropine or hyocine?

[Janeyl in reply to Courgettegrower]

I think they may have been scopolamine patches - always check with your clinical team. Drooling is never a good look and Chris was happy to have a solution for social interaction times.

[Courgettegrower in reply to Janeyl]

My husband had a bad reaction to hyocine but tolerates atropine, we use half the dose recommended by hospice doctor.

[partypants]

I tried the Atropine eyes drops until I couldn't swallow my tood. Luckily I have now been offered botox injections. Far better.

Steve.

[Courgettegrower in reply to partypants]

Thanks for this info and good luck with Botox.