Excessive saluvation

[DanaDu]

Hi everyone. My husband is in the later stages of psp. He cannot do much, just moved from bed to chair at times . He still ynderstands everything but it is hard to communicate back. Opressing if hand. Is oeg fed. Is there anyone out there that can suggest anything fir the saliva. He us saturated at end if day this us using tissues and bibs. anything we have tried works for few days then the saluvation takes over. He has had the patches, drops and bpitix. Now at present on highest antripitylin still not working. This is so distressing as he also starts choking on his saliva. They r looking into putting a thing with a pump into his arm which had to b changed everyday. Anybody had this. Thanks

[djunell]

I'm so glad to see that my mother isn't the only one that has this problem. I/we didn't know that there's medication that can help, or attempt to, control the excessive saluvation. I ended up buying nice hand towels and put my mother's name on them. She feels like they're special and different from the other residents in the facility. Please post what you do to help your husband.

Thank you!

[Wardy01 in reply to djunell]

My mum has had Botox and this has helped drying This up.

[PSomani]

Hi. my wishes to you all in this unthinkable and sad journey of PsP and seeing your loved ones torment and suffer.

My mother too is in her last stages of psp... we have observed that medicines given to control sodium levels ends up removing the excess water in the body which includes saliva production too but needs to be tread with Care and in consultation with a cardio.

A suction machine to pull out saliva from sides of the mouth - between cheeks and teeth should help a bit.

Give the high chances of pneumonia in these cases , my mom had as well, you may want to get a chest X-ray sometime in the near future or throat swab if coughing comes up. It’s just to assess if the patient has any patches build up in the lungs.

And in case your husband has a peg as I could make out - be mor careful since the bacteria strains tend to be there at the peg point too . So in case of any infection, a culture swab of any discharge at peg point should be done too.

Take care

Anshuman

[Cuttercat in reply to PSomani]

The suction machine will help. Please get one ASAP. He can choke on the saliva

[abilitydesigns]

You need a "portable suction machine". We use it daily here for my mom who's also PEG fed since @ 1 yr and of late started choking on her saliva on a daily basis. Suctioning when done properly gives instant relief.

The nurse or the family member, whosoever is doing the suction must be trained to be very careful not to cause any mouth ulcer; a risk if the suction tube tip touches cheeks.

(Also very important to avoid "deep suction" unless one is trained)

I'm sorry that you've to go through this. I can fully relate how distressing it is

[LuisRodicioRodicio]

Hi DanaDu!

•Excess salivation - drooling: In our case and at the moment (2018-10) it is working:

•Drink plenty of liquid. In this case we use juice of “mango” and the juice of 1/4 lemon for each 250 c.c. of mango juice, adding thickener until it reaches an adequate viscosity so as not to have choking problems.

•After hydrating with the mango fruit and lemon juice, the patient nibbles the remains of lemon pulp. The pure lemon is astringent and makes it easy to control excess salivation.

•Some caregivers have mentioned that the physician has prescribed Botox for drooling problems. In addition, the doctor who does the injections also prescribes pill, glycopyrrolate, that seems to extends and enhances the effect.

Hoping to be useful.

Hugs.

Luis