There are a number of ways you can help yourself, but your doctor may also be able to adjust your existing medications, or may prescribe additional ones, to reduce the production of saliva. Some Parkinson’s medications, including levodopa, improve mobility and muscle movement and may therefore help reduce drooling by improving the action of the muscles involved in swallowing.
Anticholinergic medications can be effective in reducing the amount of saliva produced but they are not suitable for everyone and must be taken only on the advice of your doctor. For more information see medication.
Botulinum toxin can also be helpful in some cases when injected into the salivary glands. This interrupts the messages the nerves send to these glands to produce saliva, and as such production is reduced. Again, this medication may not be effective for everyone and injections may need to be repeated at intervals of approximately three months.
In severe cases radiation treatment may be given to the salivary glands to limit their effectiveness, or they may be totally removed. But this is generally only in extreme cases when other treatments have proved ineffective.
Some medications, such as Clozapine, which is prescribed for psychiatric problems, can actually increase saliva production.
Your doctor may also refer you to a speech and language therapist, physiotherapist or occupational therapist.
- A speech and language therapist can identify specific areas of difficulty – for example poor posture, lip seal, swallowing problems, tongue awareness – and suggest exercises to help overcome these problems. They can also help you with exercises to achieve good lip seal and can advise on some of the devices available to re-train your lips to seal effectively
- A physiotherapist can give advice on exercises to improve posture so that saliva doesn’t pool at the front of your mouth
- An occupational therapist can advise on seating that will improve swallow.
If the problem is severe they may refer you to a neurologist or a doctor with a specialist interest in Parkinson’s.
