Has anybody had a salivary gland infection or stone?

I tried to get into the doctor today, as my wife and I went out to dinner and during the meal I had this strange pain on my neck and under my ear lobe. When I got home after feeling that pain while chewing a salad, my neck and jaw had significantly swollen such that I thought I had a allergic reaction to some kind of food. I have never had an allergic reaction to food, and when my wife saw the extent of the swelling she was concerned with Lymph involvement, but also said it might be a salivary gland infection. I have been fighting an ear infection in my right ear, so that seemed to make sense.

The doctor cannot see me until the 26th, and I would prefer to go to my GP, but I have my shots on Wed, and will contact the nurse practitioner in my Oncologist's office and see if he wants to take some scans. They wanted to schedule me for scans in late June and Early July for a decision on the Chemo embolization, so I decided rather than going to the emergency room to get some antibiotics, I can wait to Wed. and see what they recommend.

One of the medical sites talks about massaging the swelling to see if you can loosen a stone and clear the salivary gland. I tried it and got some funky tastes in my mouth as they recommend to keep massaging it and drinking a lot of water. I had never heard of this and it is pretty cool to locate your salivary gland and milk it to clear a stone.....at least that is what I hope to do.....if it is the lymph nodes, that would not be the best situation as the cancer is starting to get pretty wide spread. We will see......I will watch the game tonight milking the gland, like LeBron milks calls.

Sounds terrible... sorry man.

Really none of it is awful, and I have no explanation on how I handle pain now. I just fall asleep, and I am really unable to distinguish how much discomfort I am dealing with. It really is not that painful, but the swelling is like nothing I have ever had. I have had a history of really bad ear infections in my right ear. One or two times a year since I injured my ear drum in a scuba diving accident in college where I was getting certified in a coal mining strip mine and my instructor ran out of air and went straight up with me. I bled from the ear drum and it was dripping on my face. Over time it just never healed and was a door for infection. I really wanted to kick his asz at the time because I sensed he did it on purpose, but I could never prove it and I would have been kicked out of school. He was bragging about how long he could hold his breath underwater, and I beat him by about 10 yards and after that point he went a little psycho. A lifetime of discomfort and the ear infections lead to drainage and pneumonia, so I have to be vigilant.

Increase salivation.... suck on a lemon. Keep things moving. Also warm compresses on your jaw. ? Mumps?

I doubt this will help you, Sea, but over the years my hubby has occasionally had terrible pain in the lower/rear jaw when chewing something-- it comes on very suddenly and kills, such that he's entirely unable to eat until it 'relaxes' -- almost acts like a cramp in the jaw, if that's possible, and it does look and feel swollen sometimes. When he first used the term "cramp" I suggested bananas. He now eats two or three bananas a week and no more problems, except one very brief episode several months ago. Crazy.

As to recurring infections, if you had/have a ruptured ear drum (which the bleeding after your dive would seem to indicate), that's repairable by surgery. They take graft skin from the area behind your ear and place it on the drum with temporary packing while it "takes." Works like a charm - my hubby had it done late last year. He figured the drum had probably been perforated during a childhood illness, but the doc said there was no way to tell how long it'd been ruptured. Anyway, I'd imagine you certainly don't want to fool with surgery now even if that were the source of your pain, and can't blame you. Am mostly offering this for anyone else walking around with a ruptured ear drum.

Yikes, that sounds like a lot of no-fun. I don't know what could be done, although Joni's idea about keeping salivation going sounds like a good one. If sucking lemons is a little rough, I'd recommend lemon drops.

Also, if the localized pain is bad, sometimes letting a baby aspirin dissolve on the spot can help. Since they apparently don't make Aspergum anymore, I sometimes use baby aspirin for things like that. Also, OraGel helps numb pain sometimes. And Listerine usually clears up any infected spots.

In any case, I hope it will ease up soon and you'll get some relief.

Lot's of good tips and advice. There's a lot of wisdom and experience here. I appreciate everyone being so willing to share. I know it's not easy to talk about some of the things we go through... it's personal when being anonymous here is a wise practice. But it's a generous gesture and really shows that we care about each other first... tear each others throats out politically second... lol. Anyway... i just want to thank everyone for that. Good on ya.

2seaoat wrote:I tried to get into the doctor today, as my wife and I went out to dinner and during the meal I had this strange pain on my neck and under my ear lobe.  When I got home after feeling that pain while chewing a salad, my neck and jaw had significantly swollen such that I thought I had a allergic reaction to some kind of food.  I have never had an allergic reaction to food, and when my wife saw the extent of the swelling she was concerned with Lymph involvement, but also said it might be a salivary gland infection.   I have been fighting an ear infection in my right ear, so that seemed to make sense.

The doctor cannot see me until the 26th, and I would prefer to go to my GP, but I have my shots on Wed, and will contact the nurse practitioner in my Oncologist's office and see if he wants to take some scans.   They wanted to schedule me for scans in late June and Early July for a decision on the Chemo embolization, so I decided rather than going to the emergency room to get some antibiotics, I can wait to Wed. and see what they recommend.

One of the medical sites talks about massaging the swelling to see if you can loosen a stone and clear the salivary gland.   I tried it and got some funky tastes in my mouth as they recommend to keep massaging it and drinking a lot of water.  I had never heard of this and it is pretty cool to locate your salivary gland and milk it to clear a stone.....at least that is what I hope to do.....if it is the lymph nodes, that would not be the best situation as the cancer is starting to get pretty wide spread.   We will see......I will watch the game tonight milking the gland, like LeBron milks calls.

Ridiculous. ...to have to,wait that long.

I have seen general incompetence in medical care over the last 50 years at the local level. It gets very old to go through three layers of doctor staff telling you he is not available. I do not care. If it does not get better by Thursday morning, I will go to urgent care which my doctor's office recommended. It is all a rip off as the medical group connected to the local hospital has set up the urgent care where I am sure they get a premium for a visit. I still will try to get a message to my PA at the oncologist's office, but I really think it is an infection which has spread from the ear, sinus, and now salivary gland. Oh well, I am happy to still be here.

My best friend, just recently rang her cancer free bell, had several episodes of different problems. All we did was call and she was seen immediately. A couple of times we went straight to the ER. She was seen by either her oncologist or surgeon and admitted.

Never once, for any problem, was she told she would have to wait.

2seaoat wrote:I have seen general incompetence in medical care over the last 50 years at the local level.   It gets very old to go through three layers of doctor staff telling you he is not available.   I do not care.   If it does not get better by Thursday morning, I will go to urgent care which my doctor's office recommended.  It is all a rip off as the medical group connected to the local hospital has set up the urgent care where I am sure they get a premium for a visit.  I still will try to get a message to my PA at the oncologist's office, but I really think it is an infection which has spread from the ear, sinus, and now salivary gland.  Oh well, I am happy to still be here.

My husband was prescribed to Gum Paroex (Chlorhexidine Gluconate) during his hospital stay. If your ears are involved, I recommend my tried and true recipe for swimmer's ear: 1/3 hydrogen peroxide, 1/3 alcohol, 1/3 vinegar. I used this on my kids when they were growing up, and sometimes I use it myself.

The swelling and pain broke after a scalding shower where I let the water run along my jaw and neck. I then after the shower dug into a cup of Jelly beans and took about a half hour of stimulating my salivary gland, and suddenly boom......very foul tasting warm saliva, and almost instantly the swelling started to go down, by the time I drove to Northwestern, it was gone, but there has been a lingering foul taste all day. I will go to urgent care and get antibiotics for the ear, which at the same time that the damn or stone broke, my ear and sinus also broke with more drainage and the feeling of liquid in my ear began to disappear.

Ummm... glad to hear you're ok... but not so glad to hear the gory details... lol.

2seaoat wrote:The swelling and pain broke after a scalding shower where I let the water run along my jaw and neck.  I then after the shower dug into a cup of Jelly beans and took about a half hour of stimulating my salivary gland, and suddenly boom......very foul tasting warm saliva, and almost instantly the swelling started to go down, by the time I drove to Northwestern, it was gone, but there has been a lingering foul taste all day.   I will go to urgent care and get antibiotics for the ear, which at the same time that the damn or stone broke, my ear and sinus also broke with more drainage and the feeling of liquid in my ear began to disappear.

Gargle with warm salt water.

I am beginning to feel like that character in the sunday funny paper who had the cloud over his head. My doc's office cannot get me with my primary doc until June 26th, so they suggested I go to an urgent care facility which their hospital group has put together in a shopping center. I go at 11 am and walk in and the place is empty but one guy sitting. I tell them my doctor's office has made a referral to check my ear and jaw and get some antibiotics. Well they ask me if I had been there before. I told them yes. They ask my name. I give it to them, and the young girl looks up from a computer and says it will be 30 to 45 minutes before they could see me. I say "great I need to get a hundred feet of security cable at Wal Mart and I will be back in a half hour".......she goes......NO....you cannot do that, you must remain here and wait or another person will take your place. I ask her....."are you joking" No sir, uh.....some people may have made reservations.

I look at this person who thinks that I am some sort of trained dog she can abuse, and quietly say NO Maam, I am not going to sit in this empty waiting room for 45 minutes, nor will I not leave when I want to while waiting, but I will make a complaint to the Hospital administrator about how you treat patients, and will make other arrangements. I am going to my doctors office in the morning and be assertive. I will not get a doctor, but I will get the antibiotics. Our health care system is more than politics, it needs some honest asz kicking. I have seen people so abused by medical professionals, and they rarely know how to deal with me because I am not one of their trained dogs.

Surprise Surprise. I call the doctors office, and they have a recording to leave a message. I left them one Angry Seaoat message, and lo and behold at 3pm I will be seeing a doc. I am so piszed off that a person has to be rude to get treated with any rudimentary respect and dignity. Our problems in the delivery of health care is far more problematic than rising rates. It is layer after layer of incompetence and stonewalling which protects incompetent doctors and staff while treating patients like dogs. My doctor found my cancer, and I will forever be grateful, but his staff is obnoxious and disrespectful to the public. My BIL and SIL use him and have had the same experiences.

I can bring tears to people, so I will have to dial this down, but the sick elderly people I see being abused and taken advantage of need advocates. This stonewalling is intolerable and must be addressed. They are about to see the biggest A hole in Northern Illinois in 45 minutes.

A reservation for an urgent care center.

Success. Antibiotics prescribed. Protocol of warm compress. Chewed everybody out, and to the last one they apologized. People need to be advocates and not accept stonewalling and utter indifference toward patients. Some people need to find new jobs or new attitudes, but most people simply take the abuse. I am not taking it any more. I am making no excuses about civility, or proper discussion with health professionals. If they behave rudely or do not give a chit about patients, I am making waves. I still think of those poor young girls being humiliated on a Dr. ordered test where they were shaking them down in earshot of other patients. I got my letter off to Northwestern, and I now get a regular email asking me for my opinion. It is like twenty years ago when I would write letters to the editor about government abuse of citizens, and then I moved and they would email once a month asking for me to send letters to the editor. People recognize morality and right and wrong, but when we become sheep and are afraid to rock the boat, we risk everything in this great country. The little things do matter.

2seaoat wrote:Success.   Antibiotics prescribed.  Protocol of warm compress.  Chewed everybody out, and to the last one they apologized.  People need to be advocates and not accept stonewalling and utter indifference toward patients.   Some people need to find new jobs or new attitudes, but most people simply take the abuse.  I am not taking it any more.  I am making no excuses about civility, or proper discussion with health professionals.  If they behave rudely or do not give a chit about patients, I am making waves.  I still think of those poor young girls being humiliated on a Dr. ordered test where they were shaking them down in earshot of other patients.   I got my letter off to Northwestern, and I now get a regular email asking me for my opinion.  It is like twenty years ago when I would write letters to the editor about government abuse of citizens, and then I moved and they would email once a month asking for me to send letters to the editor.  People recognize morality and right and wrong, but when we become sheep and are afraid to rock the boat, we risk everything in this great country.   The little things do matter.

Of course you won't suffer the consequences of a nationalized healthcare system... but you helped.

Our children will live to see the day.

I have no problem with Medicare for all. My Medicare has been simple and zero problems. I have NEVER met a senior who complained about Medicare. Nobody. The biggest Trump supporter is doing Chemo right now and he cannot say enough good things about Medicare. This myth that Medicare is not efficient and working in America is a well crafted fake news story.

What you describe sounds like you were hit with a case of tonsil stones.

The doctor found that it was a salivary stone. It is funny you raised this thread because this morning I am sensing small swelling again. I will do what he advised and put a warm compress on my jaw, but this really sucks because I think this may be involved in my cancer decline, but it is such a minor irritation that it really is no big deal. Oh, and with my low immune system, my reactions to poison Ivy have not been a problem since being sick over the last 9 years, but after I cut the grass last week I had a massive outbreak of poison ivy on my neck and leg. My wife found on the internet a great remedy which involves witchhazel, ivarest, and baby asprin which acts as an anti inflammatory which cuts the healing time.