I suffocate in my sleep - the main reasons

Choking and lack of air is an extremely unpleasant and frightening sensation, especially when it wakes you up in the middle of the night. In addition, night suffocation is always a sign of some serious disease that must be treated.

In this article we:

Let's name the possible reasons why a person suffocates in his sleep;

We'll tell you what to do when you suddenly wake up at night from lack of air;

We will recommend which doctor to see.

Choking on saliva: What are the causes and how to prevent it

Although choking on saliva happens to everyone from time to time, repeatedly choking on saliva can indicate an underlying health problem or bad habit.
Here's what you need to know about choking on saliva, including causes and prevention. Choking on saliva can occur if the muscles involved in swallowing weaken or stop functioning properly due to other health problems. Swallowing and coughing when you have not drunk or have a symptom of choking on saliva. You may also experience the following:

Sometimes choking on saliva may not be a cause for concern. But if it happens frequently, identifying the causes may prevent future occurrences. Possible causes of choking on saliva include:

Acid reflux

Heartburn can also irritate the lining of the esophagus. This can make swallowing difficult and allow saliva to pool in the back of the mouth, causing choking.

Other symptoms of acid reflux include:

Sleep associated with abnormal swallowing

This is a condition in which saliva accumulates in the mouth during sleep and then enters the lungs, leading to aspiration and suffocation. You may wake up gasping for air and choking on your saliva.

Lesions or tumors in the throat

Benign or malignant lesions or tumors in the throat can narrow the esophagus and make it difficult to swallow saliva, causing choking.

Poorly fitting dentures

Saliva production may slow down as your body adjusts to the dentures. If not, consult a doctor. Your dentures may be too high for your mouth or may not fit properly into your bite.

Neurological disorders

Treatment depends on the neurological disorder. Your doctor may prescribe medication to reduce saliva production and teaching techniques to improve swallowing. Medicines to reduce saliva secretion include glycopyrrolate (Robinul) and scopolamine, also known as hyoscine.

alcohol abuse

Choking on saliva can also occur after using heavy alcohol. Alcohol is a sedative. Consuming too much alcohol can slow down muscle response. Being unconscious or incapacitated from drinking too much alcohol can cause saliva to pool in the back of the mouth rather than flow down the throat. Sleeping with your head elevated can improve saliva flow and prevent choking.

Talking excessively

Saliva production continues as you say. If you talk a lot and don't stop swallowing, saliva can move down your trachea into your respiratory system and cause choking. To prevent choking, speak slowly and swallow between phrases and sentences.

Allergies or breathing problems

Other symptoms of an allergy or respiratory issue include:

9. Hypersalivation during pregnancy

This problem may gradually improve. There is no cure, but drinking water can help flush excess saliva from the mouth.

Drug-induced drooling

Some medications may also cause increased saliva production. These include:

You may also experience drooling, difficulty swallowing, and the urge to spit.

Talk to your doctor if producing too much saliva is causing you to choke. Your doctor may switch medications, change the dosage, or prescribe medications to reduce saliva production.

Source

Saliva production standards

An adult normally produces about 1 ml of salivary fluid every 5 minutes1. This substance is colorless and odorless with a slightly sour taste - secretions of the salivary glands, which are located around the jaw. One of the main functions of saliva is to soften food during chewing before swallowing.

In fact, it is where the digestive process begins, since amylase is present in the secretions, which is directly involved in the breakdown of starch into simple sugars. Saliva also provides additional antiseptic treatment and enhances the taste of food. The autonomic nervous system is responsible for the production of salivary fluid, and the smell and taste of food is responsible for stimulating secretory function.

When a person experiences increased salivation, as evidenced by the production of fluid in a volume of up to 5 ml in 5 minutes, there is also a reflexive desire to frequently spit out the secretions accumulated in the mouth. Usually the sense of taste is reduced, in other cases the sensitivity of tastes may be too sharp or distorted.

To understand these issues, you need to understand what saliva is and where it comes from. Saliva is a liquid, transparent secretion that is produced by the salivary glands located in the oral cavity. It performs several important functions in the body:

• takes part in the digestion process, as it contains enzymes that break down food;
• protects mucous membranes from drying out and partially from pathogens;
• protects tooth enamel from destruction by regulating the acid balance in the mouth;
• ensures rapid regeneration of damaged mucous membranes;
• helps eliminate toxic substances from the body that enter the saliva and are expelled when it is spat.

A sleeping person drools from his mouth, usually when for some reason his salivation has increased. And a relaxed body does not have time to react in time and swallow a large amount of liquid.

I constantly choke on my saliva for reasons. Choking on saliva - is it dangerous and how to help?

3. If the above measures are ineffective, tilt the victim upside down and knock 5 more times between the shoulder blades. 4. As a last resort, use the Heimlich method. This will clear the airways of fluid. To do this, you need to stand behind the choking person and wrap your arms around him, one should be clenched into a fist and located just below the chest. Then you need to, as it were, pull the choking person towards you with a strong push of your fist. Repeat everything until the person begins to cough heavily, this indicates that the saliva is leaving. 5. Call an ambulance.

Emergency help for choking on saliva

Parents often wonder whether a baby can choke on saliva and why this happens. This is really possible if the baby sleeps in a supine position. Also, a sleeping baby may choke when burping. To prevent this from happening, after feeding you should keep the baby in an upright position for about 15 minutes and only then put it in the crib.

Emergency help may be needed if:

In these cases, parents must act correctly so as not to harm the baby.

If parents see that the child is choking on saliva, they need to give the baby an upright position as soon as possible. A baby after six months who can sit can be placed on pillows to sleep in this position; Children up to two to three months are placed on their stomach. If the baby cannot breathe, you need to take him by the legs, turn him head down and hold him in this position until he spits out mucus or a foreign body. This must be done quickly.

What not to do

When a child is choking and cannot clear his throat, parents should not be nervous, because anxiety always interferes with the correct action. Also, you should not slap the baby sharply on the back - this can push the mucus even further into the respiratory tract. If the baby screams loudly, you should not interfere with this - with a scream, he can get rid of the abundance of saliva on his own.

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Attention! You should not give your baby bagels or dryers instead of a teether. The baby may bite off a small piece and choke. All rattles with small parts inside that the baby takes into his mouth must be securely closed.

Symptoms

When a person choke on saliva, he begins to cough. This is a good way to open the openings of the larynx and trachea. The cough may not be severe, but to clear the airways it is important that the process of expectoration of liquid begins. When a person begins to choke on saliva, his complexion changes - from pale to bluish.

Sometimes a person who is choking may not cough, but rather hiss. This indicates that the situation is critical and you need to call an ambulance. While waiting, immediately apply the Heimlich method.

Consequences

If someone chokes on saliva, measures must be taken to eliminate it from the respiratory tract. After this there will be no serious consequences. The only thing is that mild pain may occur.

There is no recovery period as such. After 1-3 hours, all unpleasant sensations will go away on their own. If your throat hurts after the incident, you just need to use sprays and aerosols. You should limit the consumption of spicy, salty, hot and cold foods for a period of 1 to 5 days. If nothing bothers you, then restrictions are not needed.

Hello! I am 27 years old. I have been experiencing bouts of drooling during sleep for a month now. Every night, as soon as I doze off, I wake up choking on my saliva. This is accompanied by a sore throat and nausea. At the same time, a lot of saliva is released (it just flows like a stream), I just don’t have time to swallow it. Usually the attack passes within 10 minutes (I try to breathe deeply and quickly swallow saliva), after which I calmly fall asleep until the next attack. Usually 1-2 attacks occur per night. A similar thing happened to me a few years ago, but it quickly passed. I recently suffered from an acute respiratory infection with a cough, and I have chronic tonsillitis (if that matters). What could it be and where to start the examination? Which doctor should I contact? Thank you in advance!

Not clear, do you wake up from a bout of drooling? Is nausea and sore throat only during an attack? Does heartburn bother you? What medications are you taking?

Yes, I wake up from suffocation caused by an attack of drooling (as if I was choking on saliva). Nausea and sore throat only during an attack; heartburn does not bother me. As for medications, I irrigate my tonsils and throat with miramistin, took Ascoril a couple of times, but the attacks started before that. Thank you for your attention to my problem!

The most likely cause of hypersalivation is gastroesophageal reflux. Another possible reason is helminthiasis. Contact a gastroenterologist.

Helminths manifest themselves as salivation. I thought it was a myth, just like gnashing of teeth in a dream...

Hypersalivation can be observed with trichuriasis (trichocephalosis). It is not typical for other invasions. The causative agent of this disease, whipworm, is very difficult to detect by stool analysis due to the low egg production characteristic of this species.

Drooling in pregnant women is excluded??

Nastydoc, pregnancy is excluded.

Could such symptoms be caused by an exacerbation of chronic disease? tonsillitis?

Increased salivation can occur with dysfunction of the jaw joints. Have you had any dental problems in the coming year?

Sergey, my wisdom teeth are actively coming out (2 have come out just in the last year, the 3rd is on the way), but I haven’t gone to the dentist about it. One of the dental concerns that concerns me is pain in the gums in the place where the protruding wisdom tooth “moved” the neighboring tooth to the place of the removed one (the 8th moved the 7th, which is now in the place of the removed 6th, upper jaw, on the left). My entire jaw aches from time to time, but I chalked it up to my wisdom teeth...

Sergey, my wisdom teeth are actively cutting in (2 have come out just in the last year, the 3rd is on the way)… Even without dysfunction, this can increase salivation. ...pain in the gum in the place where the protruding wisdom tooth “moved” the neighboring tooth to the place of the removed one (the 8th moved the 7th, which is now in the place of the removed 6th, upper jaw, on the left)…. It seems that this is called Hodon’s symptom... ...The whole jaw aches from time to time, but I chalked it up to wisdom teeth... I would strongly advise you to visit a dentist. And look at the dental section of this forum: Search there: TMJ.

Do you have increased salivation during the day? At night, when you have bouts of salivation, what do you do with the saliva: swallow, spit? If you spit, how much saliva is collected per night (by volume)? Do you have problems swallowing (at night or during the day) saliva, solid food, or water? Is there a nasal voice? Have you had a traumatic brain injury or encephalitis?

Diagnostic measures

Diagnostics in this case involves the following steps:

1. Collecting a complete medical history (when the primary symptoms appeared, the presence of concomitant diseases, etc.).
2. Life activity analysis. The thing is that the hereditary factor often plays a primary role in the occurrence of such a pathology as increased salivation. The causes in adults often lie in the abuse of bad habits (for example, smoking).
3. A detailed examination of the oral cavity for ulcers or other lesions of the mucous membrane.
4. Enzymatic analysis of saliva itself.
5. Additional examination by a dentist, psychiatrist and neurologist to identify possible indirect causes.

The main task of diagnosis is to determine the cause of excessive salivation. Diagnostic measures include:

• Collection of patient complaints, examination of the patient’s medical record. Purpose: to identify the time of onset of primary symptoms, to identify diseases that could provoke drooling.
• Life activity analysis, presence of bad habits. One of the common causes of hypersalivation in adults is smoking.
• The first appointment with a specialist includes a physical examination: visual assessment of the condition of the oral cavity, nasopharynx, palpation of the head, facial muscles, and neck.
• General blood and urine tests that need to be done to identify the cause of drooling.
• Study of salivary fluid.
• Referral to a more specialized specialist: dentist, neurologist, otolaryngologist.

Based on the diagnosis, the doctor determines the optimal treatment method for hypersalivation.

Diagnosis of signs of suffocation during sleep

If a person says that sometimes I suffocate in my sleep, then in order to eliminate or prevent the occurrence of unpleasant pathologies that may be associated with attacks of suffocation at night, it is necessary to carry out a competent diagnosis. A timely study will allow, under the supervision of a doctor, to get rid of the unpleasant consequences of such a pathology, and will also prevent its occurrence.

To establish a diagnosis, it is important to consult a doctor immediately after the first attack occurs. Some serious diseases, such as bronchial asthma, may be accompanied by such attacks at night.

If a person begins to choke in his sleep, before the ambulance arrives, you can help him by opening all the windows for ventilation, and also try to calm him down so that panic does not develop. Depending on the reason for its appearance, it is necessary to give the appropriate drug.

If a person has difficulty breathing due to heart failure, nitroglycerin should be given. If the cause is high blood pressure, you should give pills that lower it. If the cause is an allergic reaction, then the right remedy is to use any type of antihistamine. Asthmatics usually have tools in their arsenal to help them cope with attacks.

When choking has occurred, the person should not be given anything to drink, since his throat is under tension and this can only worsen the situation. It is best to move from a lying position to a sitting position.

Causes of increased salivation

Malfunctions in the process of saliva production can be associated with systemic disorders in the body or diseases of individual organs, as well as inflammatory processes in the oral cavity. Let's take a closer look at the most common provoking factors.

Inflammation in the oral cavity can cause the problem. This symptom is characteristic of diseases such as gingivitis, periodontitis, and periodontal disease. Pathogenic microorganisms provoke irritation of the salivary glands. The response may well be excessive secretion of salivary fluid.

Problems with the oral mucosa can cause this symptom.

The pathological condition in question also becomes a consequence of disturbances in the gastrointestinal tract. Most often, this phenomenon occurs against the background of increased stomach acidity. Among other possible conditions related to digestion, experts identify irritation of the stomach walls, increased load on the pancreas, liver problems, and worms.

Hypersalivation can also be caused by diseases associated with the central nervous system. Such pathologies include cerebral palsy, Parkinson's disease and its initial stage, irritation of the trigeminal nerve, as well as ailments that cause frequent nausea, such as migraines. A similar situation arises against the background of malfunctions of the vestibular apparatus.

Failures in the functioning of the endocrine system are another common cause of hypersalivation. Usually, problems with the thyroid gland are to blame. The symptom can be triggered by diabetes mellitus or hormonal changes - during menopause or puberty.

The symptom is often caused by long-term drug therapy with potent drugs. After stopping the course, the secretion of the salivary glands returns to normal. It happens that the cause of all troubles is iodine or mercury poisoning. It should be noted that people with removable dentures and heavy smokers often suffer from this diagnosis.

Long-term use of medications may affect saliva production

Possible reasons why food and liquid often end up in the windpipe

Hello Tatiana! Despite the fact that foreign bodies in the respiratory tract are most often observed in children, we can also observe a similar picture in adults. Most often, in the case of adults, food ends up in the “wrong throat” when talking while eating or with diseases of the epiglottis, when the entrance to the larynx is not tightly closed at the time of swallowing. Perhaps these problems are associated with impaired innervation of the soft palate. Maybe this is a manifestation of esophageal diseases. For example, with dysphagia (swallowing disorder), conditions are observed in which it is impossible to take a sip, or the movement of food in the pharynx and through the esophagus is disrupted. Unpleasant sensations may also occur due to food retention in these organs. With the so-called oropharyngeal dysphagia, paresis of some muscle groups that are involved in the act of swallowing, or discoordination in their work, is observed. In these cases, food, especially liquid food, can enter the respiratory tract and nasopharynx. At the same time, a person naturally starts coughing, sneezing, or choking. Conditions similar to this are found in the outcome of poliomyelitis, diphtheria, syringomyelia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, parkinsonism, bulbar palsy, encephalitis, botulism, myasthenia gravis, strokes, lesions of the glossopharyngeal nerve, etc.

Increased salivation during pregnancy

As you know, a woman’s body undergoes various changes during pregnancy, including at the hormonal level. According to experts, it is in the early stages that many women notice the primary signs of hypersalivation.

Most often, this problem accompanies toxicosis. It is important to note that in some cases, hypersalivation is not associated with actual activation of the salivary glands. The thing is that a woman is constantly trying to suppress attacks of nausea and vomiting, thereby she begins to involuntarily swallow less often. As a result, there is a feeling that there is actually more saliva than there should be.

Often, increased salivation during pregnancy is somewhat aggravated by attacks of heartburn. In this case, the body conditionally receives a signal to soften the acid with saliva, which, due to its high bicarbonate content, is classified as an alkaline environment.

Sometimes hypersalivation occurs due to the same factors as in ordinary adults. In this kind of situation, pregnant women are advised to inform their doctor about this in order to rule out obvious causes of the problem.

Frequent salivation in women is often caused by such an exciting and important stage as pregnancy. Numerous changes that occur in the female body can provoke various disorders, including ptyalism.

The main reasons that cause excessive salivation in the expectant mother:

• Heartburn. When an acid imbalance occurs, a lot of saliva is produced, which is a protective reaction against increased acid levels.
• Reaction to medications. The internal transformations a pregnant woman undergoes may manifest itself in an inadequate perception of medications.
• Toxicoses. Increased salivation and nausea, vomiting occur before, during and after eating. A similar condition can appear even before drinking water. With toxicosis, the syndrome often has no connection with a real increase in the work of the salivary glands. A pregnant woman tries to cope with nausea and suppress the urge to gag, so she swallows less often. As a result, there is a feeling that liquid begins to accumulate in the oral cavity.

With uncontrolled ptyalism, the following complications may occur:

• Violation of adequate taste perception, food aversion.
• Sharp weight loss. Carrying a child requires significant energy expenditure and a large amount of nutrients and elements. Rational nutrition is necessary for a favorable pregnancy and fetal development. Reluctance to consume food causes weight loss.
• Dehydration of the body.
• Psycho-emotional disorders, insomnia.
• Deterioration of the condition and color of the skin of the face.
• Infectious lesions.

First aid for choking

You should always call a doctor. It is necessary to calm the patient to eliminate panic. Help sit down and provide fresh air.

During an attack of bronchial asthma, when breathing stops during sleep, it is recommended to put mustard plasters on the chest, apply a heating pad to the legs, and give the patient Euphilin.

If you have difficulty breathing during sleep due to allergic swelling of the larynx, you must take a solution of calcium chloride and any antihistamine that you have at home (Diphenhydramine, Fenkarol, Clarotadine, Diazolin).

In case of heart failure syndrome, the patient needs to be given a semi-sitting position, given Nitroglycerin or Validol, make a warm foot bath, apply mustard plasters to the calves, and adjust the pressure.

With diphtheria, sleep apnea in adults and children occurs due to blockage of the airway lumen by a fibrinous film. The patient needs to be given a sitting position and his legs warmed.

Moderate attacks of choking in the throat occur in children with sore throat and pharyngitis. The child must be woken up and calmed down. In an upright position, the work of the muscles involved in breathing is facilitated.

If a person does not breathe in a dream, it is necessary to force him to wake up, help him take a vertical position, and force him to breathe through his nose. Late pregnant women may choke in their sleep when the fetus puts pressure on the diaphragm. A pregnant woman may experience severe shortness of breath. If an attack of suffocation occurs in a dream, it is necessary to open the window and sit the woman on a chair. It is advisable to have an oxygen inhaler at home.

Don't let us drink. The pharynx and throat are tense. A sip of water can provoke a new attack of suffocation. Make sure that the patient's tongue does not sink.

Make sure that the patient's tongue does not sink. Relatives should know about the disease and have medications on hand to help. Breathing can stop with an overdose of drugs, gas poisoning, depression, and metabolic disorders. If you wake up at night because you are suffocating in your sleep, contact a specialist.

List of used literature:

A person may begin to choke in their sleep, regardless of age and other factors. At night, attacks of suffocation are especially dangerous because the person has not yet fully recovered from sleep and sometimes does not understand what is happening to him. The reasons for their appearance can be not only diseases, but also psychological problems.

During an attack, a person is overcome by severe fear, he experiences stress, his nervous system is tense, and therefore the attacks may repeat another time. In this case, a person may experience insomnia because his subconscious has remembered the negative experience in a dream, and the person is afraid of repeating it.

Severe nocturnal hypersalivation

During sleep, as is known, the work of the glands responsible for the production of saliva slows down somewhat. However, it also happens that the secret begins to be produced before the person finally wakes up. All this entails spontaneous drainage of liquid from the mouth of a sleeping person.

If such cases are rare, then there is no reason to worry. However, regular recurrence of this problem requires consultation with a specialist.

Doctors note that in some cases, during sleep, the body loses control over reflexes. This also leads to increased salivation.

Hypersalivation can occur due to certain diseases that cause nasal congestion (ARVI, influenza). As a rule, increased salivation disappears after the final disappearance of the main cause - difficulty breathing.

The announcer choked on live broadcast, what to do in similar cases

This has happened to almost everyone. Most often - during a conversation. It seems like there is no food or chewing gum in the mouth, but the person suddenly chokes, starts coughing, and tears come to his eyes.

The reason, as Dr. Itay Gal explains on the Ynet website, is that saliva ends up in the wrong throat: in the larynx instead of the esophagus.

The body immediately reacts to the situation, sensing a drop of liquid moving down the trachea and threatening to enter the lungs. It uses mechanisms located near the vocal cords.

The vocal cords contract sharply to prevent further fluid from entering the airways, creating a sensation of suffocation. The cough reflex is activated: the muscles of the diaphragm contract powerfully in a pulsed mode, put pressure on the lungs and cause a cough, which should push fluid into the oral cavity. The result is a clinical picture - an uncontrollable cough and a feeling of suffocation. Speech becomes hoarse and breathing becomes difficult because coughing pushes air out.

general information

Salivation is known to be a normal process. Thus, approximately 2 mg of saliva is released every 10 minutes. However, in some cases, so-called hypersalivation may occur.

This pathology is popularly known as increased salivation. The causes in adults can be very different, ranging from oral diseases to serious neurological disorders.

It is also important to note that some patients perceive a normal amount of saliva as increased. Most often this occurs due to impaired swallowing function. In this case, a person simply cannot swallow saliva completely, and it constantly accumulates in the oral cavity. In fact, there is no need to talk about serious pathology here. Doctors call this hypersalivation false.

Partial and complete suffocation

There are two possible options for sudden suffocation - complete and partial. With partial suffocation, the foreign body narrows the airways, but does not completely clog them, and with complete suffocation, the airways are completely clogged. Typically, a foreign body gets stuck at the height of the vocal cords, leaving a partial entrance to the trachea near the vocal cords, or the foreign body is smaller than the limited opening of the vocal cords and falls into the trachea, partially narrowing its lumen. Complete suffocation occurs when a foreign body is larger than the opening limited by the vocal cords (entrance to the trachea), and, stuck in this place, completely clogs it, in which case air cannot enter or leave the lungs. Thus, a person cannot inhale, exhale, speak, cough, suitable assistance must be provided as quickly as possible, otherwise the victim dies.

Treatment of excessive salivation with surgery

In particularly severe cases, surgery may be prescribed. In this case, particularly large parotid salivary glands can be removed. The operation is quite complex and can lead to certain consequences. If the facial nerve is damaged, symmetry can be seriously disrupted. The decision on surgical intervention and the advisability of such actions is made only by an experienced and highly qualified specialist.

The operation helps stop excessive drooling for up to 8 months. This is not a radical measure. It is impossible to completely get rid of the disease in this way. Therefore, in any case, you need to start with an examination of the body and its traditional treatment.

Remember that saliva not only interferes with comfortable sleep and rest, but also threatens human life. A sleepy person can easily choke in it. To prevent the consequences of hypersalivation, we recommend that you do not delay and make an appointment with a professional therapist who can find the cause of the malfunction in the body.

Why does this pathology occur?

In a healthy person, saliva is secreted as a response to the aroma of food; taste analyzers also have nerve endings on the oral mucosa. Maximum irritation causes, accordingly, profuse salivation. For example, the more pleasant the smell, the faster your appetite flares up. The gastrointestinal tract thus communicates that it is ready to “work.”

The salivary glands are known to function constantly. They are designed to moisturize the oral cavity and protect the tongue, tonsils and nasopharynx from drying out. In just one day, about two liters of liquid are produced. A decrease in these volumes is usually observed during sleep, during dehydration and during stress.

Doctor Komarovsky's opinion

Komarovsky believes that cough due to strong salivation is most often caused by the appearance of teeth; this condition does not require treatment. Even a healthy child must cough sometimes to clear the nasopharynx of saliva and mucus. However, if the baby begins to choke, urgent medical attention is needed; self-medication is dangerous.

Attention! If during the period of teething the temperature rises above 38.5 degrees, most likely we can talk about an infection. This happens quite often, because during this period the child’s body becomes especially vulnerable.

The child’s body is particularly vulnerable and increased susceptibility to medications, so it is strictly forbidden to give the baby any medications without prior approval from the attending physician. The dosage should be appropriate to the age and (or) weight of the baby.

What is the cause of hypersalivation in children?

It should be noted that in the first year of a child’s life, this pathology is not considered a serious disease requiring treatment. Increased salivation in a baby is a normal process. In this case, the so-called unconditional reflex factor comes to the fore.

When the very first teeth erupt, excessive salivation is also not considered a disease and does not require surgical intervention.

It is important to note that older children should not suffer from hypersalivation. If a problem still exists, it is extremely important to consult a specialist.

At about three months, the baby's salivary glands begin to work. It is at this time that parents usually notice severe drooling. However, there is no need to panic for no reason, as it takes a baby some time to learn to swallow on its own.

Hypersalivation in children is often part of the work of the defense system. The thing is that along with the fluid that flows out of the mouth, various bacteria are removed.

Quite rarely, increased salivation is a sign of damage directly to the brain itself, which could have occurred in the perinatal period.

Hypersalivation is the scientific name for increased salivation. This process usually occurs in young children and is completely natural. The fact is that their teeth begin to cut, which means, in turn, the body promotes the speedy healing of wounds and restoration of the integrity of the oral cavity.

Hypersalivation in children is not a disease or serious defect requiring treatment. However, for adults, such a problem should be a good reason to go to the doctor.

Treatment

Treatment of increased salivation at night involves, first of all, diagnosing the causes that caused its occurrence and treating the underlying disease. For diagnosis, you should contact a specialist: gastroenterologist, dentist, endocrinologist, neurologist, therapist. You need to undergo clinical tests and be checked for worms. The specialist prescribes the necessary studies. Therapeutic treatment is selected by the doctor.

In some cases, medications with an anticholinergic effect (riabal, platifilin, scopolamine) are prescribed, which reduces the amount of saliva produced. However, you should not prescribe these drugs yourself, because side effects may occur. In addition, drug therapy is usually short-term. And, of course, it is necessary to completely cure all diseases of the oral cavity. Cryotherapy, a method that allows one to reflexively increase the frequency of swallowing saliva, and homeopathic treatment have proven to be quite effective methods.

In the most difficult cases, with excessive salivation, surgery is performed to remove large salivary glands. However, this is a very complex operation that can cause a number of other problems: for example, if the facial nerves are damaged, the symmetry of the face is disrupted. Injecting botulinum toxin into the parotid glands stops saliva production for up to 8 months.

List of used literature:

Source

What types of problems do experts identify?

Dental experts identify 2 main forms of the symptom. So, hypersalivation can be of the following types:

1. true - too intense fluid production is noted, and the phenomenon itself becomes a consequence of external or internal factors,
2. false - the problem is not the increased production of saliva, but the difficulties associated with swallowing it. This may be due to diseases of the brain, disturbances in the functioning of the masticatory muscles, or serious injuries in the area of ​​the maxillofacial apparatus.

Increased secretion of the salivary glands occurs in the morning, afternoon and night. So, for example, in the first case we are talking about a completely natural phenomenon, but a symptom that occurs mainly at night most often indicates problems in the functioning of the stomach and intestines, the presence of worms. Before and during meals, intense production of fluid in the mouth only indicates an increased feeling of hunger and good appetite. When the phenomenon becomes paroxysmal, this may indicate emotional overload.