Category Archives: salivation

Excessive Saliva

Question:

Thanks for your Parkinsons Recovery newsletters. They are very interesting to me.

What can I do about excessive saliva? I am swallowing all the time.  I have been ill one year. I currently take ropinirol and l-troksin.

Response

A number of factors might be causing the troubling symptom of excessive saliva. Your body may be simply releasing toxins through the saliva rather than urine. Since the discharge is centered in your mouth and throat, there may be a residue of heavy metals that your body is working hard to get out of your body.

There is one possible cause that I would recommend you investigate first. Your problem may be caused by the side effects of medications you are currently taking. I recommend  that you talk with your doctor and a pharmacist about the side effects of the drugs you are taking.  You can also usually obtain information sheets on the drugs from your pharmacist or from the company that dispenses your drugs.

It is possible that you are experiencing the effects of a drug interaction.  Taking any two drugs such as those that you you mention in your question may possibly cause the symptom you describe of excessive saliva.  No one can ever really know what side effects might present when more than one medication is taken. Why?

There is never any research done on the possible interactions that result when more than one prescription meditation is taken at the same time. Even if research existed, we still would not know if your body would react more severely from taking these two particular medications than would be found with another person.

In short, it would be a smart move to talk with your doctor about the possibility you are experiencing side effects of the medications you are taking,  I personally refer such questions to compounding pharmacist Randy Mentzer who is an expert in such matters. He does an analyses of each person’s situation and set of recommendations to be reviewed with your doctor.

Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
Road to Recovery from Parkinsons Disease
www.parkinsonsdisease.me

© 2013 Parkinsons Recovery

Excessive Sweating

Question:

 I have been doing sort of OK with my Parkinson’s except that
severe sweating is driving me crazy. I sweat five or six times
a day – then sweat all night and wake up every morning soaking
from head to toe. I’ve done some research but cannot find
anything but talk about surgery.

Do you know of any nutritional or herbal treatment. Even if it is
not a cure but offers some relief?

I would appreciate some suggestions.

Thank you Robert

ML

Response:

Thanks so much for sending in your question.
Here is my spin on sweating from working with
individuals with the symptoms of Parkinsons
who have this problem. Rest assured you are not
alone in being driven crazy by this symptom.

Here is what I see is happening with sweating.
Your body is sending you a strong signal. What is
the message? I sense the message is that your lymph
system is clogged and not functioning at present.

Why is it clogged? You have an overabundance of toxins.
(Please do not be offended. First, my guess may be
wrong. Second, everyone has this problem who lives
in a toxic world today and that is everyone!).

When the body is attempting to do its work of eliminating toxins
(which is one of its jobs) and there are too many toxins
for the body to eliminate in a normal fashion (through kidneys, liver, etc)
the body will use whatever means available to release
the toxins. If the lymph system is clogged, the sweat glands are
a good alternative outlet. Looked at from this perspective,
sweating may be critical for the organs in your body to
continue functioning. In other words, it is actually a good thing
to sweat though it is making you miserable.

What do you do about this? First, you can evaluate everything
you put on your body, everything you eat and everything you
touch. It is possible you are contaminating yourself in a most
innocent way (like the shaving lotion you use or the laundry
soap you use or …). It may be the furniture you sit on has toxins.
Consider all possibilities and eliminate any and all sources
of toxins. Make it a project for the month. The source of the problem
may lie in a most strange place, one that you never thought about
before.

Second, you can purchase a small trampoline and jump on it
for 4 or 5 minutes a day (unless balance is an issue for you).
Jumping on a trampoline every day helps to clear out the toxins
and clear your lymph system.

Third, you can contact a naturopath or MD type doctor who knows
how to help you detox gently (or go to your health food store and
discuss detox options with them). There are many other natural
options that can help you detox (infrared saunas, sweat lodges,
steam rooms, homeopathic treatments, etc.)

I frequently do teleseminars with naturopaths who have great ideas
for detoxing. I recently interviewed Dr. Ivy Faber, ND, who does a test
that will tell you what toxins are problematic for you (or if my guess
is wrong about toxins, what might be the true source of your sweating
problem).

You also probably need to be especially careful to hydrate your body.
You may have the thought that you do not want to drink water because
it will make the sweating worse. Without adequate hydration, you
cannot detox your body and your lymph system will remain clogged.
There is a homeopathic treatment that is specifically designed to help
you hydrate your body.

Now – as you search around for herbal treatments, I recommend that
you consider the herbs that will help clear out your lymph system and
help you detox your body. I interviewed an amazing herbalist in
Pioneers of Recovery (http://pioneersofrecovery.com) Andrew Bentley.
He is the kind of person I would approach to get the best advice on
herbs to try.

Consider essential oils as an option too and be sure to watch the video
showing the application of essential oils that I posted right here
on this blog (www.blog.parkinsonsrecovery.com) just last week.

The bottom line is I would direct your focus in consultations with
your doctors to detoxing your body of harmful substances. Once
the toxins are cleared to a manageable state, your lymph system
will begin to function normally and the symptom of sweating should
subside.

Keep me appraised of what choices you make and what helps
(or does not help). I will be happy to post your experience on
the blog.

All the best,

Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
Parkinsons Recovery
www.parkinsonsrecovery.com

Parkinson’s Supplements: Herbs that Help with Tremors and Salivation

Last week I had the privilege of interviewing
Andrew Bentley who practices as a herbalist
in Lexington, Kentucky. A short excerpt
from my interview with him follows:

Question:

Many people ask me very specific
questions about how they can get help with
specific symptoms. For example, many people
have asked me recently about excessive
salivation. They have a lot of worries and
troubles with that.

Is there anything off the top of your head
that you would suggest as a possibility in
the herbal area for that?

There are some things that might help with that.
For example, oat bark extract taken in very
small amounts can sometimes help with excessive
salivation. Also, sometimes if you have better
muscle control in the muscles of the neck and
throat and the face, that can sometimes help
for the excessive salivation not to be a problem.

How about tremors? 

Oat straw is one thing that is sometimes helpful
for that. A nice thing about oat straw is that
it usually does not cause drowsiness. A lot of
things that are anti-spasmodic also cause sedation.
Sometimes people aren’t looking for that. That
is a helpful thing about that particular herb
because it doesn’t have so much of that effect.

Valerian is a much stronger herb for helping to
suppress tremors but it does carry some risk of
sedation, of feeling more drowsy and so forth
especially when people first start taking it.
Sometimes that lessons as time goes on.

It is a very strong substance when it comes to
helping control involuntary muscle movement
tremors and involuntary movement of otherwise
involuntary muscles. It is a good one for that.

Passion flower is also one that is helpful for
some particular individuals.  These are all
things that would go into that category of
working on tremors.

Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
Parkinsons Recovery

© 2008 Parkinsons Recovery