There is this strange thing that happens to me at the very least 1 time and at the most 4 times per year. My Parotid glands swell up because there is a blockage and it hurts like a mother effer. I wouldn’t normally use such profanity, but it really hurts lol.
What is the Parotid gland? Nobody has ever heard that term, but apparently it’s a saliva gland. This is where your saliva comes from, well, one of the many glands anyway. I am not a medical professional or even a student so don’t listen to what I’m about to say if you expect to get an education from this, this is only my assumption based on my experience with this.
So you have these glands that produce your saliva. They release saliva through veins that run from the gland to the inside of your mouth and it oozes out into your mouth. If there is a block, your gland fills up with saliva and you can literally push on it and you can feel, and even see saliva squirting out of the inside of your cheek either into your mouth, or on the bathroom mirror depending on the direction of the vein and the position you are facing the mirror. No joke lol.
When I feel it filling up, I push on it and it releases the saliva which gives me some relief, but sometimes the block is so bad that even pushing on it won’t release the saliva. This happens to me all the time. Although, pushing on it really hurts until the saliva squirts out, but then it still hurts, but it does give me some relief for a while until it fills back up. I try not to think of anything that will make me salivate, but then everything makes me salivate. I can’t win. It’s like trying to think about baseball when you have an erection, it doesn’t always work.
About 2 weeks ago I could feel swelling and pain from my Parotid gland and we went to our regular appointment and the doctor gave me some antibiotics which was supposed to help. The doctor told me that if it doesn’t help then I may need surgery. When we went back a week later it seemed like it had gotten better because it wasn’t as swollen. The doctor asked me if I wanted surgery and I said it wasn’t necessary. Oh boy was I wrong.
Saturday evening the Parotid gland had swollen up again so I pushed on it and the saliva went through the veins, but then got stuck so there was a little bubble with saliva sitting in that vein and it couldn’t exit. It’s still there. That one little tiny mistake has given me massive amounts of pain since Saturday night. I’m not the kind of person who cries when he’s in pain because I am literally always in pain so I’m used to it. When I broke my arm earlier this year I didn’t cry once. This swollen Parotid gland and saliva bubble pain is so bad that I want to cry. I haven’t, but I want to. Or maybe I’ve just bottled my pain emotion so much that I just want to let it out lol.
So I called the doctor’s office yesterday and they scheduled me to come in today at 11:30 a.m. The doctor gave me a prescription for Norco as well as 2 antibiotics which he said I don’t take right away, he said to wait for it to get worse. WORSE? Holy crap! I went to Truxton Radiology and had an ultrasound then went back to the doctor’s office to have blood drawn for a test specifically for this problem. He said I will get a letter in the mail with the information for the surgeon referral which will most likely have the appointment in the letter with an address.
I am ready for this thing to go away. You have no idea how ready I am lol. I am just sick and tired of being in pain all the time. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. If it’s not my curving back which turns out to be scoliosis, then it’s my freakin’ Parotid gland. I guess that means I’m getting old lol.
Xanapus` Lair 
I’m catching up on reading your blog. Gosh, health issues! I wonder if losing a lot of weight has just stirred things up. It occurs to me that our bodies adjust to the burden of overweight by padding this, buttressing that. Maybe it will all level off if you keep moving.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m not sure if the weight loss has anything to do with it because it comes and goes, it just so happens to be blocked with a stone right now.
LikeLike
Does it feel like a marble ? I am experiencing some weird little marble in that area. I aggravates it until it got painful and seemed to be bigger. Got antibiotics. It is back to being a small little thing . Not necessarily painful. Thoughts?
LikeLike
Does it feel like a marble ? I am experiencing some weird little marble in that area. I aggravates it until it got painful and seemed to be bigger. Got antibiotics. It is back to being a small little thing . Not necessarily painful. Thoughts?
LikeLike
Yes. Mine felt like a marble was inside my saliva gland. In my case, and in most people’s cases, it’s a calcium deposit. It’s basically a rock that is forming in your saliva gland. I don’t know the specifics because no one explained to me why my saliva isn’t going through, but I described to the doctor that it must be blocking access to the vein where the saliva goes into the mouth, and he didn’t disagree with me or correct me, so I can only assume that that is in fact what is happening.
The one I spoke about in this blog post was from awhile ago, but I am experiencing the same thing in my other saliva (parotid) gland. It has already caused issues and I did have to go to the emergency room where they gave me antibiotics.
It is a very painful thing to have happen to you because you don’t know if you are experiencing pain from that or a tooth, because it affects that specific area and causes pain everywhere. I was in so much pain that sometimes I cried because it hurt so much. Anyway, hope you feel better and get a referral so you can get treatment for it.
LikeLike
Thank you for your reply. I am waiting to schedule an ultra sound and biopsy and I am freaked. Freaked about possibility of surgery too. Looks like you ended up having that.
LikeLike
My surgery was a lifesaver in the sense that it helped because I was in constant pain all day every day. I wasn’t sure if it was my teeth or the stone causing problems, even though I knew it was the stone because the saliva was backed up in the gland and building and building and hurting so much. I am so happy that it was removed, and it healed pretty quickly too. You can’t even see the scar.
LikeLike
Pingback: Xanapus` Lair | Xanapus` Lair
Did you ever get Rid of your Stone ,I had one it Disapeared it must be hiding somewhere in the System ,a very nasty experience at the time .
LikeLike
Yes, but the surgery removed the entire saliva gland called the Parotid gland. The procedure is called a Parotidectomy. I have another one on the other side of my face which is in front of the ear, and that stone is causing problems, but not enough for them to do anything about it. I have to be crying in pain for them to take it out.
LikeLike
What were your symptoms of this stone? What exactly did it feel like?
LikeLike
The first symptoms were extreme pain and swelling. The stone blocks passage of the saliva, so it has no where to go, so it continues to generate more saliva which causes the parotid gland to swell up. When your parotid gland swells up, it stretches the gland and it stretches your skin very fast. That amount of stretching over such a short period of time is painful.
LikeLike
Where was your stone located? Was it hard to swallow food?
LikeLike
The image in this post shows the location. It’s the parotid gland which is near the earlobe. It wasn’t hard to chew, although occasionally if it is too impacted, it can prevent me from opening or closing my jaw easily. I can do it, it’s just painful. Also, if I’m eating, it can create more saliva which can make more saliva generate in the gland which is then painful. Like I wouldn’t be able to eat anything with citrus because that definitely would create more saliva. It wasn’t painful to swallow because the parotid gland is on the outside of the skull near the earlobe, it’s no where near the throat. If it were the glands under the tongue then perhaps it might be more painful.
LikeLike
Thank you again ! I am glad you got relief and all went well!
LikeLike