Excessive saliva / phlegm

[Hubbie]

My 64 year old wife is 8 years with the Alzheimer's variant Posterior cortical atrophy. Cognitively her condition is quite advanced (stage 5 in the 7 stages of PCA) but physically she is still fit and we go for walks every day - with or without the dog. She has never smoked, eats healthily and drinks very little alcohol. For the past two years she has had a problem with saliva and / or phlegm in her mouth which she needs to spit out. Sometimes it seems to come from her sinuses but not always. She describes the taste as acidic but I am pretty sure it isn't reflux. She doesn't particularly get it more at night when lying down, probably most often when we are out walking. She has mentioned it to her GP but he didn't make much of it. She isn't having any trouble swallowing food or drinks yet.
It isn't pleasant for her at any time but she finds it awkward when out and about having to spit.
Any thoughts on what might be causing this & suggestions?
I have wondered whether the swallowing reflex we all have to swallow saliva is faulty.

 

[SeaSwallow]

Hello @Hubbie I am sorry to read about the difficulties that your wife is having. We cannot diagnose here on Talking Point but I would suggest that you go back to the GP and say that your wife is finding having to spit on a regular basis distressing and request a referral to the SALT team (Speech and Language Therapy). Hopefully they will be able to help your wife.

 

[Pacucho]

Hello,
My late mum experienced these same issues. Sadly we could never get to the bottom of why it happened, but thankfully over time the excessive saliva stopped.

 

[Hubbie]

Hello @Hubbie I am sorry to read about the difficulties that your wife is having. We cannot diagnose here on Talking Point but I would suggest that you go back to the GP and say that your wife is finding having to spit on a regular basis distressing and request a referral to the SALT team (Speech and Language Therapy). Hopefully they will be able to help your wife.

Thanks for the SALT suggestion. I'll follow this up.

 

[Rusty1805]

We had the same issue with my Mum and she was prescribed Gaviscon advance. Wasn't aware of any reflux issues but this has really helped. The SALT team prescribed this for her and were a big help.