Reasons/fixes for swollen parotids?

January 20, 2006 8:19 AM

I want my face back! (Swelling of the parotid glands.)

Has anyone experienced swelling of the parotid glands (the salivary glands in front of the ears)?

I've had swelling in these glands for nearly 2 years, and I kind of look like the Godfather, or "moon-faced," and it's really getting me down. The swelling becomes worse and less-worse, but it's always present. No pattern that I've been able to detect. I've been to a bunch of specialists (dental, ENT, rheumatology, acupuncture), but no one seems to know what's going on, and there are even fewer ideas for how to make the swelling go away so I can look at myself in the mirror again. Scans and blood tests are all normal-ish; there's just a whole lotta gland tissue (ie, no tumors or stones or other aberrations usually associated with swelling; no sarcoidosis or Sjogren's factors). I feel that it must be something systemic (diet? exercise? food allergy?), but the specialists are all too narrowly focused on their own area of expertise, and when they don't see an obvious cause they just pass me off to some other specialty.

Has anyone else experienced this, and if so, any success in dealing with it?

posted by tentacle to health & fitness (5 comments total)

I knew a woman back in grad school who had this around the time of her pregnancy. From what I remember, it went away spontaneously about a year or so after her child's birth.
posted by MrMoonPie at 8:30 AM on January 20, 2006

The first time I had that same swelling was back in college. I was actually quarantined because they thought I had the mumps, which turned out to not be the case, anyway, it eventually went away.

Several years later, it happened again and I went through a lot of testing (plus I saw a lot of the same specialists you saw) and besides having positive ANA's and testing positive for Sjogren antibodies, I still have not gotten a definitive answer as to what is going on besides my Dr. telling me about some kind of vague autoimmune disorder or something. The L-word (Lupus) was mentioned as a possibility but still no diagnosis and honestly, I've been fine for the past year and a half.

One thing that helped was taking probiotics for a couple of weeks. I had taken an antibiotic a few days prior to the symptoms recurring and a friend recommended I take probiotics. After a couple of weeks on the stuff, I was fine.
posted by SoulOnIce at 10:52 AM on January 20, 2006

Since I was in about 5th grade or so, mine fill up and don't drain properly - I have to press on them to release saliva or else they swell up and harden. The doctor said that can be normal for some people. Usually it's only when I eat or do something else that gets my mouth watering (chewing gum), and I can do it with a shoulder shrug so I can be inconspicuous.
posted by IndigoRain at 12:32 PM on January 20, 2006

This is a common side effect of alcohol drinking. Give up alcohol for a month or two and see if it gets better.
posted by ikkyu2 at 12:51 PM on January 20, 2006

Thanks, all, for your suggestions. I don't really drink (maybe 1-2 drinks/month, which has been the case since well before the parotids starting acting up), so it seems that is not my issue; I had been taking probiotics for a while (recommended by the acupuncturist), but had fallen off, so perhaps I'll give them another go. Also interesting about the pregnancy link; maybe there's some underlying hormonal factor that hasn't yet been considered. Thanks again!
posted by tentacle at 9:07 AM on January 23, 2006