Salivary gland swelling

[moe585]

I have had a swollen salivary gland for over 2 months now. it gets painful sometimes and the pain is sometimes felt inside the ear, inside the cheek and behind the ear. i was diagnosed with mumps when i first went to see a doctor.
he gave me antibiotics and pain killers. The swelling went down shortly after that for about a week and a half and came back up with more pain. I went back to my doctor after about 4 weeks from the initial visit and he still insisted that it was mumps. Once again the swelling and pain went down for a week and came back. I then visited another doctor who ruled out mumps and gave me an injection, antibiotics and pain killers. That was a week ago and the swelling seems to be getting worse. I'm getting scared now. Could this be a deadly disease?

[ilyenkova]

What Paderla said! I'd just add that the gland can be visualized using ultrasound (painless and quick!). Sonography definitely can rule out a stone (maybe show signs of infection if swelling is present). Re solutions (and you can try this one at home): The gland can be emptied by sucking a lemon, seriously. Rather, cutting a lemon into 4-6 pieces and chewing it. It's super sour, but it  cause the gland to drain. I got my daughter's gland unblocked that way (and taught her dentist a trick). Otherwise, the gland can be visualized by sialography: the mouth of the duct is dilated in Radiology and a contrast agent (dye) is injected); then, images are obtained. If you're in a panic about a serious disease, it's not difficult to obtain a biopsy of the tissue using a thin needle under a local anesthetic like xylocaine.

[moe585]

Thanks for the comment. I have been reading a lot about salivary glands and i did suspect that i may have a blockage. Do you know what the solution could be if there's a blockage, other than surgery? If surgery has to be done, what the risks?

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Hello and hope you are doing well.

It could be recurrent inflammation or infection of the parotid salivary gland. There could be stones or other causes blocking the duct of the gland, which can result in stasis in the salivary gland and cause repeated infections of the gland. Please discuss this possibility with your doctor.

Hope this helped and do keep us posted.