I’m a male, am 19 years old, and have had recurrent parotid pain along with fever after being treated for a deep tissue streptococcus and pseudomonas infection on IV vancomycin. I was recently tested to see if the bacterial infection was gone and my results were negative. Unfortunately, according to my ENT, my parotid gland is full of air and acutely swollen in the area where my pain had been during the infection. I’m currently being tested for Sjorgen’s syndrome and have been instructed to use sour cough drops, hot compresses, and salt water to stimulate the gland and remove the air pockets. It’s been a month since then and I’ve found no improvement of my symptoms. These include intense pain in the back of my cheek, stabbing pains in my jaw and neck, chronic lethargy, as well as headaches accompanied by large veins near the temporal region of my skull. I’ve also occasionally had bouts of fever lasting only a couple days ranging from 100 to 102 degrees. I’m not aware of anything i’m doing to force air into my stenson’s duct and am incredibly careful with my mouth hygiene. I’m currently a college student and am unable to sleep, eat, focus, or enjoy any aspect of my life.