Suggest Treatment For Chronic Swollen Parotid Glands Even After Taking Of Augmentin And Prednisolone

Posted on Sat, 28 Dec 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sat, 28 Dec 2013 Answered on

Thu, 16 Jan 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : I have chronic swollen parotid glands, particularly the left side. With it, I invariably get a horrible headache, also (only) on the left side. Pressing the glands makes the head hurt worse. I have had treatment with augmentin and prednisolone. As I tapered off the prednisolone, the headaches came back, even while I was still on the augmentin. I do not think I have an infection, but possibly inflammation or blockages (stones). When the left gland hurts & swells the worst, I can run my finger across two places which are hard. One is on my face & the other is the gland itself. What is causing the swelling and the hardness? I have never tasted yucky saliva when this is going on and I try to "milk" the gland. Help! XXXXXXX XXXXXXX

Answered by Dr. Sriram Nathan (3 hours later)

hello and welcome to health care magic, I am Dr Sriram Nathan an ENT surgeon and I will try to help you out with your problem Parotid gland swelling are common and in most of the cases benign so you have nothing to worry about. However you can do these to ease your symptoms - complete your antibiotics course - take lots of water and hydrate yourself properly - the swollen areas of the gland could be infected tissue which have got enlarged, these will get better in a couple of weeks or so but do not press on them - the headache could be directly related to the parotid infection and I am sure will settle once the parotid infection gets better -apply hit fomentation over the area so that it will resolve faster -do not try to milk the gland as it will not help much in parotid. The milking would have helped if the swelling was in the submandibular glands. It is the same reason why your saliva is not yucky as you said. With the above you should get better in a week or two! however if the symptoms do not improve then you may consider these: - if you are getting recurrent swelling and if the swelling does not subside then your next course of action is to take an FNAC examination along with a CT of the parotid and get back to me or any ENT with the reports. -since parotid is not a common site for stones it is unlikely that what you are feeling is stones but in any case if the symptoms do not resolve then the above investigations could easily reach on a diagnosis Hope this helps and hope you get well soon If you are still having any more doubts then I will be be glad to answer them regards Dr Sriram Nathan -

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar