Choking On Saliva: What Causes And What To Do?

Choking one’s saliva is quite a usual experience. While this can happen to the majority of people at some point of their lives, it should not be considered a major health concern. People who choke their own saliva are often diagnosed with hypersalivation (also known as sialorrhea or ptyalism), a condition characterized by overproduction of saliva, which can cause few health issues like drooling, difficulty in swallowing etc. In addition to talking too fast or swallowing too quickly, there are many causes of choking one’s saliva, and ways to prevent drowning on it.

What Causes?

• Too much saliva. A single person produces up to 4 pints of saliva daily. The major function of saliva is to help the digestion process and breakdown of food. However, for unknown reason, our mouth sometimes excessively secretes saliva as a result of environmental triggers. At times, these environmental signals are misread or misinterpreted leading to extreme saliva production.
• Lying down. People especially those who excessively produce saliva tend to have their saliva pooled at the back of the mouth resulting in choking or gagging. Eating while lying also increase the choking incidence.
• Lesions on throat. Injury or trauma in the throat leads to swallowing problems. Similarly, people diagnosed with throat tumor are also prone to choking on their own saliva. Moreover, people with more serious health conditions such as ALS experience problem on swallowing. Hence, they are also susceptible to this problem.
• A sign of disease. Excessive saliva production can be caused by a respiratory infection, nasal allergy, tonsillitis and/or sore throat. People with neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease experience paralysis of muscles leading to choking on their own saliva.
• Heavy alcohol drinking. People who drink alcohol uncontrollably sometimes go through temporary loss of consciousness which can lead to pooling of saliva in the back of their throats.
• Pregnancy. Due to erratic surge of hormones during pregnancy, expectant mothers often suffer from ptyalism especially during the first trimester period. Pregnant mothers who are diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum also have higher predisposition to choke their own saliva compared to mothers who do not have it.

What to do?

• Avoid sleeping on back - sleep on side instead. Also, you can sleep with head of the bed elevated as well as sleep with bigger pillow or extra pillows under your head.
• Reduce excessive salivation by sucking on ice chips, avoiding eating candies, foods and beverages (e.g dairy products) rich in sugar, and drinking tea with lemon.
• To deter pregnant mothers from choking their own saliva, experts advise to suck on few limes and minimize intake of sweets.
• Cut off alcohol drinking especially during bed time. Alcohol is a depressant and therefore, slows down body’s swallowing mechanism.
• Place a small quantity of ground coffee under the tongue. It is believed that coffee actually absorbs excessive moisture from overly stimulated salivary glands. Pregnant mothers however should limit intake of daily coffee as it can potentially cause miscarriage.

Is It Dangerous?

Choking on one’s saliva can be dangerous only if it happens in a very consistent pattern. It can be an alarming sign of a serious medical condition. Hence, it is crucial to seek for medical attention when choking on one’s saliva becomes a habitual experience.

Repeated choking can lead to entrance of saliva into the windpipe (or trachea) which can later develop to aspiration pneumonia. When saliva enters the windpipe, anything else can also come in when the person eats or drinks. If the problem is not addressed promptly, cough reflex is reduced. Thus, more food and drinks go into the lungs.