Has anyone found any OTC relief for gustatory sweating following a parotidectomy? Did the problem improve with time or does it just keep going?

My husband has always been one who perspired like crazy upon eating spicy foods, but since the parotidectomy and selective neck dissection, anything he eats causes the right side of his face to pour.

I've only begun the research on this result of treatment and am hoping someone has some hints. He's only just beginning to heal, so we are hoping it improves with time. I've read you may have success with certain types of roll-on antiperspirant, but I'm not willing to try that on his skin just yet. If you have found something that helps, we'd appreciate the information.

Sounds to me like thyroid issues - has he had a TSH blood test?

It's not the thyroid. It has to do with the removal of the parotid gland. Apparently the nerves that normally tell your mouth to salivate - now tell his face to sweat when he eats.

XRT is known to damage the thyroid and cause those symptoms - did he have a TSH test or not? He should get one every 6 months and should have had a baseline TSH test prior to starting treatment. It also takes a while before thyroid damage shows up.

That is interesting though, as long as I have been here, I am always learning new things. We have seen comparatively few salivary gland cancers. It still sounds like an endocrinology thing. Keep us informed of what develops.

Yes he's had one done and it was normal. He goes back for labs this week and I'm going to call the doc to see if they won't go ahead and re-check.

I wonder if the thyroid might not have something to do with his change in body temperature. He used to be an eskimo - i.e. - in order to keep him comfortable you had to be able to hang meat in the room. Now he freezes all the time. Of course that may have to do with the weight loss - 203 to 148.

I'm quite surprised there haven't been more people respond who have had their parotid glands removed when they had their neck dissections.

Daisy, I had my submandibular gland removed, and I know a few other people here did too, but not the parotid. It must depend on where the cancer is to begin with.

I lost a bunch of weight during surgery and rad/chemo and the month or two after--almost as much as your husband--and I have gone from overheating easily to getting cold easily myself (except when I have hot flashes from the Tamoxifen I take!) and my thyroid appears to be OK, so just wanted to say I think that can change just due to weight loss.

Nelie

Daisy,
the NCCN Oncology Practice Guidelines recommend a TSH test every 6 months for life for persons having radiation in the head & neck area. My TSH levels almost went to abnormal and I was freezing cold a lot. It took a couple of years for them to return to the lower end of the acceptable margins. I had IMRT only and they spared the thyroid as much as possible. XRT is much harder on the thyroid. Oftentimes the thyroid never recovers and one must take synthetic thyroid hormones for life.

I also lost a lot of weight (and insulation) and that played a role as well. My wife gets cold very easy and she weighs 98 lbs. Body fat really does insulate very well.