Today I want to be writing about a symptom I have been experiencing for months and still no sign that it will stop, Ptyalism.

Ptyalism Gravidarum is a word I never knew existed before my pregnancy. After that I came to searched more about it and found that there’re terms used to call this symptom like Hypersalivation, Sialorrhea or excessive salivation or whatsoever. It’s a condition when a pregnant woman drools more than usual because of some ambiguous triggers.

Why do I even say ‘ambiguous triggers’? Isn’t this 2021? How advanced is medical technology in this era? But yes, the cause of Ptyalism is still a mystery. While it’s unfortunate there’s no treatment for the symptom, the good news is it won’t affect or harm your baby and is considered not a serious condition. But that doesn’t mean you won’t find it upsetting.

HOW BAD IT IS ?

Personally I would say F**CKING BAD. If you are experiencing the same thing you might want to use the same expression. If you’re new to this, welcome to the club! I get it. It sucks.

Even if we know it’s not harmful, it still gives negative effects, at least mentally. At my 7th gestational week of pregnancy, I started to spit all the time, like literally every 30 seconds, I could hardly stand it. The tissue didn’t work because it’s just way too much so I started spitting into a mug (still do) and it’s with me everywhere in the house, while I cook in the kitchen, apply lotion on my baby bump after the bath, chill in bed, sit and work at the desk and even in the toilet. At countless times, looking into the mug made me feel disgusted and cried with the thought ‘I’m such a cripple’.

The first thing I do in the morning after waking up is to spit, that goes the same as the last thing before bed. I need a towel next to my pillow so that I can spit into it before I fall asleep. Can you imagine a whole dry towel turning wet before you can sleep? Yes, I have done that. It smells, and it’s disgusting. This became a problem when I just wanted to throw that little smelly spit-wet towel of mine as far as I could so that I could have a nice sleep, and I didn’t want it to land on my sleeping husband’s face. I had trouble sleeping because of it so my husband gave up the whole bed for me and he sleeps on futon instead.

I travel with my little bottle I call ‘spit bottle’ anywhere I go, supermarket, work, restaurant, cafe, hospital and the exam venue, and you know, t’s not fun. I started to stop going outside. At times I told my husband to just go and enjoy a sunny day and I wanted just to stay in. The idea of walking, being on the train unable to stop spitting next to strangers isn’t so pleasant is it?

Another extra package comes with spitting too much is a dry throat. Surely drinking water helps at some level, like to avoid dehydration, but still your throat and lips can feel as dry as a desert no matter how much water you try to drink. This isolated me from social interaction or simple enjoyable things like singing and laughing. In the middle of this disturbing symptom, I tried to at least enjoy my evening by singing in the shower but had to stop because my throat became very dry.

Last difficulty caused by Ptyalism I want to mention is a sex life. Just by saying a topic you might have understood how troublesome it can be already, haven’t you? The last time I had sex wtih my husband was like ages ago… any idea why? The initial reason is because we were worried if it is safe for the baby but science has proved it totally is (if there’s no other complications!). Now the only reason is I just can’t keep spitting while having sex. I even tried holding saliva in my mouth or even swallowing it and I can tell you that there’s no joy of doing that in the middle of the sex.

Okay, I know that this is just a weird inevitable temporary symptom that I have to bear and live with, but still I’m struggling. The spitting carried my good mental health off but what choice do I have?

CAUSES

I tried to do some research what are the causes of Ptyalism in pregnancy and I didn’t have much of an answer I wanted except that, because of the hormonal change, it tends to come and go with morning sickness. Many case studies show pregnant women with severe nausea and vomiting known as hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) tend to overproduce saliva as it can help moisturize the mouth and coat the throat to prevent dryness.

Moreover, during the first trimester when the progesterone hormone of pregnant women rises up, it causes the relaxation of body muscle including ones in your stomach like small and large intestines which will slow down your digestive system. And it also causes the saliva glands to produce more saliva to help deal with whatever you put in your mouth.

There are some studies mentioning Ptyalism is psychological not physical as there are reports that show a few women cured their Ptyalism by hypnosis and acupuncture. 

Personally, all of the above reasons seem to make little sense for my body. Even though I had mild morning sickness during my first trimester, I hardly ever vomited, just once or twice, only nausea and slow digestion causing uncomfort in my stomach and they all went away after week 18, but my Ptyalism persisted. Now at week 20th, I can eat as much as I want and my stomach feels fine. I don’t feel nauseous and I don’t vomit at all. Everything seems okay except that I still spit non-stop just like before.

Anyway, I stop spitting only when I get very very busy. Let’s say I work in a restaurant and I get slammed as my hands are full getting orders and serving food. At that moment I automatically stopped spitting. Like I didn’t even think of it. And as soon as it starts to get less busy I start to spit again. I don’t know the reason behind this but maybe a human’s subconscious mind has its way to work. Or maybe, part of the reason behind Ptyalism in pregnancy is psychological.

TREATMENT

Unfortunately, there’s no medical treatment for Ptyalism. I tried all the solutions I found in Google to ease the symptom like chewing gum or ice, mouth washing, brushing teeth, having candy, vitamin B6 rich food and even forcing myself to drink water every time my mouth starts to get watery. Sadly, nothing helps. I only find that chewing ice and mouth washing help my mouth to feel more refreshing. But they don’t decrease the saliva production.

The only thing I would recommend is to get your hands full. I once went for a big cleaning at my family’s house and at the time that I kept myself organizing stuffs, cleaning, and categorising types of trash, I didn’t spit at all.

For anyone who’s experiencing this symptom, I totally get your pain. I know how distressing, disturbing and frustrating it is. I know it’s not easy but the only choice is to live with it. And you know you are not alone.

Try to think of how happy you are when you see your little baby at the ultrasound scan. How beautiful your baby will be when he/she is borned and to see the world.

The most important thing to keep in mind is it will be gone eventually. And I promise it will be worth it.