7. Excessive Drooling: A Slick Indicator of Underlying Trouble
When someone mentions excessive drooling, you might first think of an infant or a St. Bernard. Yet, in the context of Ludwig’s Angina, excessive drooling is no laughing matter. Why? Because your saliva, which ordinarily serves to moisten your mouth, suddenly becomes a foe you can’t swallow or control.
Under normal circumstances, saliva facilitates chewing, swallowing, and digestion. In the case of Ludwig’s Angina, the escalating infection has likely already impaired your swallowing reflex. Your mouth becomes a holding pool for saliva you can’t efficiently process, and voila, you’re drooling. You’re not just wetting your pillow; you’re signaling an underlying critical condition.
It’s tempting to dismiss drooling as a minor inconvenience. It’s not. Your body produces excess saliva to try to flush out whatever’s wrong, like a castle’s moat attempting to keep invaders at bay. Excessive drooling, thus, underscores the fact that your body is in active defense mode against the invasive bacterial infection at play here.
The psychological effects of this symptom also deserve attention. Excessive drooling may cause social embarrassment and add to the emotional distress accompanying Ludwig’s Angina. Imagine being in a public setting or even within your family, unable to control this basic bodily function. It’s psychologically unnerving, to say the least. (7)
