Note! This discussion below is a continuation of the discussions here: Swelling in front of ear lobe after eating

Guest Says: To the poster that said when their jaw was swollen they pushed on it and liquid rushed out in their mouth and they could taste a bitter taste from it ..... I think you did the right thing when you said you washed your mouth out. :-) I would be carefull pushing on it because it will already be sore from swelling and pushing hard may actually irritate it more, I would lightly milk it with the heat pad like the earlier post said. The ENT Doctor told me to hold the heat pad on it after eating / swelling and apply very light pressure, but it probably varies I guess because my jaw area felt really sore from that.   You also may not have been dehydrated, it could have been a stone in there blocking it and was near the end, and it free'd when you were putting pressure on that.

Guest Says: thank you for starting this thread and sharing information. You have saved many from panicking and hospital trip. I had swollen jaw after dinner 2 nights ago and was freaked out. After reading your detailed information, I followed your suggestions to warm compress, drink plenty water, and eat sour candies.  I did all these non stop for 2 hrs. I also took ibuprofens. My swollen jaw was gradually reduced and today I can eat normally. There is still little swollen near my ear, but doesnt get big when im eating. I still drink a lot of water and compress it to make the bump totally gone. Im sure the cause for my case was dehydration. I was complaining why i felt thristy all the time just the morning before this happenned. Now if anyone can help with my question : are we prone to this saliva gland condition once we got it?

Guest Says: The previous poster asked: Now if anyone can help with my question : are we prone to this saliva gland condition once we got it? My guess is I dont think so. When I had this almost 10 years ago, its never come back since. I could see where if a stone caused the gland to plug, maybe someone is susceptible to getting stones or something like that. The one thing I do different today (as I posted above) is I always start every morning with 2-4 big gulps of water on an empty stomach, my guess is its probably 8 ounces or so that I drink, so its not like its a big deal to do this. I want to make sure I'm not dehydrated starting my day. I drink a few cups of coffee every morning, but I always start my day with just some water.

Guest Says: Thanks

Guest Says: My jaw swelled up big suddenly right when I started eating dinner. It wasnt like there was any lead up to it, it was fine before that then all of a sudden is swelled up huge! I'm happy to see this is a common thing and not so unusual.  Thank you to all for posting stuff like this, sometimes reading to much stuff on the internet just makes you panic more, but also everyone sharing your situations and what worked or didnt work can really help others!

GuestMJS Says: Left side by jaw bone swollen...if I put any ...any food in my mouth the pain is horrible for a few seconds...I am drinking water 32 ozs so far and applying the heating pad on off every 10 minutes.   The thought of lemon drops is giving me chills when I think of what the pain will be.

Guest Says: Previous poster:  If you have alot of pain there already in the jaw then I wouldnt make it worse, dont over do it. I would just rest a heat pad on it without any pressure on it, just lightly.  I think that may help without making it worse.

Guest Says: People automatically assume this is lymph nodes swelling. There is actually glands there for saliva, dont assume its lymph nodes. Its amazing how many others I talked to now where the same thing has happened to them in the past.

Lesley Says: What a great blog - thanks to all. I’ve had rare incidences of this over about four years but the last three days after each meal. Had very recently had dental work and no sign of infection so thought it likely to be salivary gland. Went to doctor this morning, just in case, and she confirmed the diagnosis. Recommended an ultrasound but I said I’d do the practices recommended here and go back if problem persists. She was fine with that. Thanks everyone - it is really a great relief to find this quite common.

Guest Says: Not sure when this post started but i'm glad I found you. Two bites into toast the other morning and I felt a "buzzing" odd feeling in my right jaw joint, I thought what the heck is that?? Immediate reaction was to put my hand to my face and to my shock I was swollen like a half a baseball .. terrified I went and looked in the mirror WHAT??! Jaw in front and below ear, no pain just this weird swelling. Ice pack for 20 minutes and it mostly went down and I went off to work. No pain and no recurrence throughout the day.  I did some research and found this post.  I also have an autoimmune disease(s) and now believe this whole parotid swelling is another type, sjogrens syndrome. I will speak to my rheumatologist and let you know what he thinks. thanks

Guest Says: This is good info, I think it would also be beneficial if people posted their age. It would be interesting to see if this starts occurring around the same ages or not. Sharing info like this on the net is great especially when it comes to medical problems and solutions, it great seeing what worked or didnt work amongst a large group! Thx

Guest Says: This happens to me now and then and all of a sudden too. Not gradually. First time I kept pushing on it because it was weird and so swollen is was like having mumps on one side. I went to doctor and she's the first to tell me to eat a 'Lemonhead' or something sour to get any stone out if there are any.  But she told me to quit pushing on it. Eventually it went away.  Had it happen again and to me, it was quite severe so went back to doctor, she ordered a CT scan - they couldn't get me in for a couple of days. By the time they did one the swelling was gone and the radiology people looked at me like I was making it up.  I had it another time and didn't worry about it and again gone.  Today is started again - all of a sudden.  Eating pasta and beans and it felt like I was eating 'sweettarts' or the like. It's really swollen and painful right now and decided to look it up the symptoms myself and here all of you are with all similar stories.  Thank you for helping me feel like I'm NOT the only one!

Mj Says: I have also experiencing like this, it only appears when eating or chewing food. What thas it means? Its very weird and feeling scared. And only one side is affected, preferably in left side under the jaw. What can i do to solve this problem?

Mj Says: Why is that lymph node from left side under ur jaw is appearing only when eating or chewing food? What thas it means?

Cheri Says: It is a comfort to feel you aren't a freak who is all alone! My jaw had swelling when I woke last week. I'd had toothache also but it was on other side of mouth. I told dentist about the painful jaw clinching & like something super sour was in my mouth. He just prescribed antibiotics & said they should take care of it. Ive started taking them & the toothache was gone on 1st day but I still have pain/swelling in jaw & the awful sour rush when I eat! I got very upset-thinking I may have something awful if antibiotics don't help it! I prayed about it & found this post which has been a comfort. I rarely drink water-just lots of coffee since I figure I must be getting enough water from the coffee or I'd be dead! I was told! What's interesting is that I suck on sour candy everyday when I'm at work! Maybe it was helping me & I didn't know it? Guess I'll have to force myself to drink the water! Still I wish there was a simple answer for this!

Cheri Says: The tight feeling rt under ear is painful. Also for the toothache Id been swishing mouth with warm salt water & then hydrogen peroxide/water solution. (I read both of these are great to kill bacteria in mouth) When I swished with the peroxide-I got tingling clenching sensation inside mouth where the jaw pain comes & goes.

Guest Says: an ear nose and throat doctor (ENT doc) are the ones that really know this so I wouldnt go to a dentist for this scenario like some have mentioned (then again if you had sore tooth then it makes sense).  It will help put your mind at ease to see an ENT and let him look at it.

Guest Says: This is good info all around thanks

Guest Says: This same thing has been happening to me since Tuesday (5 days ago). I was completely fine. I sat down in the morning to eat a quick ham sandwich before I left. Less than a few bites in, my right jaw and side of face in front of, and below my ear, starting feeling very TIGHT. I felt my face and it felt big. I went to look in the mirrow and freaked out! That side of my face was HUGE. I was panicking. I went to my local er clinic. They were lined up with covid testers. I finally left. The swelling went down almost all of the way. I thought, ok, maybe it was just a one time thing and something happened. But in the back of my mind, I knew it was going to happen again, because it was still sensitive to touch and still a little swollen. Sure enough, the second I started to eat something a bit later, it swelled up like a tennis ball. I took advil and it went down after about an hour. It is so scary. I feel for anyone going through this. This is still happening to me. It will swell up when eating, then very slowly go down, but not completely. I tried lemon drops. It seemed to make the swelling worse for me. I am now drinking large amts. of water to see if that will help. Whoever started this post, I thank you with all my heart. I am SO THANKFUL to know that I'm not alone and that this can hopefully go away. It is causing me to be depressed. I'm worried what could happen if I go out to eat with my husband. That idea terrifies me. I am terrifed to eat in front of anyone right now. I have cried, been mad, almost screamed....why does this crap have to happen????? I just don't understand. NO ONE that I know has had anything like this. I just want to isolate myself until I know it's not going to happen again. My thoughts and prayers are going out to anyone having this to happen to them. I'm so sorry for rambling on. Just seriously stressed right now. :(

Guest Says: To the previous poster, go to the link at the top of the page and it takes you back to the original articles that were posted, lots of good details in that from others!   Since someone asked about ages, not sure that matters but when I had it happen I was probably around age 44. Like others said in those posts I ate really fast! lol That made it swell less because you dont salivate as much, and the spicier the food the more it does it of course.   Follow those details with the water and heat compress and keep doing it! It takes quite a few days, its not like its immediate as everyone wants it resolved in one day! If you dont have one of those heat pads you can microwave, I would probably just grab a small towel and wet it then microwave it to get it hot (not burning obviously, but nice and hot) and hold that on it as the other posts talk about. This is very common, dont get depressed as its always easiest to over think this type of stuff! Lots of people get this you just dont hear about it because its not something people talk about. By the way mine has never come back after that one time and its now been many years. Dont push and poke on it either when it swells, that will just make it more sore!

Guest Says: Continuing ..... By the way you will know when its not blocked anymore because suddenly one day it wont swell at all, I was coming home from work (not eating at work of course because I didnt want it to swell with others there) and eating fast expecting saliva to back up and swell, and was shocked that nothing happened. I was looking at it in mirror in amazement that nothing happened lol, I was so used to it swelling up. I also remember that I had a small amount of saliva rush out during the day, enough that I noticed it and rinsed my mouth out (for me it was upper back of mouth because swelling was in front of lower ear).  I remember thinking what was that??? After that when I ate food the swelling was gone. That must have been when the blocked gland section freed up and started flowing again. Then once it was normal I drank water like crazy because I didnt want it to return lol   For me I cant remember how long it swelled after eating, but it was certainly more then 10 minutes but less the half hour, somewhere in that range. When I was done eating fast I would rinse my mouth out with water to get all taste out so salivating stops. It does feel sore also, thats normal from the pressure, but it doesnt help when you press and poke it. In hindsight I'm not sure which one helped the most to resolve it whether it was the heat pad (I put on when not swollen, held it on to really get it warm, then was massaging it downward as if to work the flow out) or the water hydration, or both.  It has never come back, I do pay more attention now to drinking water because you can be dehydrated and not really even feel thirsty.

Guest Says: One thing you can do to tell how dehydrated your body is .... is your urine yellow? If it is then you are dehydrated somewhat as it should be more clear.  Ever notice that if you are out hunting or hiking, etc that afterwards its always yellow? Or that if you drink a couple big glasses of water then an hour or two later the urine is always much more clear?   I think that tells alot, you arent drinking much water and also putting in exercise then not much is flushed out and urine then also becomes darker.

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