Chest Infection, Saliva & Speech Frustrations

For the past week I've been battling a rather nasty chest infection. For those unaware, something like this can be potentially fatal or extremely uncomfortable at the very least for an MND/ALS patient. I dread the feeling of a cold coming on! Due to loss of muscle and/or weakened muscles in the throat, mouth and diaphragm, it is very difficult to cough up loosened phlegm when a chest infection is clearing, as mine now is thanks to antibiotics. Coughing up thick sticky phlegm is a nightmare, especially when it gets lodged in your windpipe. You just can't cough like you used to anymore. Even on Friday, my last day at work, I had one of these lodgements occur and I sat at my desk not wanting to make a fuss and also not wanting to sound gross by 'hocking' but then I realised there was no way it was going to budge, couldn't breathe and felt myself going blue in the face so jumped up and panicked a colleague into banging my back which worked and dislodged the chunky lump of phlegm. Very embarrassed about the whole scenario, I decided that they were probably rather relieved that it was my last day!! But its scenarios like that I'm scared of, moreso when nobody is around. Stupidly I currently still smoke, but any smoker will tell you, smoking helps to cough stuff up, much to the bewilderment of non-smokers!

Over the past month I have also had increased saliva production, again this happens due to muscle wasting and weakness in the mouth, and have woken up with my face stuck to a pretty much soaking wet pillow on a number of occasions. Gross you may think, but its better than waking up in the middle of the night choking on your own saliva while its trickling into your lungs as you sleep, as happened at 4am this morning! I'm even beginning to wonder if this occurring more frequently over the past few weeks could may well be what brought on my chest infection. The irritating part is that the saliva can be runny or sticky & thick or a mixture of the two at the same time. Brushing my teeth in the morning becomes a battle with stringy saliva towards the end of the brushing process. I began using a tongue cleaner too a few months ago to help with the procedure. The worst thing about excessive saliva is when you're speaking it builds up in the corner of your lips, or in the mouth in general, completely mumbling any attempt to get words out properly. Sure you can swallow it down but lo and behold, the next batch builds up within 60 seconds. The nasal passage also gets frequently blocked with thick sticky saliva which makes the voice very nasally as if you had a clothes peg on your nose. I do have a prescribed medication called Endep which is supposed to reduce saliva secretions but the extended list of side effects concerns me so I'm yet to try it. Maybe this week I'll give it a go.

Then there are the speech problems, also caused by muscle atrophy and weakness in the mouth, in my case moreso the tongue. My tongue is riddled with constant fasciculations and has lost muscle on both sides and the tip of my tongue is weak so that any words involving letters requiring the tongue to be raised to the teeth or roof of the mouth come out all slurred. I try to speak slowly or repeat myself with the hope that pronouncing every letter and word will make it more clear for people to understand what I'm trying to say, but it still comes out as a mumble. That said, I have always had a bit of a mumble and a lisp anyway, now its just multiplied! I have great chats with friends and family by email, text message, Facebook messenger or Whatsapp but when it comes to physically meeting and speaking in person, I'm not even 1/100th as clear, witty or funny as I seem by message as it just all comes out gobbledygook which is very frustrating, but is part of the nature of the beast.

Last week I even tried out a 'text to speech' app on my iPhone and iPad. Although I can definitely see the benefits of these and know I will find myself using them in the future (thankfully the voice choices are much better these days!) but I don't see how it can replace the art of conversation as by the time you have finished typing out what you want to say, the conversation will have changed twice since! I expect it will be more useful for more common things you want to say like 'can you get me a cup of tea' or 'what time is dinner'!!! People say they can understand me fine, despite me having to repeat myself quite a lot, but I know myself that I'm not speaking clearly and I expect they are just being polite. It always frustrates me when I've said something and get a response like 'oh yes' when clearly thats the wrong answer to what I had said but I just let it go. Its not as though I can try to explain what I was saying all over again as by that time my tongue is so exhausted I just give up! Luckily I do have very supportive and understanding friends so I won't be staying indoors for the rest of my life just yet, if I can help it!

Next Friday 27th March I'm flying from Sydney to London straight through Singapore in Economy Class to spend a fortnight with family in the UK and Ireland. It will also be the first time using the airport assistance wheelchair / buggy with British Airways from check in to the gate, between planes and vice versa. Its going to be embarrassing but worth it to conserve my energy! My health advisor is concerned about oxygen levels in the pressurised cabin and so I saw a respiratory team last month. They were happy with me and weren't concerned about any possible issues despite my lung capacity being a low 60%. Since my chest infection came on about 10 days ago, my health advisor has suggested I see the respiratory team again before I fly for a check up so I am seeing them on Tuesday. I have 36 hours to get my lungs clear as I don't want to be told I shouldn't fly! I have bought some pretty good travel insurance which will cover my MND/ALS as a pre-existing condition so at least if there are any problems on board I am insured!

Tomorrow is my first Monday of not having to get up for work! I wonder if I'll have a lie in or still wake up at 6am!!!!