My dad's solution to the drooling problem was putting a towel on the
front of his shirt when he was at home. A small hand towel, and one of those
doo-dads that hold sweaters or something on - it's a chain or cord with
clips at both ends - makes a nice "bib". My dad called his an "apron", and
was very happy with it since he was no longer wet to the bone all the time.
You can get hand towels in nice, masculine colors inexpensively, maybe even
to coordinate with his clothing if necessary. If he's having a really bad
drooling day, and has to go the dr. or out somewhere, you can put the towel
under his shirt so it won't show, but the wet shirt will be more noticeable.
But at least his chest won't be wet, and the towel will absorb enough that
the wet spot should be smaller than without it!
Just keeping his chest dry doesn't help the other problems caused by
drooling - the embarassment, etc. The doctors can give him some meds to dry
him up, which they have done to my dad now in the nursing home. But you're
just adding another ingredient to the already complicated cocktail PD
patients have to take all the time and I'm not comfortable with this. They
say there's some type of juice that will help dry the mouth for a few
minutes, but it was some odd thing I don't remember the name of. saw it in a
PD reference book, so maybe somebody else will know what it is.
Vicki Peyton
[log in to unmask]
