Hello. I was prescribed Pilocarpine by my rheumatologist in July. It took until October to receive the drug. When it came to renewing the prescription, I was told it was not possible due to a manufacturing issue which won't be sorted until December. I asked my doctor if I could changed to Evoxac. Unfortunately, it isn't available in the UK, and my doctors are unaware of any alternatives to either drug. Though I was only taking Pilocarpine for a month, it was a good month, I could swallow food again. I wasn't randomly choking on sticky saliva. I was no longer waking up feeling like I was suffocating. Towards the end of the month I was almost passed the side effects of the drug. I am due to talk with my doctor tomorrow about what to do next. I have a strong feeling they'll tell me to just get on with it like everything else. I'd look for a alternative drug myself, but I'm not too sure what to look for.
Those are the only two prescription drugs for salivation, that I'm aware of at least.
Have you tried taking either CoQ10 or Ubiquinol supplements? They are suspected to help with salivation. I take them, but started shortly after starting with pilocarpine, so I cannot definitively say it helped, but it has helped people here.
Who told you pilocarpine wasn't available? Can you try another pharmacy?
cevimelene (think that's spelled correctly) is the brand name for pilocarpine. Pilocarpine is plant based. Difficult to think of it not being available. If you can receive OTC meds thru Amazon Xilimelts are great. Not like popping a pill tho. Know you have to be miserable. Hope you find relief.
Sjoldier c3
may be salagen?
hi i was in a similar situation last month waiting for salagen to come back in stock i am uk too
give the pharmacy another go i got some this week and they have reordered a
lot for me their was non anywhere in uk, told me i had to wait till april for it
then by sheer chance i asked my pharmacy if i could use anything else she told me new stocks were in
;)
Salagen = Pilocarpine
Evoxac = cevimeline
IT IS................it's salagen. sorry.
c3
Quote from: cccourt1942 on November 02, 2016, 03:59:54 PM
IT IS................it's salagen. sorry.
c3
No harm, no foul :)
A possible alternative if you can get a prescription
is to buy Pilocarpine eye drops (the active ingredient is Salagen)
and to use them off-label by swallowing them
or even swishing them in your mouth for increased saliva.
I have tried this and it works (though I'm quite allergic to Pilocarpine).