Mucous and tear/saliva increase

[Sharon]

I was recently sick with a cold, and what I noticed was
that during the phase of overproduction of mucous I suddenly had
far more tears and loads of saliva.
So I was wondering if anyone has any ideas of how to increase mucous production
(without having to get sick with a cold again!  )

Thanks!

[markt]

I noticed the same phenomena when I had a sinus infection last October.

I was totally miserable, but oddly I was streaming tears intermittently, sneezing mucous, and had decent saliva production.  This was before I started treatment with Rituximab at that. 

So maybe there really is something to the idea that when the immune system is given a valid antagonist, it eases off of causing problems for us and our symptoms correspondingly decrease. 

Who knows... !

[Sharon]

Hi markt, I'm sure there's something to that idea in general though my immune system
has never eased off the attack specifically on my salivary/lacrimal glands even with serious infections.
That's why I suspect mocous production may be a culprit.
Another possibility is that our body increases muscle contractions trying to rid the body of the increased mucous secretions thereby increasing saliva/tear production on the way.

Is rituximab helping you with sicca symptoms?