Experts warn that difficulty swallowing, producing excess saliva or even drooling could be a sign of motor neurone disease (MND).
The progressive condition affects the brain and nerves that eventually robs sufferers of their ability to move, to eat and eventually breathe.
For most patients drooling develops later on in the illness as they become increasingly unable to keep their lips properly sealed or a reduced ability to swallow, rather than direct increased saliva production.
Patients may also experience excessive, watery saliva or thick, mucousy saliva.
While the most common initial symptoms are weakness in the limbs, twitches and difficulty gripping, slurred speech and swallowing issues are also seen.
A 2021 study of over 900 Scottish people with MND researchers found that 31 per cent of patients had saliva problems like drooling or excessively thick saliva.
The experts also found that the symptom is more common in sufferers of bulbar onset MND, a form which mainly affects the muscles in the face.
Less people have this form of the disease, with an estimated 90 per cent having the more common amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which effects the brain and spinal cord.
Rugby League legend Rob Burrow was diagnosed with MND in 2019, before passing away last year
The Rugby League star’s first symptom was slurred speech, which hit while he was attending an awards show
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While drooling is a little known symptom of MND it is typically not the first sign of the condition.
Other symptoms include stiff or weak hands as well as muscles twitches.
According to the NHS six people are diagnosed with MND every day.
Around 5,000 adults in the UK have MND and people have about a one in 300 risk of developing the condition over the course of their life.
It mainly affects people in there 60s and 70s, but it can affect adults of all ages.
Life expectancy for about half of those with the condition is just two to five years from the onset of symptoms. How quickly symptoms get worse varies between patients, it can happen in as little as seven months or years.
Muscle twitches and a weak grip are among the early signs of the condition, along with weakness in the leg or ankle, slurred speech and weight loss.
Doctors warn that you should see your GP if you have difficulty holding or gripping objects a feeling of weakness in your legs and twitches or muscle cramps that keep happening, if they do not go away.
Rugby League legend Rob Burrow was diagnosed with MND in 2019, before passing away last year.
His first symptom was slurred speech, which hit while he was attending an awards show. Friends just thought he was drunk slurring his words but tests revealed the devastating news.
There is currently no cure for MND but doctors can provide treatments to help reduce the impact it has on a person’s life.
Medics can also provide drugs that minimise the symptoms like drooling.
However, inevitably patients will start to experience problems moving and may need a wheelchair.
As MND progresses patients can eventually need a ventilator, a machine to help them breathe, as well technology to help them communicate.
