Panicking about salivary Gland pain, calm me please

[mousemole]

I've been having pain in one of my salivary glands ( left side under jaw) for a few months but recently it has got worse. When I think about food or am about to eat I get a sharp shooting pain in the area. I went to the doctor who thinks it might be a salivary stone but has referred me to an Oral surgeon which is worrying me. Sometimes the pain heads towards the bottom of my ear and feels a bit like toothache. When I drink alcholol ( beer especially) the pain gets worse.
Anyone any ideas ? I googled the symptoms and am now convinced I have a tumour.

no advice really apart from try not to panic and wait to see what the oral surgeon says. Bumping for you.

Likely stone to be honest. You will automatically salivate if you think, taste, see , smell food and pressure builds up and pain sets in. Have you had any x-rays or scans. Have you asked your dentist? Don't wory about beign referred to an oral surgeon that's the right thing for your GP to have done.

thanks wobbly and beanie. No scan yet - suspect oral surgeon will recommend that when I see him. I haven't asked the dentist - should I ?

They ( dentists ) often know more than GPs about head and neck stuff so may be able to reassure you.

I had stones taken out of mine years ago. They did it under general anasthetic and they were huge, like tooth size!
It all healed quickly and I've had no further problems. They will take blood to check your not having hypercalceamia - rare, and I didn't, so good luck.
They think they might be caused by a small particle entering the duct and becoming calcified (a bit like a pearl in an oyster).
It was excruciating to even think about food before they took it out - you have my sympathy.

lessonlearned - thanks for that. Did the pain get worse over time ? I started off a few months ago thinking that my left salivary glad was just a bit more efficient than the other and the pain has gradually come on. It is not excruciating yet although the pain seems to be spreading towards my ear now which is not nice. How many stones did you have and where ? I really dont dont dont want a general anasthetic !

MM, yes it got gradually worse and I clearly remember the stone that finally lodged in the duct. I sort of sucked hard inside my mouth to try and get the saliva to flow and knew immediately when it had blocked completely. I was also dead scared of general surgery but knew there was no other option when I was in tears trying to eat.
My operation was years ago (late 70's) so maybe they can do it under local now (I don't see why not)? Anyway, being inside the mouth it all healed very quickly.
I had 2 large stones waiting in a bag for me when I woke up, and I couldn't believe the size of them! There was no doubt that they couldn't have stayed there and they were not going to go away by any other means!
Good luck, you will be much better when you get rid of them.

thanks lessonlearned, very reassuring.