Friday, May 30, 2014

Some Signs And Remedies For Swallowing Disorders

By Nora Jennings


Swallowing is an automatic response that happens most often in a day to day lives. Most people take it for granted just as they do breathing or walking. The truth is that the difficulty in swallowing can cause huge problems in someones life. These problems are termed as dysphagia and they can manifest in various ways. There are symptoms that one looks for when they need to know if they have swallowing disorders.

One of the most common signs in many people is having coughing fits when one is eating. In some people, it makes it difficult for them to eat anything at all, and this is a huge problem. The risk is doubled when they are taking in liquids as the risk of aspiration is even higher. When one stops eating, they will normally not have the coughing fits anymore.

Another common sign is experienced by other patients. They will feel the need to over chew even when the food should be swallowed. They do this because they have a reflex action preventing them from choking. Some others also try to swallow at a slower pace so that the food does not choke them. This problem could be tied in with psychological factors that should be dealt with too.

Some people especially children will have food stuck in the mouth when being fed. The food ends up leaking at the corners of the mouth because they have difficulty trying to swallow. Another symptom is having a congested chest immediately after eating. Some of these signs are not related, and one cannot know that they are symptoms of the problem. Some people will live with the disorder for most of their life and never suspect it.

Weight loss is a common phenomenon in people who have the problem. This is because they do not eat enough for the fear to choke. The food pipe is often in pain and the chest blocks hence they lack the appetite for any meal. Other signs that could hinder proper eating are wounds in the mouth as whenever the affected person tries to eat, it gets very painful.

People with this problem have a high risk of aspirating food. This is whereby the food goes into the air pipe and into the lungs. This can cause fatal problems including pneumonia and chronic lung infections. Whatever the cause of the problem whether physical or psychological, it should be addressed as soon as possible.

In case of sores, one can take some steps to relieve the pain. Food eaten can be mashed to make it easier to swallow. It can also be made bland with minimum or no spices to reduce the acidity. This will reduce the irritation of the throat when one tries to swallow food. Such problems can cause one to have embarrassments when it comes to eating in public.

One can feel isolated in social gatherings if they are unable to swallow food. This is why such a problem should be addressed seriously. There are different ways of doing this. This includes changing the texture of the foods by mashing and also performing specific exercises.




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