Thursday, May 29, 2014

Signs And Curative Measures Of 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.

Having the psychological trauma of choking often leads to the individuals eating very slowly. They also tend to chew for a very long time hence spend a lot of time when eating. They may avoid eating altogether or avoid doing it when they are near anyone. Once they chew, they swallow very slowly, with the fear that they might chock, which is not necessarily the case.

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.

People with these problems will usually lose weight at an alarming rate. This is common in children since they end up not talking in anything. Adults too may have these problems especially if there is pain during swallowing. This is common to people who have mouth and throat sores since they experience a lot of pain when taking in the food.

The most fatal consequences of this problem are where food particles miss their way and go into the air pipe. This could cause the patient to be unable to breathe well which could lead to death. It is therefore advisable to get the problem handled medically or psychologically to avoid such an eventuality.

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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