What To Do If You Are Afflicted With Dysphagia

By Karen Barta

Dysphagia is a serious clinical condition accompanied by difficulty in swallowing. Persons, who are afflicted with this grave ailment, may find it extremely difficult in gulping food in either solid or liquid form. At the same time there are others who are quite unable to swallow any kind of food at all. This condition makes it almost impossible for them to get the required calories, so that they begin to lose weight in an alarming manner. As such, it is absolutely necessary to treat the disorder without any delay so that issues like malnutrition and other similar conditions that are harmful to an individual's health, can be avoided before it is too late.

What Causes Dysphagia?

There are a number of causes of dysphagia. The most common cause is stroke or other head injury, but dysphagia can occur with some illnesses, such as Parkinson's or cerebral palsy, with an infection or irritation that can cause swelling of the esophagus, or it may occur as a result of a birth defect, such as cleft palate. Some cancer treatments may affect the ability to swallow as well.

Are There Treatments?

Treatment of dysphagia depends on the basic cause. To find out the cause, a doctor will employ various methods such as medication or even surgery. If such methods do not produce any tangible results, the doctor might advise a patient to consult a speech-language pathologist, even if there is nothing wrong with his or her faculty of speech. After further testing, the pathologist will devise a plan of treatment according to the specific impairment of the sufferer.

A speech therapist will look for weak muscles in the mouth, throat, or tongue and address any coordination issues that appear to affect the swallowing mechanism. The therapist may use exercises to strengthen the swallowing muscles or teach the patient new ways to swallow.

Why Not Just Leave It Alone?

If you just leave dysphagia alone, serious problems can raise their heads because there is no prompt treatment. In such a case, something worse than the inability to retain the proper weight can occur. Food or liquid can get trapped either in the windpipe or pharynx, helping bacteria to grow in the area and even cause pneumonia. Dysphagia can weaken the esophagus by developing a pocket that can trap food particles, thereby preventing the passing of food or liquid to the stomach. While the patient is asleep, this trapped food can slide into the pharynx, causing acute infection.

Most cases of dysphagia can be treated and improved when addressed quickly. - 30237

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