4 Ways to Help a Loved One with Swallowing Difficulties

Swallowing difficulties may sound benign on the surface but, as with many conditions, they have the potential to cause a myriad of problems for those who suffer from them. Because of this, it is important that you understand exactly what is meant by dysphagia and how your loved one suffers with it. This article will help you to properly assist someone who you care about in dealing with their dysphagia.

1. Understanding Dysphagia

To begin with it’s important that you fully understand what dysphagia is and how it could affect your loved one. Dysphagia is the medical term for swallowing difficulties and refers to a difficulty in swallowing that could range from problems swallowing water to a complete inability to swallow. Aside from this, signs of dysphagia include:

• Choking and/or coughing when eating and/or drinking
• An inability to properly chew
• Feeling that food is stuck in your throat or chest
• A wet sounding voice when eating and/or drinking
• Repeated chest infections

There is a number of potential causes for dysphagia. However, it is almost always caused by another health condition such as a stroke or dementia.

Unfortunately, dysphagia can often lead to aspiration pneumonia, which occurs when food “goes down the wrong way” and blocks your airway. Aspiration pneumonia is a severe medical issue and requires urgent medical treatment to treat. Warning signs for aspiration pneumonia include:

• A wet sounding voice when eating and/or drinking
• Coughing while eating and/or drinking
• Difficulty breathing (may be rapid and shallow)

Should these signs become apparent in your loved one diagnosed with dysphagia, it is important that they contact their doctor immediately to arrange care for their condition.

2. Help Them Try Different Foods

One of the best ways to help handle dysphagia is to get a good grasp on what your loved one can and cannot eat. Often texture and consistency of the food in question have parts to play in whether or not the food is easy to swallow and by discovering what your loved one can and can’t swallow easily, they will be far more able to consistently eat without issue.

3. Use Thickener on Liquids They Drink

A good way to help your loved one to manage their dysphagia when drinking or eating foods that are a little too thin inconsistency, is to use thickening gels. These products, such as the ones offered by SimplyThick, allow for liquids and thin foods to be, well, thickened, which will make them far easier to swallow.

4. Suggest That They Seek Professional Help

While your loved one might be insistent on handling the symptoms of their dysphagia themselves, it might be worth gently suggesting to them that they seek professional help in managing their condition. Medical professionals such as speech therapists are often able to help those who suffer from dysphagia. 

They do this by teaching them new ways to swallow their food and, if a case of dysphagia is severe enough, it may even be necessary for a stint to be placed in the esophagus to help widen it to allow proper swallowing.