Dysphagia

What is dysphagia?
Dysphagia is a swallowing disorder that can occur in any stage of swallowing.

What causes dysphagia?
The are a range of causes including,but not limited to, muscle weakness or paralysis. These are typically due to neurological or neuromuscular disorders.

What type of neurological or neuromuscular disorders cause dysphagia?
Stroke, head injury, brain tumor, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson's disease, myasthenia gravis, muscular dystrophy, dementia and cerebral palsy (Ferrand and Bloom 236)

What is are some symptoms of dysphagia?
perceived difficulty eating, coughing during meals, slow eating, physical difficulty manipulating foods, "wet" sounding voice, food residue in the mouth, multiple swallows, and aspiration. Aspiration is when food falls below the point of the vocal folds and may or may not result in a cough. Unfortunately, however, dysphagia sometimes doesn't have visible symptoms. (Ferrand and Bloom 236)

What can be done to help alleviate the symptoms of dysphagia?
There are different diet modifications and positioning techniques that can help the swallowing process.

What are the different diet modifications?
Modifications are made with food, liquids, and medication.

Food -
*Regular
*Mechanical Soft
*Soft/Crushed
*Pureed

Liquid -
*thin liquids
*thick liquids
*no liquids

NPO - nothing by mouth

Medications may need to be crushed and put into a liquid or food.

The following are some postitions that can aid in swallowing:

-Sit upright with hips flexed to 90 degrees
-Tilt chin down
-Turn head to the left or right
-Turn head to the left or right with a chin tuck
-Side lying position
-Tilt head to the left or right
-Tilt head back
(Ferrand and Bloom 242)

What are some risks of dysphagia?
Dysphagia can cause aspiration which may be dangerous. If aspiration occurs then the patient could be at risk for pneumonia. Watch for a temperature rise 30 minutes after completion of a meal. (Kavanaugh 3)

It is very important that those around the patient be aware of his or her diet modifications and/or positioning changes. These people include the nursing staff, caregivers, doctors, etc. Many times it is overlooked and can be dangerous due to aspiration.

Do you know someone who may suffer from dysphagia? Please contact the following about intervention:

Home Care Plus
147 Dawkins Drive
Greyrock Professional Park
Lewisburg, WV 24956