Treatments of “Difficulty Swallowing”

As is suggestive of the term, Difficulty swallowing is the problem associated with painful passage of semi-solid or liquid food from mouth to the esophagus. For some of us, this term is absolutely new because when we come to think of it, it is natural to wonder who could possibly have this and why is it a disease? Over the years, a lot of patients have reported of this condition being persistent for a long span of their life. This is actually a disease or condition that is known as Dysphagia. The intensity varies from person to person; it might be less severe in some while in extreme cases it becomes impossible for the patients to swallow. Continued pain and difficulty accounts for this condition and if you have this, it is time to seek help.

Causes of Difficulty Swallowing

The process of swallowing is complex and a number of factors govern it, on a general scale, dysphagia can be caused due to following conditions:

The muscles near the mouth that help move the food down into esophagus stop working normally and become weak occurring due to nervous system severities like post-polio syndrome, muscular dystrophy, immune system problems and weaknesses, spinal cord problems, squeezing or narrowing of esophagus muscles and tissues or weakening of muscles.

The second cause is blockage. If something is blocking the throat, then it becomes hard to push the food down. This may occur sue to inflammation of esophagus (esophagitis), bursting ulcers in the esophageal wall (GERD), formation of small sacs in the walls of throat (diverticula) and esophageal tumors that restrict the flow.

The inability to produce enough saliva is also associated with this. Saliva wet and lubricates the food which makes it easier to swallow. In its absence, the mouth and throat becomes dry and give rise to severe dysphagia.

Treatment Available

A number of treatments are available for this disease depending in the type of its cause.

Exercising

Certain swallowing exercises can help you regain control of the muscles located in your throat and also stimulate the nerve endings to help in total treatment.

Learning Postures

In less severe cases, changing your food style and the way you position your body while you eat can be of great help.

Surgery

In case of pharyngeal diverticula (sac formation) and formation of tumors that block your way, you may need surgery for their removal.

Esophageal Dilation

This is needed when the throat is narrow and done by passing a device that a balloon attached to it, down the esophagus that expands the passage and solves the problem. But this is required a number of times.

Medication

A lot of patients rely on taking this form of treatment, especially in cases of GERD. Oral pills prevent the backward flow of stomach acid into the esophagus.

Feeding tube

In case of the severest forms of dysphagia, the doctors insert a feeding tube inside the nasal passage going into the throat directly, for food to reach the body.

MedeHealth delivers aged care providers with online competency based learning for their professional staff development and compliance. Get more info at competency based learning.