Dysphagia Symptoms

Dysphagia is a medical condition where patients have problems in swallowing foods. There are some patients of dysphagia who find it difficult to swallow some specific type of foods and liquids. In other patients, the mechanism of swallowing is badly impaired. As a result, they cannot swallow anything. Dysphagia symptoms can be found in people of all age groups. However, it is more common among elderly people

Dysphagia
Dysphagia can be defined as a disorder that obstructs passage of food from the mouth to the stomach. It is categorized into two different types. One is oropharyngeal or high dysphagia which arises due to trouble in the first stage of swallowing. In other words, it is associated with some problem in the mouth or upper part of the throat. The other one is esophageal or low dysphagia where the difficulty swallowing food is caused by some problem in the esophagus or food pipe.

Causes
There are many different causes of dysphagia. A serious head injury or a spinal injury often leads to dysphagia. These kinds of injuries have an adverse impact on the muscle and nerve coordination that controls the swallowing mechanism. Elderly people often develop dysphagia after suffering a stroke. Here, the condition is triggered by neurological damage that affects nerves and muscles of our body. Dysphagia in children is mostly related to some birth defects in throat. People suffering from various other diseases such as Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis or other age related issues tend to get this problem.

Symptoms
When the symptoms are mild, patients can swallow their food slowly. If it turns serious, the patients experience so much of throat pain when swallowing, that they bring the food back into the mouth. Apart from trouble swallowing food, there are other symptoms. They are as follows:

• Abnormal coughing particularity while eating. It is often accompanied by choking. It is more common when they try to drink liquid substances.
• Frequent gagging occurs when the food is trapped in the lower part of the throat which may even interfere with their breathing.
• Dysphagia patients often complain that their mouth is so dry that it hurts to swallow solid foods.
• A sore throat sensation that refuses to go over a period of time.
• They may get a constant feeling that some food is stuck in their throat.
• When the food is caught inside the esophagus, it causes a lot of pain and discomfort in the middle of the chest.
• In case there is aspiration of food into the lungs, then they suffer from recurring upper respiratory infections or pneumonia.
• Sudden loss of weight is a sign of malnutrition which is caused due to insufficient intake of food.
• Excessive drooling, belching and bad breath are other general symptoms.

Treatment
Treatment is based upon the severity of the symptoms. Swallowing therapy is an effective form of treatment which is conducted by a speech and language therapist. They teach the patients new methods of swallowing. They also suggest exercises that are helpful for improving the swallowing reflex. These patients are often advised to follow a diet so that malnutrition can be prevented. It includes foods that can be easily swallowed and are rich in nutrition. Mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs and cheese are few such semi solid foods that can be taken by these patients without much difficulty. If the patients stop eating completely, then they are fed with the help of feeding tubes. When the swallowing is affected due to structural abnormalities, then it is corrected with the help of surgery.

When you suspect that your close ones are showing dysphagia symptoms, then do not ignore the problem. If neglected, there is a high chance of malnutrition and dehydration. Besides, it may lead to aspiration pneumonia which could be fatal.