Trouble Swallowing Food

Swallowing food is something that is usually carried out with relative ease unless there is some sort of illness or disease that one is afflicted with. Difficulty in swallowing sometimes is experienced by many people, and in most cases it is not a cause for alarm as this is a result of not chewing the food properly, or also due to the dryness of the particular food item. Having this problem basically implies that one is experiencing some difficulty in passing the food from the mouth into the stomach, and is also feeling some degree of pain while doing so.

Difficulty in gulping food is a condition known as dysphagia, and is mostly experienced by very young children or by elderly people. You may have noticed that when you are unwell, and suffering from a bad cough, swallowing becomes slightly harder than under normal circumstances. Some people may also experience ear pain with it. The causes for this difficulty are hard to ascertain just at a glance, simply because there are so many muscle groups and nerves involved in the chewing and swallowing process. There are mainly two types of dysphagia that affect people - oropharyngeal dysphagia and esophageal dysphagia.

Oropharyngeal Dysphagia

These are causes that stem from some malfunctioning of the nerves involved in the chewing and swallowing process. The throat muscles are severely weakened due to these causes, and there is an extreme sensation of pain and discomfort while swallowing. The food almost refuses to go down the food pipe and when it does, it sometimes produces a feeling that it may come back up. The following are the causes of oropharyngeal dysphagia.

• Cancer: It could be that an individual is suffering from cancer, if he/she is facing consistent trouble in swallowing. There are many kinds of cancer that are capable of producing this effect.
• Neurological damage or disorder: Some damage that is caused to the neurological system due to a stroke or brain injury induces some difficulty in swallowing sometimes. Other conditions such as Parkinson's disease, post-polio syndrome, multiple sclerosis and muscular dystrophy are also known to cause oropharyngeal dysphagia, and can be detected by this condition.

Esophageal Dysphagia

Any sensation that generates a feeling of food getting stuck in the throat is called esophageal dysphagia. If a person is experiencing it, they should be cautious as it could be caused by any one of these factors.

• Old age: As a person grows older the muscles in the esophagus (food pipe) become weaker, just like any other muscle group in the body. This leads to this problem sometimes.
• Esophageal stricture and esophageal ring: This is the term given to the narrowing of the esophagus, and can be caused by a number of other factors as well. The area that is narrowed down resembles a ring in shape, and its tightness may prevent food from passing through on some occasions.
• Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD): When the acids released by the stomach pass up through the food pipe, they can damage the lining of the pipe and cause a lot of discomfort while swallowing food. This is very potent acid and the stomach has a special layer of lining so that it does not get affected by this. The esophagus is not blessed with this protective layering.
• Stuck food: Many times, an item of food may have gotten stuck in the esophagus. This prevents the others from passing down, and produces a lot of pain and trouble.
• Scleroderma: This is a disease that is known to cause hardening of the tissues that are involved in the chewing and swallowing process. Being afflicted by this disease can cause a lot of problems.
• Cancer treatment: Many people who are undergoing some form of treatment for cancer, also experience this problem as a side effect of that particular treatment.

When a person finds that he/she is regularly suffering from some form of dysphagia, they should visit a doctor and reveal all the details of the problem. It could be that this condition is an allergic reaction to some particular food item as well, and if this is the case then that item should be strictly avoided. Problem in swallowing is not something that should be taken lightly, as it could be a symptom of many serious ailments. Corrective measures must be taken as soon as possible.