Swallowing Disorders: Causes and Treatment

A swallowing disorder makes swallowing difficult or painful. Some people cannot swallow at all; others have trouble with liquids, food or saliva. That makes eating hard, and it can be difficult to take in enough calories and fluids to stay nourished.

Who gets them

Anyone can, but they are more common in older adults, and they often come from another condition:

• nervous system disorders, such as Parkinson's disease and cerebral palsy;
• problems with the esophagus, including GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease);
• stroke;
• head or spinal cord injury;
• cancer of the head and neck or the esophagus.

Treatment

• Medicines help some people; others need surgery.
• Swallowing therapy with a speech-language pathologist can help.
• Changing your diet, or holding your head or neck a certain way while you eat, may make swallowing easier.
• In very serious cases, people may need feeding tubes.

Sources

• MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine, "Swallowing Disorders," from the NIH National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. https://medlineplus.gov/swallowingdisorders.html
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