Have you ever had difficulty in swallowing? Since we were born, we eat, drink but have you ever thought of your eating process? No right?
This is a bit of a complex process. When we see, smell the food ; our brain will send a message to the muscles in our mouth, neck, throat, and belly parts..this is the first instance of salivating. Here we begin the swallowing process.
Did you know?
- On average a person swallows 900 times a day when he/she eats,drinks,etc.
- Produces 1.5 liters of saliva
- Use 55 muscles to swallow
What is a swallowing difficulty?
Do you remember the time when you choked while eating or eating fast? But if this happens often, you should pay attention to this.
This is problem of eating or drinking liquid is known as dysphagia (difficulty in swallowing).
Dysphagia can incur in any person. From a little child who is premature, suffering with cerebral palsy, cleft lip and palate,autism to adults with brain damage, stroke and surgeries related feeding and swallowing muscles and due to age.
Signs of people with dysphagia
- Finds it difficult to chew or break food into pieces in the mouth
- Drooling
- Difficult to push food it into the throat
- Cough often during eating
- Food stuck in the throat
- Difficulty in breathing while eating
Because of the above signs, a person with dysphagia first reduces the food intake. This is not a good start. This makes a harmful impact on that person’s health. Due to lack of food intake few may lose their weight as well.
This is why it is a must to focus on the treatment of dysphagia as soon as detected.
If you or your loved ones have a problem with this kind of a difficulty in swallowing, meet a speech therapist today and get treatment for dysphagia.