Swallowing difficulty

lynnie771

Regular Member

Joined : Oct 2008

Posts : 53

Posted 4/7/2009 6:07 PM (GMT -6)

Over the past month my partner has been gagging and coughing when she is eating or taking her meds....it seems to be getting graduallly worse....

is there something i could be doing to make it easier for her?

is she forgetting how to swallow?

this really scares me....

lynnie

SnowyLynne

Veteran Member

Joined : Apr 2004

Posts : 1539

Posted 4/7/2009 9:02 PM (GMT -6)

Can you crush her meds? Try a thickener in drinks & some foods.Thick It is the name......Coughing while eating she can aspirate her food & get Pnuemonia......Yes the do forget to swallow......

Does she have lung problems?

SnowyLynne

lynnie771

Regular Member

Joined : Oct 2008

Posts : 53

Posted 4/8/2009 12:08 AM (GMT -6)

hi.....yes, some of her medication can be crushed and some can't....

i appreciate the advice on the thick it, i will pick some of it up tomorrow....i've been making her smoothies and milkshakes but there's only so many things she likes....

as far as her lungs, she spent a couple weeks in the hospital around christmas time with pneumonia and then was home for only a few days and suffered a collapsed lung and was hospitalized again...

it seems as though she is going downhill at a more rapid pace now.....

Howlyncat

Elite Member

Joined : Jan 2005

Posts : 24909

Posted 4/15/2009 10:43 AM (GMT -6)

As Was said yes they can and do sometimes forget t swallow
I would try crushing and doing as what snowy said to try and see if that helps
If not you may have to speak with the doc about other alternative ways of having meds as wel as nutrients getting into her properly

Keep me posted'
I will be on the ad forum alot more
'LYN

_{^{DX: Crohns,Pyoderma Gangrenosum,Anxiety/Panic,
Fibro & Other DD}}
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Moderator@Alzheimer's..

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LYN

lynnie771

Regular Member

Joined : Oct 2008

Posts : 53

Posted 4/16/2009 1:57 AM (GMT -6)

SnowyLynne, thanks so much for the advice the thick-it is working great......she's not wanting to eat much but at least it is going down easier....

Lyn...thank you as well....I did get with her dr. and found out what meds i could crush up....he talked with me about tpn for nutrition if things get really bad, but for now we are doing ok.....

well except for sleep....her sleep pattern is so messed up and i'm up all hours of the night with her......she sleeps well for a few hours and then she's up and so am i........

(another) lynnie

Peter5

New Member

Joined : Apr 2009

Posts : 1

Posted 4/24/2009 1:30 AM (GMT -6)

Lynnie771,hi.

Sometimes their mouth gets to dry,if are small pills use apple sauce.Just take a spoon of applesauce and put the pill on top.

For food mostly will be puree`(sorry don`t know in english),all food must be puree`(smashed like a smashed potato).

But the best way to exercise the swelling(swolling)is to let your love one drink fluids through a straw,it makes the muscles around the throat stronger.

If you can buy a baby cup,the one with the little three holes with both handles(plastic one)drinking water from that type of cup makes the tongue muscles stronger.

One more exercise to tuffer the throat is making them singing like the opera does,aaaa aaaa,I`m not joking,I did that to my best friend when she had the same problem for different reasons at that time.

I wish you good luck and be strong.

I hope you don`t mind if I answered you since I am new.

Today was my first day of knowing this disease,my best friend she got sick of alzheimer's too but all the tricks I told you were tricks that I learned in ten years of enjoyable and painful friendship with her,painful I mean back and for to the hospitals for different reason all the times,now I got a new one.

Good luck again Lynnie771

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