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Difficulty Swallowing

This is a condition known as Dysphagia and is described as a symptom of an underlying cause for the difficulty in swallowing. Some of the causes of this are:

  • Parkinsons Disease
  • Brain Injury/Tumour
  • Stroke
  • Aging
  • Prematurity
  • Cerebral Palsy
  • Cleft Palate
  • High spinal cord injury
  • Thyroid Surgery
  • Neck Injury
  • Cancer of the neck and/or head
  • Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease burns
  • Bronchopulmonary displaysia
  • Zenkers diverticulum
  • Huntingtons disease
  • Encephalitis
  • Diseases of muscles
  • Gastroesophageal reflux disease
  • Esophageal stricture
  • Cervical Osteophytes
  • Achalasia or Esophageal motility problems
  • Motor-neuron disease
  • Myasthenia Gravis
  • Scleroderma
  • Mouth or throat injury, infection or surgery

If you suffer from difficulty swallowing or having food “go down the wrong way” on a regular basis you should talk to your medical practitioner so that they can organise an assessment for you with a specialist. This may be a speech pathologist or a gastroenterologist for testing and diagnosis.

Once you have been tested and diagnosed there are many options of treatment and a wide range of clinicians available to assist you with correcting the issue or, at the very least, relieving it somewhat for you. These clinicians include:

  • Dentist – diagnosis and treatments
  • Gastroenterologist
  • Pharmacist
  • Occupational Therapist
  • Head and Neck Surgeon
  • Physiotherapist
  • Neurologist
  • Dietitian
  • Radiographer
  • Paediatrician
  • Respiratory Physician
  • Speech Pathologist
  • ENT Specialist

Testing to see what the underlying issue may be can include:

  • Upper GI
  • Barium Swallow exam
  • Endoscopy
  • Double contrast barium enema
  • Double contrast Upper GI
  • Gastroscopy
  • Ultrasound
  • Fiberoptic Endoscopic examination of swallowing
  • Electrogastrography
  • Spectral anaylsis in EMG

These tests are always performed by a specialist medical practitioner and will provide a diagnosis that you can then seek treatment for. Obviously, the treatment will depend on the underlying issue however, most information available relates to the use of drug therapy for treating GI diseases.

If, for example, the difficulty swallowing is related to a surgical procedure such as Thyroid surgery, Tonsillectomy or dental surgery, the only thing that a patient can do is discuss ways of coping until the healing process is complete. Should the difficulty swallowing continue after the healing process is complete then you would need to return to your medical practitioner to discuss and ensure that there have been no complications that have caused the difficulty.

The Brooks Clinic specializes in treating whiplash injuries. We are located in Midtown, downtown, Oklahoma City. Call us today and we’ll give you a free consultation with absolutely no strings attached.

Call Us at 1-405-943-0303