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Submitted by Ritesh Mathur on 24 June 2018

Parkinson's pateints develop great difficulty in swallowing during later stageof their disease. These issues are sometimes ignored or given less importance by famiy and even doctor. My advise for caregiver/famiy of a parkinson's patient is to listen to /pay attention to what patient tells you, what they are experiencing may not be described or explained in literature, nor the doctor may be able to observe. Observe chnages in patient's behaviour, talk to them and accordingly make changes in their diet, medication etc. Since all the medicines for the patient are in tablet or capsule form, they have to be crushed and given as suspension in water. Many patients are not able to even swallow water, so doctor may advise rice tube feeding, which means a tube from nose to stomach is inserted and liquid diet and medicine crushed in water is fed through nose.While this may be the only alternative to oral feeding, depending on patient's age and stage of disease, nose tube is extremely irritating for patient at that stage. Doctors have other surgical alternatives also, so please consult a doctor, but do not ignore swallowing issues of patient.

This happens in 4 the stage and later and is a documented fact. Often there is also vocalisation problems as throat muscles are used in both.
Best is to give frequent small feeds of mashed food ,always waiting for the person to swallow one mouthful before next is given.
Problem of regurgitation always there . If that occurs too frquently with complication of aspiration pneumonia , option is to put in a nasal feeding tube .

PhysioNicole

Tue, 06/26/2018 - 00:56

Swallowing issues may occur not only in people with Parkinson's who are in the advanced stage but also earlier. If you experience any of the following symptoms such as coughing when drinking water or any fluid or while eating, difficulty swallowing medications or feeling like food is stuck in the throat, frequent chest infections or taking very long to eat ones meals; you should consult a speech therapist or swallowing therapist who will assess your swallowing and give you the appropriate treatment.

The treatment can vary from swallowing exercises and strategies to a change in the consistency of food. If the swallowing issue is severe they may recommend a ryle's tube or a feeding tube (PEG).