Losing the Ability to Swallow: How to Help Someone With Dysphagia

Coping with an ill loved one’s difficulty swallowing can be frustrating and frightening for everyone involved. Caring for someone we love means nurturing and nourishing them, but when the ability to offer pleasure through food is taken away, caregivers may end up feeling defeated.

Of course, that’s illogical, but when our best efforts result in an elder coughing or gagging, it’s hard to feel good about the care we provide. What we need to understand is that this is not our fault. Many diseases can cause swallowing issues. As caregivers, all we can do is learn as much as we can about our loved ones’ conditions and cope as well as we can.

Hospice personnel often work with patients who have dysphagia. Antoinette Ryba, RN, a patient advocate, care manager, and health coach with nearly a decade of hospice experience offers caregivers suggestions for recognizing symptoms of dysphagia and helping a senior eat safely.

What Is Dysphagia? Difficulty swallowing is clinically known as dysphagia and occurs when one’s esophagus does not function properly. When a person with dysphagia eats or drinks, they cannot swallow correctly. This swallowing disorder causes discomfort, coughing, choking and even aspiration of food particles…

Continue reading on Agingcare to learn more about the swallowing difficulties known as dysphagia:

Minding Our Elders: Caregivers Share Their Personal Stories. “For anyone having to walk the last segments of life with a loved one, read this.” …Delores

Support a caregiver or jump-start discussion in support groups with real stories – for bulk orders of Minding Our Elders e-mail Carol