My mom has a lot of problems swallowing lately. It seems to come and go. She keeps claiming she can't swallow. She would chew and spit out, even the foods she used to love eating. She would say she can't swallow it. I assure her she can swallow the vitamins which are tough. Then she would do it. Every meal takes up to two hours. I'm running out of patience.
Expert Answer by Jennifer Serafin, N.P.
I would have this problem investigated, as it sounds as if you are taking alot of time to feed her. Some people do develop swallowing problems from diseases like strokes, Parkinson's, or dementias. I would let your mother's health care provider know that this is an issue, so that they can find out what is going on. She needs to have her throat examined to make sure it looks good. They can have her see a Speech Language Pathologist, who will see if she is really having a swallowing problem by doing swallowing tests.
You can help her swallowing difficulties by giving her soft, easily chewable foods. For example, ice cream is especially easy to swallow. As for her pills, sometimes you can break them or crush them (ask a pharmacist if it is OK) and mix them with pudding or applesauce to help make swallowing them easier.
Answer
This is a question to bring up with a Speech and Language Pathologist (SLP), one of the allied disciplines in Parkinson's care. As a first option, there is an "Ask the Speech Clinician" forum on the National Parkinson Foundation (NPF) forum site, and you could post your question there: http://forum.parkinson.org/forum/. Any of the NPF's centers of excellence will have the ability to recommend a Parkinson's trained SLPs; these centers are listed on the NPF home page http://www.parkinson.org. NPF runs programs training SLP's and a phone call to the NPF's 800 number (during business hours) can get you the name of an SLP trained in PD in your area.
Answer
Parkinson's Patients have a hard time swallowing. It is because they cannot get the food to the back of their mouths because the tongue is not doing it's job. I found with my Mother that the very soft textured foods like bread, pasta, lettuce and even broth are harder to swallow because they almost dissolve in her mouth and have no substance to them. The tongue cannot push them back. Instead of white bread we use toast and instead of spaghetti we do ziti or ravioli which stay a little "chunkier" in her mouth. Nuts are bad, the get caught in her mouth and I am afraid she might swallow one into her lungs. Good soft foods are cottage cheese, ice cream, yogurt, and sometimes an omelet. Drinking with a straw also helps with water, tea and coffee.
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