[CarolynS]

Help with dysphagia

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People suffering from what’s called “dysphagia” have difficulty swallowing and may experience pain while eating or drinking. Patients with Parkinson’s disease often have dysphagia and that can lead to substances getting caught in their airways, causing infections and potentially death. Now a new University of Florida study shows Parkinson’s patients can improve their swallowing with training. Researchers say exhaling in this simple device can strengthen the muscles in your throat, which leads to improved swallowing.

Dr. Michelle Troche/UF speech language pathologist: “We found that people who had a degenerative swallowing problem were able to improve their swallowing with this device. Not just give them a crutch, not just a compensation, but actually fix a portion of the problem and make them safer swallowers.“

[shakyjon]

Now that's neat. An idea in swallowing, until this comes readily available to speech therapists, is to make sure that you tuck your chin into your chest every time you swallow. This can help force the food or liquid down the esophagus instead of the windpipe.

[louisek]

John Argue has a wonderful book and DVD set called The Art of Moving for PWPD and there is an excellent section devoted to all things voice and swallowing. Most people will at some point develop these issues and, not to be morbid, but the single biggest cause of death that is caused by PD is choking and pneumonia from aspirating saliva and food so this is an area
we should all be paying attention to. I'm definitely getting the device.

Thanks for posting this as it inspires me to get back into my routine of doing the exercises from the book I mentioned above and now I will add this gadget to my routine.

Best to all,
Louise (new to forum)