Bluesking, that's strange, because my neuro told me that DBS often causes swallowing problems, it's one of the side effects that can occur. In my case, that's exactly what happened. Although I'm happy with my DBS results overall (little to no tremor, etc.), I have serious speech & language problems that I never had before DBS, including difficult breathing, being winded, a softer, slower voice, & swallowing/choking problems many times a day. I'm still hoping it may be programmed better, but many things about DBS involve a trade-off, so I may have to settle for some level of motor symptoms like tremor (just as one possible example) if I want some other bad things programmed out.