Update - Re: Heads Up on Swallowing Studies

[Guest guest]

:

Thanks again for the incite on swallowing studies which were done this

morning. Your comments on penetration did indeed prove helpful.

Results: Terry had no significant problems. That said, there were a few

important observations. There was a little penetration, at times, by thin

liquids into the little pocket above the windpip. These cleared themselves

spontaneously. We were told this amount of penetration is not

unusual. She was not able to swallow the large barrium pill. As a result,

the speech pathologist recommended taking large pills with a thicker

material, e.g. apple sauce. The SP recommended the following

practices: slow eating, small sips[like drinking hot coffee], sitting

upright possibly with head slightly bowed, avoiding hard crunchy stuff[e.g.

carrots], cut up firm meats in small pieces, and having someone around when

eating.

All in all, my impression is there are no significant problems currently,

but we need to be watchful and develop good, conservative eating

habits. Clearly, the potential exists for problems in the future given

Terry's depressed speech and occasional slurring.

Thanks a gain for your helpful comments in advance.

Message: 23

Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2002 15:51:45 EST

From: TigerI1884@...

Subject: Re: " Heads Up " on Swallowing Studies

,

In terms of what is important, make sure you get the results and have them

explain the difference between penetration and aspiration. Penetration is

sometimes normal in people, but it usually means that liquid and/or solids

are falling to the level of the vocal cords-directly above the

trachea(windpipe) and there is a chance they could fall into the airway, or

they could be cleared out normally. If it is aspiration, find out on what

consistences. You may see pooling of liquids and/or solids in certain areas

or maybe weakness in her ability to be able to chew and move the food to the

back of her mouth to swallow. With neurological conditions, it really

varies, but as conditions progress, swallowing usually becomes compromised at

some point. With my mom, I notice she coughs after drinking liquids, so she

does not use straws anymore, and tucks her chin as she swallows--this does

not work for everyone and chin tucks can sometimes make the swallowing

problem worse, this is just what we did in her case.

As a Speech Pathologist myself, I can't stress enough how important it is to

follow the recommendations the SLP makes--diet modifications and posturing.It

is something that will help help your wife greatly.

Take care and hope this was helpful.

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Sennewald Charlottesville, Virginia