What is dysphagia? Normal swallowing is a smooth, dynamic and continuous process that is accomplished by the coordinated action of the relevant muscles and joints and nerves. If the transport of food from the mouth to the stomach is impaired, it is called dysphagia. What are the signs of dysphagia? Does it mean that food cannot be swallowed? Not only that, it can be manifested as choking and coughing on drinking, slow eating, poor chewing of food, poor tongue delivery, obstructive feeling in the throat, reflux, easy fatigue from eating, painful swallowing, abnormal voice, dry mouth, salivation, loss of appetite, weight loss, etc., among which choking and coughing on drinking is the most common. What are the risks of dysphagia? What are the consequences of frequent choking and coughing? Dysphagia can affect a patient’s daily life in various ways. Frequent choking makes food accidentally inhaled into the respiratory tract through the vocal cords, causing aspiration pneumonia and even life-threatening. It can also lead to malnutrition, wasting, dry mouth, and dehydration. Long-term inability to eat through the mouth can affect the patient’s mood, therefore, if it is not severe malnutrition or/and aspiration into the airway, nasal feeding tubes or gastrostomy procedures should not be inserted if possible, so as not to undermine the patient’s confidence in recovery. In general, what diseases cause dysphagia? Commonly after cerebrovascular accidents. Common diseases in general include: 1, stroke, traumatic brain injury; 2, head and neck tumors: such as after surgery for oral cancer, oropharyngeal cancer and tongue cancer, after total laryngectomy, after partial laryngectomy, after anastomotic stenosis after esophageal cancer, after radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal cancer; 3, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, dementia, encephalitis, meningitis; 4, gastroesophageal reflux disease, non-specific esophagitis; 5, due to nasal feeding tube 6, children with cerebral palsy, Down’s syndrome, oral sensory and motor disorders can also lead to drooling and swallowing difficulties; 7, the elderly, long-term bedridden people. When someone has discomfort in eating, how can I tell if I have swallowing difficulties? Take a sitting upright, drink 30 ml of room temperature water and calculate the time required and the choking and coughing. If the result is 3, 4 or 5, be sure to see a doctor for further examination. What are the treatments for dysphagia? It is important to start rehabilitation treatment for dysphagia as early as possible, where reducing choking and misaspiration is key! 1.Vocal cord laryngeal massage: massage the vocal cords of the larynx left and right, and lift the hyoid bone with slight force; 2.Ice stimulation: stimulate the tongue, palatal arch, and posterior pharyngeal wall with ice swabs; 3.Airway protection training: let the patient inhale deeply, then hold the breath and swallow, and cough immediately after swallowing; 4.Mouth and face movement training: let the patient do lip pursing, lip gathering, cheek puffing, lip smacking, and tooth showing; 5.Tongue function training: let the patient put the tongue forward 5.Tongue function training: let the patient stick out the tongue forward, back, left and right, you can use the tongue depressor to add some resistance; 6.Tongue sucker training: let the patient open the mouth, squeeze the balloon of the tongue sucker, suck the tongue, the inner cheek outward pull; 7.Chewing training: let the patient bite the tongue depressor or bite gum one by one; 8.Breathing training: blow the whistle, blow the candle, blow the respirator; 9.Mouth muscle training: for children who drool, eat badly can carry out mouth muscle training such as blowing bubbles, lengthening straws, etc. 10.Swallowing posture change: patients can be asked to swallow with low head, tilted head or turned head; 11.Electrical stimulation of swallowing: subglottis and facial electrical stimulation is performed, while breath-hold swallowing is performed. What do I need to pay attention to when eating in patients with dysphagia? Eating precautions for patients with dysphagia include: 1. eating pattern: inhalation → breath-holding → swallowing → coughing pattern of eating; 2. nature of food: preferably paste-like food, semi-solid food; if liquid needs to be fed, thicken to a suitable consistency with coagulating powder; types of food: green vegetables, meat, fruits, etc., preferably churned into a paste (e.g. yogurt-like); at least 5-6 meals a day, with each meal 3, before eating: clear the throat, to ensure that the mouth and throat without saliva, phlegm, etc.; 4, when eating: each bite to control the amount of 5 ml; after each mouthful of food swallowed first clear the throat, and then do empty swallowing (simply swallow saliva); 5, after eating: to clean the mouth and throat residual food; 6, before eating to rest well, the eating process can not chat; such as choking, vomiting should stop eating to avoid accidents.