NotMyDad
Active member
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2016
- Messages
- 70
- Reason
- Lost a loved one
- Diagnosis
- 11/2016
- Country
- US
- State
- VA
- City
- Woodbridge
Hi All,
My bulbar onset dad who refuses a peg has more and more problems with not being able to cough out whatever bothers him in his throat, or deeper than throat, and also with saliva or mucus - I am not sure he knows which one is the bigger problem; he seems to think it's saliva, and its worst in the evening/night, comes out through his nose sometimes, cough assist doesn't help much, he can't sleep because something bothers him in there somewhere and makes it very difficult to breathe - he seems to be choking (he has no breathing problems otherwise) ... the way he describes it is not entirely clear to me, so am not sure how much sense my description makes sense in here...
He thinks that the saliva gets worse depending on the consistency of the food he eats - that maybe when the puree is a bit too think, the saliva will get worse. That it gets thicker, and that's why he can't cough it out/get it out with cought assist..
(He also doesn't believe in anything that his doctor tells him; but the doctor, anesthesiologist, never even had a bulbar onset patient so his knowledge is limited.)
Is it possible that the consistency of the food affects the production/thickness of the saliva? (I don't think so, but I promised him I will ask here.)
And another question: would eating with PEG help those problems somewhat, or is it something that every bulbar onset patient struggles with no matter what, and it only gets worse as the disease progresses?
Thank you for your help...
My bulbar onset dad who refuses a peg has more and more problems with not being able to cough out whatever bothers him in his throat, or deeper than throat, and also with saliva or mucus - I am not sure he knows which one is the bigger problem; he seems to think it's saliva, and its worst in the evening/night, comes out through his nose sometimes, cough assist doesn't help much, he can't sleep because something bothers him in there somewhere and makes it very difficult to breathe - he seems to be choking (he has no breathing problems otherwise) ... the way he describes it is not entirely clear to me, so am not sure how much sense my description makes sense in here...
He thinks that the saliva gets worse depending on the consistency of the food he eats - that maybe when the puree is a bit too think, the saliva will get worse. That it gets thicker, and that's why he can't cough it out/get it out with cought assist..
(He also doesn't believe in anything that his doctor tells him; but the doctor, anesthesiologist, never even had a bulbar onset patient so his knowledge is limited.)
Is it possible that the consistency of the food affects the production/thickness of the saliva? (I don't think so, but I promised him I will ask here.)
And another question: would eating with PEG help those problems somewhat, or is it something that every bulbar onset patient struggles with no matter what, and it only gets worse as the disease progresses?
Thank you for your help...