food is stuck every meal! Now what?!

[fallinggirl]

I've tried the tucking my chin while eating, but now as of three days ago, every meal, finds me coughing from food being stuck.

Is it time for me to go to pureed foods or liquids?!

 

[affected]

sorry to hear about the eating problems, it's so unpleasant!

My PALS last night had a particularly hard time eating and decided that he is going onto pureed food as from tonight.

I think only you really know in yourself, so maybe try some pureed food?

It depends too maybe on what you are trying to eat. My PALS over the last couple of months was cutting out more and types of food as things got more difficult - whole cuts of meat, salad leaves, raw fruits for example. This kept him eating regular type meals for longer, but we were cooking everything a bit more and more so they were softer and softer.

We cook a lot in the slow cooker, and these meals are easier for him, but his big problem is forming a bolus as his tongue is wasting so much now. So as he tries to get the food around in his mouth it's too easy for unchewed bits to suddenly be heading over the back of the tongue.

So do you think you can modify the type of food you are trying to eat to get it softer? If not, I would try blending your food up.

 

[fallinggirl]

Thanks Tillie. I will definitely think about it and try something to see what I can do. I keep adjusting only for something else to change.

 

[affected]

believe me I can totally sympathise and relate to that statement!

every time we think we make a good adjustment things just change again.

I'm trying to just accept and keep adjusting, but it's not easy.

Let us know how you go, we are having a stew tonight and will blend his up a bit first, so I'll let you know how that went too.

 

[Barbie]

Tillie, you said bolus what is that? is that a blob of food that gets stuck basically on his tongue because he can not move it around? we have that problem at times also. have had to scrape it off with a butter knife--yuck! I use a tongue scraper after brushing his teeth, to help get all the guck off and keep fresher breath and mouth.

Puree is def. easier to eat--I puree everything from my husband. I use a food processor and as he progressed made the food more and more smooth. also, we started with foods that were not so far from pureed to begin with. (can be disconcerting to go from whole food to mush!) chicken becomes chicken salad, stews become creamed soup. creativity is the key. My husband has trouble with pastas, breads and rice absorbing the moisture and making the food too thick. I have to add hot water or cream to keep it the right consistency. he does love to eat tossed salad--I puree it not to mush but to tiny pieces and the veggies release a lot of moisture. add dressing, and it is like a finely chopped salad!

 

[vickim]

Yes, Barbie. A bolus is food that has been chewed and ready to be swallowed.

 

[affected]

Yes Barbie, bolus is the ball of food that you create when you chew a mouthful.

Some PALS have more trouble swallowing that bolus, like you are finding, but my PALS has more trouble forming the bolus. He chews and chews and the food just sticks to parts of his mouth and then random chunks shoot to the back of the throat.

The stew was a huge success!
We made the stew, then put his serving in the food processor and used the knife blade attachment so it finely chopped it all up, rather than turn to puree.

So at least we are transitioning to puree, not jumping there in one go.

Great salad tip, we were talking about salad ideas last night.

fallinggirl I would like to say that he felt so good last night after eating a meal that didn't give him all the previous problems and now feels like trying out lots of things that were starting to scare him, but just running them through that blade.

 

[fallinggirl]

I had a chicken dish in the crockpot today, including rice... that went well. It was able to go down without getting stuck which is success. I feel like I have to learn something new every few days.

 

[affected]

yippee fallinggirl, so glad you got a good meal down successfully

so true, every day seems to bring us some new challenge.

We saw the speech pathologist today and have another barium swallow in a few weeks.

She had him swallowing some fluids for her and he managed to have a little choke which then really unnerved him to continue trying the thickened fluids.

So more crockpot meals, make life as easy as possible, even if we all know we have to think it again another day and maybe not that far away.

 

[jellis86]

I also get food stuck...as others have said it's no fun and scary! I find that a thick drink, even malt consistency helps food go down. If something is sort of stuck I'll sip on that type of liquid and so far it works.

But since my tongue is almost immobile, a change is the consistency of food altogether is turning out to be the best solution.

Slow cooking meats and veggies is great as are some types of pasta dishes and certain Mexican foods. I can even enjoy pizza again with a ground beef crust recipe I found...pizza is my favorite food so I'm glad I found an alternative to dough crusts!

We also have a power meat grinder, and for smaller portions, a hand crank model. It gets things down to a much smaller size and that way it can be swallowed even without chewing.

 

[fallinggirl]

So jellis, you find if something gets stuck, you can then get it down with a thick liquid? That would be good. I will try that. I had my last bowl of cereal this week.. I am just tired of trying to eat something and it always getting stuck. sigh. Last night, I had ice cream in a cone, no more cones for me. ugghh.

 

[R9L13026]

No drumsticks! Now I really need a cure for this.

Hope Joel's suggestions work for you.

 

[jellis86]

Yes thick liquid will help food go down. I find shake, or Wendy's Frosty type thickness works best. It not only pushes on the food but adds a lubricating effect to the esophagus.

Eating really becomes a chore after a while, I find myself reheating food in the microwave 2 or even 3 times just to finish a meal.
It sucks giving up foods...I haven't had cereal in months and the same with ice cream cones...ice cream good, cone not so much!

But like I said, switching to alternate methods of preparation is the key, the thick liquid trick works but I wouldn't count on it as progression increases.

I have bought a couple of books on ama-zon ..."Swallow Safely: How Swallowing Problems Threaten the Elderly and Others. A Caregiver's Guide to Recognition, Treatment, and Prevention" and "The Dysphagia Cookbook". Those are just the two I purchased, there are others.

 

[bowser]

One of the first things my wife had problems with was anything that had ice cream in it.
Strange!

She could eat tuna mashed with lots of Miracle Whip and eat miniature ravioli mashed up, but ice cream gave her a problem.

 

[Barbie]

thick is a problem for my husband--doesn't go down--just sits there in the back of his throat. ice cream/drinking milk/milk shakes cause phlegm and coughing issues so we limit those. Funny-- he finds that expensive, high quality ice cream doesn't cause so much phlegm... I think he is just trying to get me to buy him the Hagan Das while the rest of us eat store brand!