Scary choking

[ECpara]

Ironically, this happened on our way home from my husband's 3 month ALS clinic visit. As a bulbar onset ALS patient, he was warned today of the dangers of aspirating his food. And don't you know, he choked so hard on some chicken at Chick Fil A tonight, I thought I was going to have to do the heimlich maneuver. He turned red, could barely breathe, making a horrible whooping noise. He recovered but was scared to eat and ended up eating teeny weeny bits of chicken on the long ride home in the car (me driving of course). So now our question is, how likely does an aspiration incident like this go to pneumonia? What are the signs? Will he feel the effects immediately or over time? Might he get by this time with no effects? Boy, ALS is just chock full of new, not so fun experiences. Your input is greatly appreciated. Incidentally, he agreed to a PEG tube which will probably be put in by Nov, thankfully.

 

[jamiem]

It is hard. Choking ends many meals. Encourage him to eat slowly, take very small bites, sit up straight and tuck his head under. We are all in this together.

 

[cervus]

It's awful to go through. Choking and aspirating don't always mean aspiration pneumonia. But it does scare people and generally leads to a change in diet or food consistency. We had to give Bob the Heimlich twice. Both times he started to turn blue. And as for other episodes of choking, Bob would know if "it went down the wrong pipe". Luckily no aspiration pneumonia ever. The PEG will provide much relief for both of you. Take care. Yasmin.

 

[Sharks1967]

It's a terrible problem with this disease, I've choked about four times myself and it's a horrible experience, no long term effects for me. I soon learnt what size pieces of food I could tolerate and what types. I agree with jamiem, smaller pieces, eat slower, it's not a race and tucking my chin onto my chest works for me. In my case if I lean my head to one side it seems to go down a bit better too. Good luck.
Danny

 

[panguinjen]

The PEG, while a loss of independence, was one of the best decisions Rog made. No more choking, gagging, wearing of food that didn't get swallowed, no more struggling to get enough calories in...sorry you had that scare, choking made me very afraid..

Jen

 

[cubcake]

My husband is bulbar, also, but with FTD. So, he WON'T slow down, WON'T take smaller bites (I now cut up all food into teeny, tiny pieces) and if he chokes, he simply keeps putting food in his mouth. I literally have to gently take the fork away from him until he works it out (so far, no need for heimlich). I'm only telling you this because we have never had an insidence of aspiration pneumonia.

As for signs, I think your first sign would be a fever. The PEG seems like it will provide both of you with much needed comfort. Is there any way to move this date up?

Peace to you, both.

 

[Katie C]

My husband also had FTD and also refused PEG. There were many many choking incidents before he developed pneumonia, and even then it was because he found something we thought we'd gotten rid of... he truly couldn't understand he could not eat an apple.

Cutting food into tiny pieces helps. Pureeing will help a lot also... add cream or gravy to get the food to an applesauce like consistency. Also, you may need to start thickening liquids like juice and water to more of a honey thickness so that he can control it as he swallows.

 

[Ms. Pie]

It is scary! When he's choking, try to get him to breathe through his nose. That will relax the throat spasm.

 

[momap53]

If possible, have him use his bipap for about 30 minutes prior to eating.

 

[notme]

It's also possible to choke on food and NOT aspirate anything into the lungs at all.

The sign that someone's airway is completely blocked are: can not make any sound, can not speak, or cough.

It's recommended to only do Heimlich when one is unable to cough or breathe. It's a little more difficult to know when to intercede or not in ALS.

Should the Heimlich be used, it's always a good idea to be checked by a doc to check for an injury. If there is reason to believe something is aspirated, a chest X-ray can help.