Swallowing Disorders

Dysphagia, or swallowing disorder, is a term used to describe the inability to move food from the mouth to the stomach. This condition can accompany a neurological disorder such as stroke, Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy, Lou Gehrig’s Disease, etc., as well as bacterial, viral, or fungal infections. Dysphagia can occur at any of the 3 stages of swallowing: oral, pharyngeal, and esophageal.

Depending on the type of swallowing disorder, changing a person’s diet by adding thickeners and physical therapy may help alleviate the problem in noninvasive ways. Sometimes drug therapy helps relieve symptoms of the underlying neurological cause and thus relieves the swallowing problems. Less commonly, botulinum toxin injections can be used when food or liquid cannot enter the esophagus. Severely affected individuals may require surgery or feeding tubes.