Mon. 12th Jun. 2017
Aspiration is the intake of food, fluids into the lungs where they do not belong. These foreign materials cause the lungs to react with inflammation and or infection. These conditions can be deadly if they lead to infection in the blood or sepsis. As we age, our ability fight off infection deteriorates so simply aspirating material into the lungs may lead to an infection, respiratory failure, intubation and the use of a ventilator in an ICU. There are many common sense things to do that can minimize the probability of aspiration. Some things that can be tried include:
- Eliminate distractions when eating – This includes TV, conversation while eating, or large groups of people in attendance at meal time. Often the person with swallow difficulty has had a stroke or has a disease like dementia. They are not able to focus attention and screen out multiple stimuli while eating.
- Pay attention to the person as they eat – Look for signs and symptoms of problems swallowing. These may include things like widened eyes, tearing, keeping the mouth tightly closed to prevent intake or pushing food away. The person may not be able to tell you they are having difficulty, but they can demonstrate this by gestures.
- Use compensatory strategies when assisting with meals – There are a number of things that can help minimize aspiration such as chin tuck, sitting upright at 90 degrees when eating, remaining sitting for 30 minutes after the meal has finished, double swallows and small bites followed by fluids. This is not an all-inclusive list. Have a speech therapist on your team to guide you in these strategies.
- Be patient – Making the person feel that the meal is rushed can increase the likelihood of aspiration. The senior needs to eat the meal at their pace. It may take an extended period to eat, but eating adequate food is necessary for quality of life and maintenance of health. It may be necessary to reheat food to keep it palatable.
Dysphagia or difficulty swallowing are not symptoms that you should attempt to manage yourself. Ask your healthcare provider for a referral to a professional speech language pathologist. The ideas above provide you with an idea of the kinds of interventions that the speech therapist may recommend.