Alzheimer's Disease Support Group

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia and characterized by progressive cognitive deterioration with declining activities of daily living and neuropsychiatric symptoms or behavioral changes. An early symptom is memory loss (amnesia), usually manifesting as minor forgetfulness that becomes pronounced with illness progression, with relative...

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swallowing

Deborah48
Deborah48
I am making this a post of it's own, from some comments from another thread.

You mentioned something about difficulty swallowing, well lately Rollie has been complaining about 'stuff stuck in his throat' and he wants me to take him to the doctor. I haven't because it seems like his complaint doesn't last long. Now I am wondering if this swallowing thing is what you guys were talking about, just another ALZ related problem, pocketing.
Jamr41
Jamr41
I'm wondering the same thing. Ron does OK with soft foods ( pudding, oatmeal, yogurt , ice cream ) but isn't interested in much else. When he does try something more solid .. he chews and chews and chews for what seems like an eternity. Often stuff
sort of slobbers out of the corner of his mouth. Wondering if he
has trouble swallowing the more solid things.

A woman in my face to face group said her mother would keep putting food in her mouth, but not swallowing. Would end up with
chipmunk cheeks... before finally spewing it out. Classic pocketing.
deleted_user
deleted_user
When I helped my friend out with her mom the doctor had told us she had forgotten how to swallow and so we were feeding her baby food. It's something and at least we knew she was getting some nutrition from the baby food. It was mostly deserts but we felt like we were helping her get some food down. Just another option for you all.
:) Sue
Atwaterkent911
Atwaterkent911
My dad's doctor told us that the swallowing muscles weaken so that it is easy to choke. Dad expecially had this when taking pills. The doctor suggested to take pills with apple sauce. After that, dad had no issues.

Jay
deleted_user
deleted_user
Yeah swallowing is a problem for my Mother too. She will chew and chew and chew, then spit it out....lol.

I make soft food now for her and she doesnt seem to have a problem with that.

The strange thing is that she can eat biscuits, chocolate and other sweet things like lollies...lol :)
Pam65
Pam65
You bet! Lol! Chocolate cookies, potato chips and ice cream cones seem to go down just fine.
deleted_user
deleted_user
Hi everyone: My mother started swallowing about 6 years ago. After 3 years of not swallowing, and it turned into lots of vomiting, mom ended up not being able to swallow and keep anything down. She ended up losing 75 pounds. My cousin is a nurse and he works in a nursing home. He told me about a medicine called "motilium". This medicine keeps the digestive track moving in the proper direction. As we age our swallowing muscles get weak, some people more than others. I asked the doctor in the hospital and once they started her on this medicine she was able to swallow and keep the food down. Mom takes the tiny pill 15-20 minutes before each meal and it works wonders, even between the meals. This may be something you could look into.
I hope everyone had a nice weekend.
Lucy