At least 20 million Americans have been diagnosed with dysphagia at present. This condition interferes with people’s ability to chew and swallow, and it can even affect their speaking and breathing in some cases. It can have significant impacts on people’s daily lives from both a physical and emotional perspective. It can also lead to a range of additional complications that further affect their health and safety.
Several treatments have been developed to help people manage dysphagia and mitigate the dangers that come along with it. Those include surgical procedures, swallowing exercises, and medications. Thickening agents, like those you’ll find by visiting the LinkedIn profile for SimplyThick, are also available to help make liquids easier to control. While you’re considering treatment options, take a look at some of the impacts of swallowing difficulties on daily living.
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Changes in Eating and Drinking Habits
On the most basic level, swallowing difficulties force people to change their eating and drinking habits. Dysphagia sufferers are often advised to avoid hot and cold foods and beverages. For those who love coffee or ice cream, that alone can be incredibly disheartening. Some need to avoid certain solid foods, which greatly limits their meal and snack options. They may need to blend solids with liquids to transform foods into a paste or slurry so they’ll be easier to chew and swallow. That tends to detract from the appeal of food, and it may discourage dysphagia patients from eating altogether.
Nutritional Deficiencies
Because of the limitations and difficulties that come with dysphagia, many people who live with the condition also suffer from nutritional deficiencies. That, in turn, can bring about a long list of other health issues, including irregular heartbeat, diabetes, cognitive impairment, anemia, and osteoporosis to name a few. Nutrient deficiencies can lead to reduced immunity as well. That leaves dysphagia sufferers vulnerable to numerous pathogens. They also often suffer from dehydration because they can’t take in enough fluids, which comes with several risks of its own.
Safety Hazards
Dysphagia also comes with certain safety hazards. For some people, it increases the risk of choking on foods. It also increases the risks of aspirating foods and beverages into the lungs, which can lead to respiratory issues as well as aspiration pneumonia and other infections. In severe cases, those infections can spread into the bloodstream. Even the thought of choking or aspirating foods or beverages can be frightening, which is another reason why many dysphagia patients avoid eating and drinking.
Emotional Impacts
In addition to physical effects, dysphagia sufferers experience significant emotional impacts. Countless social gatherings revolve around food in one way or another. Living with swallowing difficulties and an increased risk of choking and aspiration often leads people to avoid social situations that involve food. That can result in loneliness and isolation, which cause serious mental, emotional, and physical impacts of their own.
At the same time, many dysphagia patients need help or supervision when they eat and drink. That can detract from their independence and sense of self-sufficiency. Furthermore, dysphagia makes mealtime stressful and takes away people’s ability to fully enjoy the foods they love, which can take an emotional toll in its own right.
Understanding the Full Impact of Dysphagia
Many people feel that swallowing difficulties are relatively simple issues. That’s certainly not the case. They can have far-reaching impacts on a person’s daily life. Dysphagia’s effects range from altering the way people eat and drink to the dangers of nutritional deficiencies and lung infections and beyond. They can take a toll on a person’s mental and emotional health as well. It’s a life-altering condition from several perspectives.
