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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Causes Difficulty In Swallowing In An Elderly Person?

my mom is having difficulty swallowing and chokes easily. Sometimes the food backs up and she burps a lot. She saw an ENT who saw nothing wrong but is having a swallow test in the next week or so. She is 82 and he thinks it is due to aging. Any suggestions to relax her throat?
Tue, 23 Feb 2016
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Pathologist and Microbiologist,  's  Response
Hi there...Please instruct your mom, to be upright or sit up for atleast an hour after food consumption and not to sleep immediately after a meal especially at night.There must a gap of atleast two hours before she consumes food and goes to bed.
This in my opinion is a reflux disease or oesophageal/ food pipe sphincter laxity. This again as your ENT said could be because of loss of tone of sphincter muscle with age. THe sphincter muscles guard and prevent a backflow of food as well as the oesophageal muscles facilitate swallowing.
You can follow having small meals multiple times in a day and suggestions to be up for awhile.
If this does not help, a gastroenterologist will certainly be of help who can do something about the tone and sphincters.
I hope this answers your question to some extent.
Take care
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What Causes Difficulty In Swallowing In An Elderly Person?

Hi there...Please instruct your mom, to be upright or sit up for atleast an hour after food consumption and not to sleep immediately after a meal especially at night.There must a gap of atleast two hours before she consumes food and goes to bed. This in my opinion is a reflux disease or oesophageal/ food pipe sphincter laxity. This again as your ENT said could be because of loss of tone of sphincter muscle with age. THe sphincter muscles guard and prevent a backflow of food as well as the oesophageal muscles facilitate swallowing. You can follow having small meals multiple times in a day and suggestions to be up for awhile. If this does not help, a gastroenterologist will certainly be of help who can do something about the tone and sphincters. I hope this answers your question to some extent. Take care