Patient/caregiver was educated on measures to promote safe swallow for Parkinson’s patients as follows:
- Stiffness and rigidity of muscles involving the face and jaw in Parkinson’s patients could progressively lead to difficulties with chewing and safe swallowing.
- Ability to chew is the major stimulus for saliva production.
- Impaired safe swallowing function can lead to severe complications such as, choking and aspiration pneumonia.
- Observing compliance with the following measures can help with promoting safe swallow in Parkinson’s patients.
- Sit straight up during eating and drinking.
- Do not rush while eating. Caregivers should provide frequent reminders and encouragement regarding allowing enough time to eat and not rushing through the process, which can contribute to reduced risk of choking and complications.
- Using smaller size spoons can reduce the volume of food taken in at a time, which can help prevent choking. Caregivers helping to cut the meat into smaller pieces before the patient starts to eat can help reduce the effort for the patient and promote the ease. Using ground meat could be a safer option.
- Encourage the patient to chew thoroughly and do not add any more food into the mouth until all the food from previous bite is completely swallowed.
- Difficulty with chewing in Parkinson’s patients can lead to reduced saliva production and consequently result in dry mouth, which can make the swallowing even more difficult.
- Practicing double swallow can help swallow the food completely and prevent accumulation of any residual in the mouth, thus helping to avoid choking.
- Taking small sips of water in between the bites can help swallow the food down the throat easily. Do not consume too much of water, as it can fill the stomach up and compromise the volume of food consumed on a meal.
- Difficulty with chewing and swallowing could lead to the individual losing interest in food and consequently result in reduced nutrition intake. Trying smaller and multiple meals against three large meals could be a better alternative to preserve the interest in food and maintain the recommended calorie intake. This measure can reduce the effort of eating and prevent fatigue in Parkinson’s patients.
- Parkinson’s patients with difficulty chewing must seek speech therapy consult for recommendations on safe swallow. Observe compliance with any exercises recommended to strengthen the muscles helping for safe swallow.
