What to do if you have difficulty swallowing

Sometimes, we suddenly wake up in the morning and find that our throat is very uncomfortable and it is difficult to swallow, whether it is drinking water or eating. Even if we don’t swallow, we will feel as if something is stuck in our throat, and it will not get better for a long time, making us very painful. So, what can we do to recover?

The most common causes of dysphagia are various esophageal diseases, followed by oropharyngeal diseases, neuromuscular diseases related to swallowing and certain systemic diseases.

1. Oropharyngeal diseases

Throat diseases such as throat tuberculosis or tumors (including malignant granulomas), retropharyngeal wall abscesses, etc. can cause swallowing difficulties. In most cases, the swallowing obstruction feeling can be improved or relieved after specialist symptomatic treatment.

2. Esophageal disease

The general principle of treatment is to actively treat various primary diseases of the esophagus and, on this basis, provide appropriate symptomatic supportive treatment.

(1) For reflux esophagitis, drugs that increase the tone of the lower esophageal sphincter and enhance esophageal motility can be used. Gastrointestinal prokinetic agents such as domperidone, mosapride, and itopride, as well as gastric mucosal protectants (bismuth preparations, magnesium aluminum carbonate, compound magnesium trisilicate, or sucralfate, etc.) can be used. H2 receptor antagonists such as famotidine or proton pump inhibitors such as omeprazole can also be used.

(2) Achalasia, diffuse esophageal spasm and other lower esophageal sphincter hypertension. In order to relax the smooth muscle, calcium channel blockers such as isosorbide dinitrate (Isosorbide Dinitrate) can be taken orally or nitroglycerin can be taken sublingually. For patients with severe symptoms, scopolamine butylbromide (Scospasmin) can be injected intravenously each time. If the effect of drug treatment is unsatisfactory, dilatation of the lower esophageal stenosis or surgical treatment can be considered. In recent years, botulinum toxin injection into the stenosis under direct endoscopic vision has been used to treat achalasia, and its efficacy needs to be tracked.

(3) Once esophageal cancer is diagnosed, surgery should be performed as soon as possible. If the patient has missed the opportunity for surgery, in order to improve his quality of life or prolong his life, stricture dilatation and stent placement can be considered. Laser or high-frequency electrocautery can also be used to burn the obstruction site to achieve temporary relief.

3. Rehabilitation treatment for swallowing-related neuromuscular diseases (such as stroke)

(1) For mild dysphagia, adopt a posture that is conducive to eating; emphasize the nature of food, gradually transitioning from liquid food to regular food; emphasize mind movement training.

(2) For moderate to severe dysphagia, increase the movement of the oral and facial muscles, tongue movement, and mandibular opening and closing movement; cold stimulation of the pharynx; empty swallowing movement training; respiratory function training.

Therefore, when we find ourselves having dysphagia, we must not think that it is just a minor illness and not go to the hospital for examination. It is best to go to a large hospital for examination as soon as possible and then take appropriate medicine. You must know that people are iron and rice is steel. If we skip a meal, we will feel hungry. Dysphagia seriously affects our eating, which has a great impact on our body.