Swallowing& Slurred Speech
Swallowing & Slurred speech
Swallowing is an unseen symptom of Multiple Sclerosis. It needs to be identified early so that it can be managed.
How to identify:
Difficulty in chewing food.
Food gets stuck in throat and difficulty in going down properly.
Food and drink coming up.
Coughing and spluttering when eating.
Excess saliva dribbling.
Taking a long time to eat.
Changes in speech.
Managing symptoms
Eat slowly
Chew your food well
Don’t talk when eating
Drink water in between swallowing so that food will be moist and will go down easily.
Choose your drinks carefully as thin liquids are more likely to go gown the windpipe.
Be in a relax atmosphere so that your muscles will relax and work easier.
Sit upright when eating and drinking.
Sit upright and after eating for 30 minutes.
If it is not managed early, food may go down the windpipe to lung which many cause severe chest infections.
When new symptoms appear one may feel anxious thinking that they are chocking when eating and drinking. If difficulties in swallowing is not addressed early it could result in weight loss or dehydration.
Slurred Speech
Sometimes speech difficulties could surface from time to time. While some experience this for a short period others may experience it for longer spells. Speech difficulty can be muffled or slurred. Sometimes people with Multiple Sclerosis may experience it when they are tired.
Lesions on the central nervous system cause problems of speech and swallowing.
Speech could even be a side effect of medication.
Before talking make sure that you have got the attention of the person. You would have to repeat many times to be understood.
When you wish to speak, try to remove noise around you such as tv.
Eye contact, with your listener is important and gestures etc can be used so that they may understand you.
If a long conversation is happening and you find your speech slurring, ask for a small break before you can restart the conversation again.
Good posture could also helps.
If you find that you are unable to follow a conversation, take your time to restart without getting agitating and rushing, breath and relax.
Types of speech impairment:
Dysarthria
This is the most common speech impairment
The changes to speech are:
Slurred sleep or slower speech
Soft voice with altered voice
Inability to control pitch
Nasal speech
Long pauses between words.
This type of speech impairment is a result of damage to the brain which produces speech but damage to other areas also could result in this.
Dyspasia
This is a rare speech impairment. Here it is difficult to recall words and hard to understand.
Cognitive difficulties
This is due to some other changes of Multiple Sclerosis it would result in mild speech impairments.