Stroke survivors and their families face a long list of challenges in the weeks and months after a stroke. Swallowing is one of the most common, and one of the least talked about. It’s easy to understand why. When someone is relearning to walk or regaining the use of an
Getting older comes with a lot of changes, and some of them show up at the dinner table. Maybe it takes a little longer to get food down. Maybe you’ve started avoiding certain textures or find yourself coughing during meals more than you used to. It’s easy to chalk these
A lot of people arrive at their first appointment with a mix of relief that they’re finally getting answers and anxiety about what those answers might be. The good news is that a swallowing consultation is a lot more straightforward than most people expect. It’s not painful. It’s not rushed.
If you’ve been referred for swallowing therapy, one of the first questions you’re probably asking is whether your insurance will cover it. It’s a reasonable concern, and the honest answer is that coverage varies, but swallowing therapy is covered by many insurance plans, including Medicare, Medicaid, and most commercial insurers,
Most physicians and specialists encounter dysphagia regularly: in post-stroke patients, in older adults with declining function, in oncology patients mid-treatment or in recovery. The clinical question isn’t usually whether swallowing problems exist. It’s when a formal swallowing evaluation is actually warranted, and what to tell the patient while you’re making
Swallowing is something most of us do hundreds of times a day without thinking about it. So when something starts to feel off, it can be easy to write it off as a fluke: a piece of food that went down wrong, a dry throat, a bad day. But swallowing