What is dysphagia?
Dysphagia (opens in a new tab) is the term used to describe difficulty with swallowing.
What are the causes?
Swallowing problems may occur for a number of different reasons. Please speak to your speech and language therapist or doctor about the possible causes of your difficulties.
What are the common signs?
- Coughing or choking when eating/drinking
- Gurgley voice after eating/drinking
- Food getting stuck in your mouth or throat.
- Difficulty keeping food or drink in your mouth
- Problems chewing
- Drooling saliva
What can help?
Speech and language therapists assess and help with swallowing difficulties. They can:
- explain why swallowing is difficult
- give exercises or strategies to help with swallowing
- give advice on different textures that are easier and safer to swallow
- recommend nil by mouth (NBM). This means that it is unsafe for you to eat and drink
Useful websites
Contact details:
Your speech therapist is: ________________________________
Telephone Number: ___________________________________
More information about swallowing
The normal swallow:
- chew the food
- move the food / drink to the back of your mouth
- swallow triggers
- close off the airway and open the food pipe
- food/drink passes down the food pipe to the stomach
We are smoke-free
Smoking is not allowed anywhere on the hospital campus. For advice and support in quitting, contact your GP or the free NHS stop smoking helpline on 0800 169 0 169.
Other formats
Help accessing this information in other formats is available. To find out more about the services we provide, please visit our patient information help page (see link below) or telephone 01223 256998. www.cuh.nhs.uk/contact-us/accessible-information/
Contact us
Cambridge University Hospitals
NHS Foundation Trust
Hills Road, Cambridge
CB2 0QQ
Telephone +44 (0)1223 245151
https://www.cuh.nhs.uk/contact-us/contact-enquiries/