Health Tip: When It's Difficult to Swallow

(HealthDay News) -- Dysphagia is the medical term for having difficulty swallowing.

The American Academy of Family Physicians offers this list of potential causes:

  • Gulping your food too fast or taking big bites.
  • Having insufficient water with food.
  • Eating while you lie down.
  • Having an injury or disorder affecting the muscles and nerves, such as a stroke, Parkinson's disease or multiple sclerosis.
  • Having damage to the esophagus, such as scar tissue from acid reflux.
  • Having health problems that apply pressure to the esophagus, such as an enlarged heart or thyroid.

    • Date Published: 07/01/2010

    Related Articles

    Search Articles

    How To Fight Common Wintertime Respiratory Viruses

    Experimental Nasal Spray Might Ward Off Multiple Viruses

    Is It a Cold, Flu or COVID? An Expert Helps You Sort It Out

    Sleepy Nurses Vulnerable To Common Cold, Other Infectious Diseases

    FDA Proposes Ban on a 'Useless' Decongestant, Phenylephrine

    Expert Advice on Preparing for the Fall COVID, Flu Season

    Heart Patients Urged To Seek Vaccination For Common Infectious Diseases

    First U.S. Death From Bird Flu Reported in Louisiana

    Roll Up Your Sleeve: Flu Shot Season is At Hand

    CDC Reports Potentially Troublesome Mutations in Bird Flu Found in Louisiana Patient