Why does my father start to cough while eating and then throws it up?
My dad is 89 and apparently is in pretty good health. Lately this has been happening to him. Along with out of character cussing while alone, not towards anyone. He also has fits of anger for little things. Could this be a part of dementia?
My father in law has esophageal spasms and was given botox injections for years which helped tremendously. Unfortunately that can’t continue for medical reasons and he eats pureed foods
This happened to my Aunt. She didn't have dementia, but she did have either lung cancer or esophageal cancer. Never got the full story from the doctor.
They would 'stretch' her throat when she went to the doctor - or so she told me. That stopped it from happening for awhile, then she'd have to go back.
Time to see the doctor for all these issues, but the most important is the coughing while eating and the throwing up of food. Your father needs to have an IMMEDIATE swallow evaluation. He may be experiencing a swallow deficit and this is very dangerous as food can be going into the lung which will cause aspiration pneumonia which may be DEADLY. There should be no feeding until an evaluation is done or very careful feeding of puree food only with thickened fluids, no thin fluids. And if there is coughing at all this passes to an emergency situation as Dad can't eat until it is checked.
It definitely sounds like your dad is aspirating his food like pamzimmrrt suggested below. That is very dangerous and can lead to aspiration pneumonia, which is very deadly. My husband who had vascular dementia started coughing when he ate, which I didn't at the time understand what was going on. It wasn't until days later that I figured he needed to be seen by a doctor and called 911 to come take him to the ER. It was at that point that I was told that my husband had aspiration pneumonia, and as the night went on he kept getting worse and worse and I was then told that he wasn't going to make it through the night and for me to get my family there ASAP. Well long story short he did make it through the night, but was in the hospital for 2 weeks and developed sepsis and septic shock and came home completely bedridden for the last 22 months of his life. So please take your dad to the doctor tomorrow or perhaps even to the ER tonight as this is nothing to mess around with. And yes this has everything to do with his dementia. As the doctor in the ER told me that my husband's brain was no longer telling his throat to close,(because of his dementia)so his food and drink was going into his lungs instead of his stomach.
Eating difficulties are common as dementia progresses. As dementia progresses it affects the area of the brain that controls swallowing. In advanced dementia the person may have a weak swallow or lose the ability to swallow safely and is known as dysphagia. For example, they may cough or choke after swallowing food or drinks.
Your father needs a swallow study to ascertain where he's at; whether he needs to have his foods pureed at this point or not, as this can be a very dangerous matter for him, with choking and vomiting, leading to his food being aspirated into his lungs! Please call his PCP right away to arrange that swallow study. In the meantime, he should eat soft foods/easy to swallow foods like applesauce, yoghurt and puddings, shakes, etc.
Here is a link from the Alzheimer's website on this very subject:
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They would 'stretch' her throat when she went to the doctor - or so she told me. That stopped it from happening for awhile, then she'd have to go back.
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My dad had similar issues but no dementia, and he was prescrbed nitroglycerin tablets to stop spasms in his esophagus.
This is something that needs to be checked out immediately, though.
My husband who had vascular dementia started coughing when he ate, which I didn't at the time understand what was going on. It wasn't until days later that I figured he needed to be seen by a doctor and called 911 to come take him to the ER. It was at that point that I was told that my husband had aspiration pneumonia, and as the night went on he kept getting worse and worse and I was then told that he wasn't going to make it through the night and for me to get my family there ASAP.
Well long story short he did make it through the night, but was in the hospital for 2 weeks and developed sepsis and septic shock and came home completely bedridden for the last 22 months of his life.
So please take your dad to the doctor tomorrow or perhaps even to the ER tonight as this is nothing to mess around with.
And yes this has everything to do with his dementia. As the doctor in the ER told me that my husband's brain was no longer telling his throat to close,(because of his dementia)so his food and drink was going into his lungs instead of his stomach.
Your father needs a swallow study to ascertain where he's at; whether he needs to have his foods pureed at this point or not, as this can be a very dangerous matter for him, with choking and vomiting, leading to his food being aspirated into his lungs! Please call his PCP right away to arrange that swallow study. In the meantime, he should eat soft foods/easy to swallow foods like applesauce, yoghurt and puddings, shakes, etc.
Here is a link from the Alzheimer's website on this very subject:
https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/get-support/daily-living/eating-drinking
Best of luck with a difficult situation.