I've been in constant contact with the head nurse at hospice re: my mother. She has been on a physical rollercoaster, going from not eating anything and drinking sips of water to now eating bites of solid food and drinking Ensure.
He told me she was okay eating solid food and drinking Ensure but water makes her choke. He doesn't want her to aspirate so they are adding a "thickener" to her water. Is this normal? Has anyone else ever experienced this?
"My mother had her esophagus stretched twice when she was more healthy due to difficulty in getting food down. This might be a carryover symptom. "
This may in fact be a contributory factor. She may have a narrower, or otherwise challenged esophagus. My father was intubated for several months, lost his ability to speak, developed dysphagia and underwent treatment for it. About a dozen years later, he once again developed it, we saw a speech pathologist who performed a swallowing test and identified the problem.
His liquids were changed, as was his solid food diet. At that time there were 3 levels of dysphagia. One of the speech pathologists gave us a very good chart with guidelines on each level.
Is your mother having trouble swallowing solid foods as well? Depending on her level of dysphagia, the foods might be pureed to make them easier to swallow. This is a decision for a speech pathologist though.
As the dementia progresses the body has a difficult time directing food and some make it to the trachea some will go down the esophagus. Thickening the fluids the body will identify it as food and there is less of a chance it will get to the lungs.
The thickening usually progresses and you may have to start thickening the Ensure. It got tot he point where I was thickening my Husbands fluids to a Pudding thick consistency.
Thin liquids can go down the 'wrong way' down the wind pipe (instead of throat) when swallow muscles get weak.
Nurses are very used to seeing this & thickening up drinks as needed.
Mom is experiencing dysphagia--difficulty swallowing.
https://www.dysphagia-diet.com/t-dysphagia-facts.aspx