Coughing/Choking

ioanmarkden

Hi everyone,

I wonder if anybody could offer some advice or share insight on this? My dad in recent weeks has begun having lengthy coughing fits that sound like choking. He doesn't have any evident difficulty chewing or swallowing food.

Does this sound common and would anybody recommend any course of action?

Dad was diagnosed late in what I would suggest is stage 5/6.

Thanks in advance

IMD

M1

Hi Joan. He needs evaluation for this even if the cause isn't obvious to you. Aspiration pneumonia is a common proximate cause of death in dementia. Could be anything from reflux to lung cancer to esophageal dysmotility. I'd let his docs know.....

towhee

Please do let his doctor know. It would be good to keep a record of when this is happening, while he is eating or drinking or lying down, or walking etc.

H1235

My mom has this. She also didn’t appear to have trouble swallowing. The doctor had her see a therapist that gave her advice and things to practice. I’m not sure how much it helped since she thought it was silly to have someone teach her to swallow. I don’t know that mom is trying to follow any of the suggestions. I got the impression from the doctor that this was a common thing with dementia. This was the neurologist, not sure what kind of response we would have got from the family doctor. She just doesn’t seem as informed about dementia related problems.