Dysphagia/Pseudodysphagia and ASD

[WittyAspie]

Does anyone else suffer from dysphagia or pseudodysphagia? I am wondering if there is a link to swallowing issues and autism. I know a lot of autistic kids are particular about food, so there is at least the possibility of a connection.

Dysphagia = painful or difficult swallowing
Pseudodysphagia = fear of choking

I'm not sure exactly which one of these I have. My problem is that I absolutely cannot take pills without chewing them up. Please don't tell me how bad that is for me; I already know. If I could fix this I would have done so already, though I am open to tips from anyone else who has gotten past this.

I have been this way since I was a little kid. I remember the first time I tried to swallow a pill at the doctor's office and just couldn't do it. Even the smallest pills cause me an issue. I stopped taking all medication earlier this year, so at this point in my life I only need to swallow pills if I get sick.

Does anyone know if there is a link between this issue and ASD? Does anyone know if there is a cure for this? I am not a fan of pharmaceuticals in general, but I know that sometimes they can greatly improve quality of life or even keep people alive, so the ability to take them normally would be great.

 

[Judge]

Good question. Some of the medical sources I found at best seem to relate those conditions to OCD, but not autism outright.

 

[Streetwise]

Does anyone else suffer from dysphagia or pseudodysphagia? I am wondering if there is a link to swallowing issues and autism. I know a lot of autistic kids are particular about food, so there is at least the possibility of a connection.

Dysphagia = painful or difficult swallowing
Pseudodysphagia = fear of choking

I'm not sure exactly which one of these I have. My problem is that I absolutely cannot take pills without chewing them up. Please don't tell me how bad that is for me; I already know. If I could fix this I would have done so already, though I am open to tips from anyone else who has gotten past this.

I have been this way since I was a little kid. I remember the first time I tried to swallow a pill at the doctor's office and just couldn't do it. Even the smallest pills cause me an issue. I stopped taking all medication earlier this year, so at this point in my life I only need to swallow pills if I get sick.

Does anyone know if there is a link between this issue and ASD? Does anyone know if there is a cure for this? I am not a fan of pharmaceuticals in general, but I know that sometimes they can greatly improve quality of life or even keep people alive, so the ability to take them normally would be great.

try prayer I go to the picture bible and ask God to talk to me via the pictures as I just can't understand the words I also go to VeggieTales Bible as I don't associate humans with happiness I always get an answer from looking at the pictures .

 

[Chance]

I'm sort of this way sometimes I gag easy... Smells are worse than visuals. I truly think in pictures so if I saw something gross and it made me gag... then usually when I tell someone about it I gag, because I re-see it, or re-smell it and the retching starts... People make fun of me for it and its pretty stupid, but it makes for a good laugh sometimes... unless I run off to puke, which is gross and causes more gagging.

As far as meds... I'm not sure what causes it, but sometimes I cant swallow them either... So I just throw the meds in like 4 ounces of Orange Juice and throw it back. I cant see them, so down they go and chase it with water.

 

[rainfall]

I don't know if there is a link to autism. I don't remember being afraid of choking even though I choked so often on my food that my mom made sure I was always sitting in a chair and not moving around when I ate.

I could never swallow pills though, even when I needed them. Something about it being unnatural just didn't sit right with me and I couldn't get past it in my mind. I've always been made of fun of for it as well.

A cure? I have no idea. For me personally, I ended up with a medical condition that was severe enough to force myself to take the pills I needed at the time because there was no other option. I can't chew pills, the taste makes me gag and get sick. I couldn't just chug the pills. Even though I couldn't see them I still knew they were there and trying to swallow them quickly with water or juice didn't work. They ended up still on my tongue somehow and I was more frustrated.

Just putting the pills in my mouth, though small, took a great deal of effort. I was panicking and crying and I couldn't even truly explain why. I. just. couldn't. do. it. What ended up working was pop(soda/soda pop). It was so fizzy because of the carbonation that I couldn't really feel the pills on my tongue and drinking the pop quickly hurt my throat a little and took my mind a half second from the pills. Down they went. After a while I was able to switch to water to take them and that also took a concentrated effort to achieve. I don't have to take pills on a regular basis, thank goodness, but I can take them now if I need to, albeit still with a bit of difficulty at times.

 

[the_tortoise]

Please don't tell me how bad that is for me; I already know.

Unless it's an extended-release capsule or it has a special coating on it to make sure its only absorbed at a specific point in the digestive tract, it's not necessarily bad. The stearic acid in tablets might not be great for your teeth but I don't think it's really that bad for you, otherwise (unless Im missing something?).

If you don't like the taste or worry about harming your dental enamel, as long as there is no "take on an empty stomach" directive then you can crush pills with a mortar and pestle and mix them into something like ice cream or pudding or yogurt.

I don't know about curing dysphagia but I have some ideas (that you may have already thoroughly explored, so forgive me if that is the case):

Ask the pharmacist if there is a liquid version of the medicine you've been prescribed. Lots of antibiotics come in liquid form, at least. (Don't know about cost, though -- if you have drug benefits, whether not they would cover liquid vs. pills or at an equal percentage rate of coverage, if it's a percentage of total cost.)

Even when a regular pharmacy doesn't have a liquid version of a medication, a compounding pharmacy might be able to make one for you. (Same thing as with liquid medicine for insurance coverage, though.)

There are also pill-cutters that you can get at the pharmacy to cut tablet-style pills into smaller pieces, if tiny bits of pill would be possible for you to swallow?

I don't have problems swallowing pills -- I can touch my own tonsils without triggering a gag reflex. But when I was a kid and learning how to swallow pills without choking on them, I got these tips (don't know if they would be any use or not, just throwing them out here just in case):

Put the pill into your mouth after the water/liquid, not before. (Helps keep it more mobile in the water, rather than stuck to the inside of your mouth.)

If the pill floats in water/liquid, tilt your head forward before you swallow. If the pill sinks in water/liquid, tilt your head backwards before you swallow. (Helps get the pill to an optimal position for swallowing, closer to the back of your mouth.)

 

[Major Tom]

Try crushing them up into a powder and mixing them with water or juice. Here in Japan lots of medicines are in powder form and its the only way I can use the medicine. Otherwise its just impossible to palate. I'll gag or even throw up, but mixed it goes down no problem.

 

[Suzanne]

When I was a child, I felt that if I could not swallow, I was going to choke and it got to the point that I would get visually panicked if that swollow did not happen.

I only recently found out it is anxiety.

If I become aware of swallowing, I tend to go back to that stage of panic that it won't happen.

Also find that I cannot drink in front of anyone if there is silence, because I can hear me swallowing and I know others can, because when I was younger, my "best friend" used to joke about it.

 

[xudo]

I used to not be able to swallow tablets, so I started to chew up food and then pop them in my mouth to be swallowed with the food. Or something like mashed potato that doesn't need chewing. I found thick drinks (like milkshake) worked pretty well too. Now I am (mostly) able to take tablets without issue. Sometimes if the tablet is quite big then I can still have an issue. My Mum used to have a pill cutter (it also had a crusher) that she would use for certain large tablets she had to take, but obviously it's no good for capsules. Maybe ask your doctor about medication you may need to take in capsule form, because I've had some before that they've said were fine to open and add the contents to a drink or food.

 

[SusanLR]

The time released tablets or capsules are the only ones that should not be chewed or crushed up. They are enteric coated for the reason they need to get past the stomach acid before dissolving or be released into the digestive system over time.

I've always had difficulty swallowing pills. Hasn't gotten much better with age either.
There are two mental problems going on if it is just pills that are difficult to swallow.
Illness that causes dysphagia will be an inability or difficulty to swallow anything. Can come and go. It is a motility problem of the esophagus and can be caused by many reasons.

The pill issue for many of us I think is just the least amount of anxiety that the pill may stick in the throat or you may choke on it first starts the process.
The second part is the brain has a built in sense that when swallowing, there should be mastication first.
This will create a tightening of the esophogeal muscles making swallowing something whole like a pill difficult.
I know, I've seen those who can swallow a handful of pills at once and some without fluid.
(They must have big throats and no thoughts upon doing so!)
I never got past disliking swallowing pills and they still get stuck rolling around in my mouth even with fluids.
The one thing I found that helps is the leaning forward before swallowing. Throwing my head back like some do doesn't work for me.

 

[WildCat]

I've got a bit of this going on, some of the vitamin supplements and cold medicine I've taken...you should see the size of those things. Flat out ridiculous!

At least with the vitamin supplements you can break them down into smaller, less troubling pieces; for some prescription or OTC medications though, not always an option. A quick gulp of water usually does the trick, but that still doesn't remove my fear of choking on something.

 

[isthisreallife]

I have to center myself, and employ breathing techniques before I take pills. I also have to think about what beverage to choose that will taste best to me that day to make swallowing the pills easier. It's not all the time, and depends on my mental and physical states. The dentist is a nightmare, a lot of gagging happens. There's certain foods I'll avoid because I have difficulty swallowing them, and have developed a fear of choking on them. I have no idea if it's Dysphagia and/or Pseudodysphagia. Also, I have a fear of developing an anaphylactic reaction to food. Don't know if that's part of it.

 

[Sid Delicious]

I've had my tonsils removed, so no longer have this issue (have you checked with an ENT doctor to see if you have any physical issues contributing to this?). But as a child I had to take any pills with liquid and really focus to relax my throat. My mum had me practice with jelly and other things, until I could swallow bigger tablets without panicking.

 

[WittyAspie]

I've had my tonsils removed, so no longer have this issue (have you checked with an ENT doctor to see if you have any physical issues contributing to this?). But as a child I had to take any pills with liquid and really focus to relax my throat. My mum had me practice with jelly and other things, until I could swallow bigger tablets without panicking.

It’s good to know that I’m not the only one who has this issue. I hadn’t thought about possibly needing tonsils removed. I have been congested almost my entire adult life, so maybe there is something going on between the nose and throat.

I have thought about practicing with small pills, though I wish I could get some placebos. I don’t like the idea of needlessly putting chemicals into my body, though I guess a baby Aspirin every day wouldn’t be harmful. Maybe I will start with something like jelly.

 

[tree]

Sweet potato, applesauce, or peanut butter work for me.
I don't have prescription medicine normally, but I do take
some vitamins twice a day.

20 in the morning, 16 in the evening.
There would be fewer if I wanted to swallow larger pills.
I don't want to swallow larger pills.

 

[Sid Delicious]

What about something like Tic Tacs or other small sweets? You could start with the multicoloured 'sprinkles' you get for cakes and work your way up to jelly babies!

 

[SusanLR]

I remember dipping them in soft butter.
It made them slippery and went down a bit easier.

 

[OkRad]

try prayer I go to the picture bible and ask God to talk to me via the pictures as I just can't understand the words I also go to VeggieTales Bible as I don't associate humans with happiness I always get an answer from looking at the pictures .

Oh my gosh I love this!!! OK, you are immensly creative. I never thought of that.
Recently I have been having trouble with words, believe it or not. I have read thousands of book, like an addiction and words in my head just started to roll around, words that are not kind.
I went mute for a while around everyone, but now I just stay 100% mute in public, but it never dawned on my to appraoch wordless books, picture books, and lay off the words.
I may even take to Laconic speech here!! And Veggie Tales because humans are all off! HAHAHA! I am going to try it. I will let you know how it goes.
So people will see me on treadmill. On one day it was Aristotle, and next: A Pciture book nad veggie tales.
They might start to talk to me in one syllables. That has happened. When I had my accident, people thoight I was a bit intellectually impaired. I WAS, but they thought I was "special". I cold not even correct them...................So I would whip out Plato and read it in their face as a defense.
I have to let that go......... I need peace.

 

[OkRad]

Does anyone else suffer from dysphagia or pseudodysphagia? I am wondering if there is a link to swallowing issues and autism. I know a lot of autistic kids are particular about food, so there is at least the possibility of a connection.

Dysphagia = painful or difficult swallowing
Pseudodysphagia = fear of choking

I'm not sure exactly which one of these I have. My problem is that I absolutely cannot take pills without chewing them up. Please don't tell me how bad that is for me; I already know. If I could fix this I would have done so already, though I am open to tips from anyone else who has gotten past this.

I have been this way since I was a little kid. I remember the first time I tried to swallow a pill at the doctor's office and just couldn't do it. Even the smallest pills cause me an issue. I stopped taking all medication earlier this year, so at this point in my life I only need to swallow pills if I get sick.

Does anyone know if there is a link between this issue and ASD? Does anyone know if there is a cure for this? I am not a fan of pharmaceuticals in general, but I know that sometimes they can greatly improve quality of life or even keep people alive, so the ability to take them normally would be great.

I have always had trouble with food, not feeling like choking per se. I don't like pills and cannot swallow them so I chew a piece of a rice cake and it gets in there and down it goes. Applesouce never worked for me. A chomp of rice cake, yes.

 

[Streetwise]

Oh my gosh I love this!!! OK, you are immensly creative. I never thought of that.
Recently I have been having trouble with words, believe it or not. I have read thousands of book, like an addiction and words in my head just started to roll around, words that are not kind.
I went mute for a while around everyone, but now I just stay 100% mute in public, but it never dawned on my to appraoch wordless books, picture books, and lay off the words.
I may even take to Laconic speech here!! And Veggie Tales because humans are all off! HAHAHA! I am going to try it. I will let you know how it goes.
So people will see me on treadmill. On one day it was Aristotle, and next: A Pciture book nad veggie tales.
They might start to talk to me in one syllables. That has happened. When I had my accident, people thoight I was a bit intellectually impaired. I WAS, but they thought I was "special". I cold not even correct them...................So I would whip out Plato and read it in their face as a defense.
I have to let that go......... I need peace.

I had the same experience when I taken an overdose a policeman was I suppose trying to understand how effected I was,he thought I had a learning disability I think he didn't realise that the drug had slowed down my ability to respond to speech and that panic attacks naturally cut-off speech.
He is one of the few people I really trust ,it's strange I always think people would've thought what I have thought of ,I think I'd gone to Wikipedia to learn about PTSD -I don't know if Learned about it from the page! but the advice was !read picture books which were designed for young children as it will stimulate your speech.