Causes and treatment of swallowing problems – Dr. Anita Krishnan

Difficulty to swallow is also known as dysphagia in medical terms. Swallowing difficulties can be due to problems in the throat or the pharynx or due to problems in the oesophagus or the food pipe. The problems which normally occur in the throat are pharyngitis, tonsillitis. If it is a viral pharyngitis, it normally settles in 4 -5 days with salt water gargles and normal anti inflammatory medication. If its persisiting beyond 4 -5 days your doctor will prescribe an antibiotic to cure you of the infection. If the swallowing problem is due to any issues with the oesophagus or food pipe then that is a more serious concern.The most common causes are GERD which is Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disorder. The acid in the stomach keeps refluxing up causing gastritis and oesophagitis and that makes the functioning of the oesophagus a little slow and then you find difficulty to swallow. There are nerves which control the movement of the oesophagus. If there is any interference in the function of these nerves the swallowing becomes a problem. This happens in a condition called achalasia cardia where when you swallow liquids you find it difficult to swallow, whereas solids would go down. This is again a problem with the autonomic nervous system of the oesophagus which can be treated with medicines and surgery. The other nervous system problems which presents with dysphagia or difficulty to swallow are multiple sclerosis, motor neuron disease etc. These are serious disorders and these have to be diagnosed at the earliest. Also, cancer of the oesophagus is not very rare. Now if it is picked up in very early stages it can be cured. So it is very important that if you have a persistant dysphagia beyond 32 – 3 weeks, you get yourself examined by an ENT surgeon or a gastroenterologist.