Hello World!

Welcome to the Free Preview for Eating Difficulties

If you are here listening to this course, it is because you or someone you care for is having problems eating, chewing their foods, and/ or drinking.  Sometimes it is due to a medical problem such as having a stroke, a surgical procedure, or a muscular problem just to name a few reasons.  

If this is why you are here, you are in the right place.  It’s not enough to go to the doctor to find out what’s wrong, you need to know how to help yourself.  You must educate yourself as much as possible regarding the topic.  If the topic is high blood pressure, then learn everything you can: 

-what causes high blood pressure

-how can you lower blood pressure

-what makes it better

-what makes it worse

 My advice is ‘be proactive’.  So you can live a healthy, happy, and productive life.

This is the free preview lesson to make sure you are in the right place.  I am Pamela your host for this lesson as well as the Eating Difficulties course.  I am a speech language pathologist with 24 years experience   working with people who have eating problems.  

What you are probably thinking is why is a Speech Pathologist helping people eat?  Well, every patient I’ve ever had wanted to know this question. Most reply “I can talk just fine, I do not need speech therapy”. 

The answer is this:  All of the muscles we use to speak with, we also use to eat with.  This is why we cannot talk and eat at the same time.  Our airway closes when we swallow our food, if we try talking when swallowing; we all know what will happen.  We will choke.  This is why speech pathologists are the professionals taking care of people with speaking problems, eating problems, thinking problems, and much more.

I have spent my professional life in rural hospitals, nursing homes, home health settings, and as a tele therapist (long before COVID).  The majority of my cases include swallowing problems.  It is that common.  Everyone takes eating and drinking for granted until they can’t eat, get choked when eating, or choked when drinking.  

Actually, people who have eating problems will ‘just live with it’ for years until it becomes too much to avoid or leads to a hospital stay where it may or may not get noticed. 

 I have had patient’s anywhere from newborn to 90+ years old with eating problems.  It is a universal problem.  Anyone can have problems eating or drinking at any given time or age.  Our swallowing mechanism is controlled by our nervous system, muscles, respiratory system, and our brain.  A problem in any of these areas can lead to a swallowing problem.

This course is an introductory course into the swallowing mechanism.  What you will learn is basic and useful information pertaining to foods and liquids.  Simple changes and increased awareness of how foods and liquids are categorized to meet the specific needs of each individual.  Because some foods are harder to chew, some are harder to keep together, and some are easier to manage.  What works for one person might not work for another.

I am grateful you are seeking more information and I am here to teach you what I know. I have chosen to seek out how to reach more people because I have witnessed how many times people overlook their eating problems or cannot find the help they need.  

Well, there is only one of me.  Therefore, I have taught myself on how to provide these courses for anyone seeking help.  I realized this was the path I needed to take to provide this information for those who wanted and needed my service.  This is available for more people than I can see one on one.  A wider reach means more people can live a better life starting today! It is my pleasure to be here and I am grateful to have you here.

What will you learn?

-how foods are categorized 

-which foods are easier to chew 

-which foods are more difficult to chew

-how liquids can cause problems

-how eating difficulties can lead to pneumonia and even death

-signs to look for when having eating difficulties

-ways to make immediate changes with food choices to start eating and drinking with less difficulty

-safe swallowing strategies: what are they 

-how speech therapists can help

If this sounds like the information you need and have been searching for- this course is meant for you.  This is an audio course.  It was made to be simple. Sign up with your log in information, pay for the course, and start listening.  No schedule to worry about. No classes to attend.  No live webinar.  Just start listening, learning, and improving your life right now!

Thanks for listening!

Pamela

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