Dysphagia = eating and swallowing difficulties

The Swedish Dysphagia Association was founded in 1996. The main purposes of the Association are:

• To inform its members about dysphagia, which is eating and swallowing difficulties, and the etiology, and its various diagnostic and therapeutic possibilities of this disease,
 
• To create a network of dysphagia patients and of their families (also outside Sweden), to promote exchange of dysphagia experiences, and
 
• To support its members in obtaining professionally correct contact with dysphagia specialists within the medical service.

Information to members is distributed by a quarterly Dysphagia journal. Ten information-packed brochures about different dysphagia problems, from infancy to old age, are delivered free of charge. A video casette on dysphagia and a number of dysphagia books in Swedish are also available.

There are four different types of dysphagia which have to be considered when seeking medical attention.

• Preoral dysphagia, which is a difficulty to bring food or beverages to the mouth.
 
• Oral dysphagia, which comprises of several kinds of difficulties to prepare food in the mouth and to elicit a swallowing reflex.
 
• Pharyngeal dysphagia, which is caused by a muscular weakness or a paralysis in the lower throat, hampering food or beverage transit in a safe way to the gullet. Wrong-way swallowing and cough is a common symptom in pharyngeal dysphagia.
 
• Esophageal dysphagia, which occurs when the bolus transit through the esophagus to the stomach is impaired, causing obstruction or chest pain.
   
  Esophageal dysphagia must be separated into constant esophageal dysphagia and intermittent esophageal dysphagia. When a certain size of the bite always get stuck in the esophagus, a constant dysphagia is present. It can be caused either by a benign or a malign stricture.
   
  When a bite, independent of its size, sometimes get stuck, and sometimes does not get stuck, in the esophagus, an intermittent esophageal dysphagia is present. A common cause is a sliding hiatus hernia.

A number of diseases can give rise to dysphagia: stroke, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), brain injuries or tumors, whiplash injuries, mouth dryness (medication induced or Sjögren’s disease), malformation of jaw-bones or esophagus, inadequate mastication, oropharyngeal or esophageal tumors, hiatus hernia, achalasia cardiae, various neurological diseases, eg. Myasthenia gravis, and many more.

In the board of the Swedish Dysphagia Association there are four members (2006) with scientific background, that is an M.D. or a Ph.D. One of them is a speech therapist (chairman), one is an ENT doctor, one is a radiologist, and one is a dietitian.

You can get in touch with us by e-mailing to info@dysfagi.se. Here on our website www.dysfagi.se, we have a discussion board on dysphagia in which interested people can participate. There is a separate forum for English speaking people. You are welcome to take part.