Liquid thickener!

I must say that for a long time I did this throat clearing thing and sometimes if I didn't concentrate on swallowing liquids I did cough.  I suspected that I was on the cusp of aspirating but I was madly fearful of going down the tube feed route again so I doubled down on my swallow exercises and everything seems OK now

Hiya,

I have been prescribed Nestle Resource Thicken up Clear. 

It helps me to avoid coughing with thin liquids. I have found that a quite small amount of thickener, well mixed in, is just enough to slow my swallow without leaving lots of thick residue at the bottom of the drink.

I have been referred for (non-urgent) fluoroscopy/swallow study to try and work out what is wrong with my swallow. It's not all that serious a problem for me, but it was putting me off drinking thinner liquids.

Hope it works out for you.

Steve

Hi ChemoChaos

I have the throat clearing and coughing problem when I drink thin fluids too. I have found drinking slightly thicker fluids such as milk based drinks does not have the same effect and I manage them O.K. I did go to the chemist and buy a thickening powder used in baby formulas and this works quite well in water. It does not seem to thicken up too much only if left for a while. Maybe you don't need the fluid you drink to be thickened to the extent that it is so thick that it is like jelly but only slightly thickened. Perhaps try less powder to reduce the amount of thickness and see if that works better. Not sure about thickening beer but I would definitely experiment with that if it is something you really enjoy drinking.

Best wishes

Lyn