Watching the news? It’s nearly as difficult to swallow as dysphagia

Some things are rather difficult to swallow.

Like having a train not stop at your station because it’s running late.

Or finding out a footballer earns £400,000 a week.

Or even just watching the news most days.

For certain people, though, being unable to swallow something is a much more literal problem.

It has a proper name – dysphagia – and there are lots of causes of this rather common issue.

Usually it’s down to a problem with the oesophagus, otherwise known as the gullet, but it might also be due to a problem in the back of the mouth.

The severity of it can vary from quite mild to severe.

In milder cases, someone might just feel they toil a little when they eat – the food takes a wee bit longer to travel down the gullet.

But it can be a bit more severe than that – such as being unable to swallow any food or drink, and anything swallowed coming right back up again.

It may well range to anything in between those extremes.

The nerves and muscles in the throat may be affected by several different conditions, all of which may cause the region to malfunction. Having a stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, motor neurone disease or a host of other conditions may do this – although these conditions would likely have other symptoms first.

Some folk find it difficult to swallow if they’ve got a throat infection, like tonsillitis.

This is usually a short-term problem and it goes away when the infection clears.

Some people have something called a globus sensation, which isn’t technically dysphagia, but is worth mentioning.

It’s the feeling of having a lump at the back of your throat.

If you get acid reflux it can cause damage to the gullet in the form of strictures.

This is a scarring of the lower gullet which can cause difficulty swallowing.

In fact there are a host of problems which can cause it.

I would say to anyone worried about it to have a chat to their GP to rule anything out.

Generally it will be one of the problems listed above – and there are treatments for just about all of them.

News, I hope, that is a bit easier to swallow.