extra phlegm/mucus?

[totallyconfused]

anyhting you can do for this?She found it hard to clear her throat this morning and then ended up with a mouthful and managed to swallow it.

I couldnt get her to sit up or to sit her up on my own. We were given a hopsital bed and we really need to move her in to that because I could have just pressed a button and she would have been upright.

 

[AliceA]

My husband has this and it has been worse over the last few days.
I assume the mucus is clear? Try propping up at night until you can use the hospital bed. Plenty of fluid too.
I avoid chocolate although hot chocolate or mousse is ok.
Have you had advice from the SALT who deal with swallow?
I am not really sure what causes it. I find dairy foods can cause mucus. Check with GP.

 

[totallyconfused]

My husband has this and it has been worse over the last few days.
I assume the mucus is clear? Try propping up at night until you can use the hospital bed. Plenty of fluid too.
I avoid chocolate although hot chocolate or mousse is ok.
Have you had advice from the SALT who deal with swallow?
I am not really sure what causes it. I find dairy foods can cause mucus. Check with GP.

we went in March and are due back again. She said to use soft food diet, mild risk of aspiration but regular fluid-tea, water are fine, no need for thickeners.

Ive noticed food remains in her mouth a bit longer now which didnt happen before.

She lsot 8 pounds in May and so we have ben told to increase-ice cream, milk, nutrition drinks, rice pudding etc so ahe has been eating more dairy so maybe thats an issue.

I haven tlooked at the mucus but will do on the next tissue she uses. She swallowed the phlegm so not sure about it.

Is there a particular colour that is a concern?

 

[marionq]

The thicker yellowish saliva can be caused by dehydration or the medication she’s taking. I posted recently about speaking to my husbands dentist about it and she said it can rot the teeth. She gave me a special high fluoride toothpaste and it seems to have improved.

 

[Palerider]

.

Is there a particular colour that is a concern?

Sputum is a horrible thing and it makes me feel sick looking at it. However there are different colours which CAN and I stress CAN mean different things.

White sputum -normal but can be copious in say hay fever or viral (common cold and flu)

Yellow sputum -normal in someone with healthy lungs, potentially infected in someone with lung disease

Green sputum -likely infected, lung disease or not

There are others, but the above are the main ones

 

[AliceA]

we went in March and are due back again. She said to use soft food diet, mild risk of aspiration but regular fluid-tea, water are fine, no need for thickeners.

Ive noticed food remains in her mouth a bit longer now which didnt happen before.

She lsot 8 pounds in May and so we have ben told to increase-ice cream, milk, nutrition drinks, rice pudding etc so ahe has been eating more dairy so maybe thats an issue.

I haven tlooked at the mucus but will do on the next tissue she uses. She swallowed the phlegm so not sure about it.

Is there a particular colour that is a concern?

I would be concerned by any colour but I have no medical training. It seems many SALT teams have their own ideas. Some I know ban icream also jelly. The reason is because food needs to be one texture or can be chewed down to one texture.
Boiled rice is banned so pudding needs to be well cooked so one texture.
Perhaps you need real medical advice.

 

[Lawson58]

Does she have any other health issues besides the dementia? There are other conditions that can cause fluid on the lungs which can result in coughing up stuff.