Choking - airway blockage - Essay Example

Choking The sudden physiological change that occurs due to obstruction of airways in the body of humans is referred as choking. It occurs when a foreign object completely or partly blocks the airways. The object may be a marble or a hard lump of food that goes to the trachea blocking epiglottis instead of going to the oesophagus (Chiang & Lisa, 2007). Choking results to a horrifying condition known asphyxia. The condition is caused by severe deficient oxygen supply to the body that results to unconsciousness or even death.

A 63 years old man in the United States was suffering from swallowing problems or Dysphagia. One evening, while he was eating his evening snack of milk and cookies, he started coughing with difficulties. His strenuous cough raised the alarm to the caregiver who immediately tried to perform Heimlich maneuver in order to restore the condition, but the aged man did not respond. The man later died after some minutes. Despite the effort of the caregiver, it is evident that man died due to lack of supervision from the caregiver while he was eating (Cuomo, 2012).

Dysphagia and aspiration problems increase with age and therefore old people are the most at risk of choking (Bronwyn, 2002). Some of the risk factors associated with aspiration include muscles weakness while chewing and swallowing, seizure disorder, eating too fast, lack of proper eating position, and absent or decreased gag reflex. However, there are precautions that can be followed to reduce the risk of choking or aspiration. Some of them include avoiding excessive sedation, feeding on small amounts of food, allowing rest period before meals, and use of thickened liquids such as nectars.

Choking can also be prevented through feeding while upright and putting food on unaffected strong side for stroke patients.ReferencesBronwyn , J. (2002). Normal and Abnormal Swallowing: Imaging in Diagnosis and Therapy. New York: Springer Science & Business Media.Chiang, V &. Lisa, B. (2007).Comprehensive Pediatric Hospital Medicine: MD Consult. New York: Elsevier Health Sciences. Cuomo, A. (2012). Choking/Aspiration Alert. Retrieved from http://www.omh.ny.gov/omhweb/dqm/bqi/choking_aspiration_alert.pdf