What causes difficulty eating, and what causes difficulty swallowing

Causes of symptoms. 1. Mechanical difficulty eating.

1) Intraluminal factors.

Excessive size of the bolus or foreign body in the esophagus.

2) Lumen stenosis.

Oropharyngeal infection: pharyngitis, tonsillitis, oropharyngeal injury (mechanical, chemical), pharyngeal diphtheria, throat tuberculosis, pharyngeal tumor, posterior pharyngeal wall abscess, etc.

Benign esophageal strictures: benign tumors such as leiomyomas, lipomas, hemangiomas, polyps; Esophageal inflammation such as reflux esophagitis, radiation esophagitis, corrosive esophagitis, esophageal tuberculosis and fungal infection.

Malignant tumors: tongue cancer, pharyngeal tumors, esophageal cancer, etc.

Esophageal webbing: Iron deficiency difficulty eating.

Mucosal ring: Mucosal ring at the lower end of the esophagus.

3) External pressure stenosis.

posterior pharyngeal wall mass or abscess; Extreme thyroid enlargement; Mediastinal mass lesions, such as mediastinal tumors and abscesses, left atrial hypertrophy, aortic aneurysm, etc.

2. Difficulty in motility eating.

1) Difficulty initiating swallowing.

oropharyngeal muscle paralysis; oropharyngeal inflammation, abscess; Lack of saliva, such as Sjögren's syndrome.

2) Pharyngeal and esophageal striated muscle dysfunction.

Medullary palsy, motor neuron disease, myasthenia gravis, botulinum toxin food poisoning, organophosphate pesticide poisoning, polymyositis, dermatomyositis, hyperthyroid myopathy, cerebrovascular disease, brainstem encephalitis, etc.

3) Esophageal smooth muscle dysfunction.

Systemic sclerosis, diabetes or alcohol-toxic myopathy, esophageal spasm, achalasia, etc.

**。Under normal circumstances, the time for food to pass from the mouth through the esophagus to the stomach is about 6 60 seconds, if it is found that the food cannot reach the stomach smoothly, the stay time in the esophagus is prolonged, accompanied by the feeling of obstruction, it is a symptom of dysphagia, resulting in difficulty in eating.

1.Oropharyngeal diseases: oropharyngeal diseases (viral, bacterial), oropharyngeal injury (mechanical, chemical), pharyngeal diphtheria, pharyngeal tuberculosis, pharyngeal tumor, posterior pharyngeal wall abscess, etc.

2.Esophageal diseases: esophagitis (bacterial, fungal, chemical), benign tumors of the esophagus (leiomyomas, lipomas, hemangiomas, etc.), esophageal cancer, esophageal foreign bodies, esophageal muscle dysfunction (achalasia, diffuse esophageal spasm, etc.), extreme thyroid, etc. Esophageal cancer is one of the most important**.

So it's best to go to the hospital to get checked for symptoms**!

If you are middle-aged or older, it is recommended to go to the gastroenterology department for a gastroscopy as soon as possible, because to rule out esophageal problems, such as esophageal cancer and inflammation, can cause dysphagia, which may be mild at first, and can develop into dysphagia. There is also the possibility of an enlarged thyroid gland. There is a thyroid gland on the front side of the neck, and if the thyroid gland is swollen, it can also compress the trachea, and further on, it can compress the esophagus, making it difficult to swallow.

Other tumors in the neck can also compress the esophagus, making swallowing uncomfortable. Laryngitis, enlarged tonsils, and partial narrowing of the throat can also cause discomfort when eating. I advise you to see a doctor in the hospital as soon as possible and deal with specific issues.

Dysphagia is a feeling of obstruction in the pharynx, retrosternal, or esophageal region due to obstruction of food transport from the mouth to the stomach or cardia. Clinicians must pay attention to the fact that dysphagia due to organic disease must be distinguished from pseudodysphagia, which has no underlying lesion of esophageal obstruction, and patients only complain of a lumpy blockage in the pharynx and retrosternal area, but often cannot clearly identify the specific site, and there is no difficulty eating liquid or solid food, and such patients are often accompanied by other symptoms of neurosis. Dysphagia is the most common symptom of esophageal cancer, and it is important for anyone with dysphagia to determine whether it is caused by cancer as early as possible.