beverage thickeners

[ncgardener799]

I would welcome input about using thickeners for fluids. What brands work best and affordability. My husband is still drinking normal fluids, but it has been suggested at swallow test that we start using nectar thick consistency for fluids. He is not very excited about this and will have a repeat swallow test in 4-6 months, but thought those with experience could guide me as there are many options online and in at our local pharmacy. I live in US. Thank you!

[SewBears]

Hi, I don’t have experience with thickeners. At the top of the screen at the menu bar, there is a magnifying glass button that functions as a search feature. Type in Swallow or swallowing and you should get several hits regarding this topic. Everything from straws to thickeners. I hope that you find a quick and easy solution.

Xoxo from I SewBears

[Hidden]

Resource Thickenup by Nestle was what a speech therapist recommended.

nestlehealthscience.us/bran...

I found it wasn’t useful as it made the liquid so thick. All it is is modified cornstarch.

[Ratcliffe]

David used to use a thickener called Nutilis Clear. There is a regular Nutilis and then there is Nutilis Clear, both do the same thing, but David just preferred the taste of the Clear version.

I am pretty sure they are available in the US, but I cannot help with costs as David got them under the NHS system in the U.K.

With regards to the thickness we call it stage one, two or three it’s one being the thinner, ie you use less thickening powder. I’m not sure what the levels are called where you are, but the same powder can be used to make all consistencies.

I hope that is of a little use.

[Tippyleaf]

We started off with naturally thickened drinks for my hubby (PSP). before moving to thickeners and this helped the transition. I started making smoothies, water melon juiced, iced Frappuccino, he also had tomato juice etc. Cappuccino with whole milk is also naturally thick. Lots of normal drinks are thick !!

He has used Nutillis for last 2 years starting at stage one now on stage 3 .

Good luck hope you can find things that appeal, thickened water , tea and coffee takes a bit of getting used too but there are so many other options

Love Tippy

[Ratcliffe]

Red Wine thickens reasonably well, surprisingly! (I soon found that out, lol)

[Tippyleaf in reply to Ratcliffe]

But champagne and beer is not so good thickened!!! Glad we are not the only ones to have tried to keep the normality of life with a wee dram!!!

Hope you are keeping well Derek

Love Tippy

[HilsandR in reply to Ratcliffe]

Brilliant - lets just call it a Merlot Smoothie. Your post has tickled me pink - thank you. A little bit of humour amongst the seriousness of it all really does have a place and if it makes just one person smile then it has done a good job. Hils. x

[Megabrew88 in reply to Ratcliffe]

Yeah I agree Derek,

Once when we were in a restaurant, someone once ask me what I put in B’s wine They thought it was some new wine enhancer,😍

[ncgardener799 in reply to Megabrew88]

Hi Megabrew88, Just wonder if the thickners come in individual packaging since you mentioned using some in restaurant?

[Megabrew88 in reply to ncgardener799]

Hi, no it doesn’t. It comes in a 120grams tub so not that bulky.

Mx

[LuisRodicioRodicio]

Hi ncgardener799!

These are our experiences about:

Prevent solids or regular liquids from reaching the lungs to avoid eventual “aspiration pneumonia,” (Besides falls, this is another very important risk.)

•Add thickeners (eg, Resource from Nestle, Thick-it, Simply Thick-Easy Mix, CVs, etc.) to drinks (soups, water, Aquarius(*) orange or lemon or similar without gas, etc.) till obtain a glutinous liquid. To drink, it is advisable to use a special cup (Ornamin 815) with the chin as near as possible to the chest. Some mango and peach juices have an adequate consistency.

(*) Isotonic drinks are interesting to help maintain blood electrolytes at the correct level.

•The food must be moderately doughy and in small pieces if solid.

•The speech therapist has insisted that she should not take meals that "deceive" the mechanism of swallowing that is damaged. The foods that “deceive” are those that have liquids and solids in the same bite (eg, some beans with soup or a soup with pasta).

•Check the patient is sitting fully upright to eat and try not to have distractions around while he is eating.

•Making a puree with a hand blender is always a solution, but it is preferable to crush with a fork until a homogeneous paste without liquid and so as not forget the function of chewing. What is not used is lost!

Hugs and luck.

Luis

[AnneandChris]

Hi there

We're in the UK and have Thick and Easy Clear prescribed, but it is an American brand distributed in the UK. We have now moved up to a thick syrup consistency and even thicker for meds which are ground up and then spoon fed.

Hope this helps, keep on keeping on.

Anne

[Tippyleaf]

Hi Anne

I make mango lassi to go with crushed medication my hubby won’t eat yoghurt ( what does he think Lassi is I wonder??) but this is spoon fed to him with the crushed meds and is currently working well.

Hope you are OK as we travel our similar paths😖

Sending love and hugs

Tippy

[AJK2001]

Generally thickeners come in 2 types, starch based & xanthan gum based. Nestle Resource Thicken Up is starch based, but Thicken Up Clear is xanthan based. We found the starch based one is fine if drinks are going to be consumed fairly quickly but if left for any period of time they separate, which is no good, so we have moved to the xanthan based one. We make up a jug of water once a day and leave in the fridge, so it's always available for cold drinks. It's important to add the liquid to the powder and whisk well whilst the powder is hydrating to avoid lumps.

It's not a perfect solution and know Mum sometimes just wants a drink but it does really cut down on the choking fits.

[JMDean]

That last response is about where I was going to begin but there have been many good answers before that.

I’m an SLP and in my experience, if you can take liquids that are already somewhat thicker like tomato juice or apricot nectar (Compal makes a mango nectar in Portugal that’s quite excellent but it’s hard to come by in the states).

Thickening items like that a little bit to get to the nectar consistency won’t be much of a stretch and will be more pleasurable and easier to tolerate. Fruit juices in general are pretty decent. I have a hard time with milk due to the consistency and the starches up being a little bit bitter in water but many people add in lemon (including some of the manufacturers). My go-to is thickened hot chocolate - given the right branding, I think I could sell it on the open market The only caveat with all these items is the high-level of sugar so you might water things down a bit...,

Cost wise, the modified corn starch is going to be more affordable but the xanthan gum tastes better to me so you might use a mix of approaches.

Agree about the mixed consistency. It can be difficult to manage a solid while you are trying to control the liquid from going down into the airway. There are a lot of nice puréed soups, many of which you can prepare in a slow cooker that taste pretty good and don’t have an off-putting texture. And if you need to thicken things up in a soup, you can add in potato flakes to thicken things up naturally. I’ve heard of people using ground tapioca as a thickener as well but I have not personally given it a try.

As others have pointed out, thickening carbonated liquids usually doesn’t work very well but if absolutely necessary, I find stirring them with a fork before adding the thickness clears out some of the bubbles.

My final advice is to see if you can’t continue to work with that speech therapist to maintain and perhaps improve swallowing function. It’s a huge problem in PSP and keeping after it with a regular exercise can really help. Given the nature of this disorder, the “maintenance therapy“ provision, achieved after a Supreme Court ruling half a dozen years ago (Jimmo v Sebelius) should allow for ongoing treatment in the absence of the kind of progress that Medicare usually requires to keep someone on caseload. They make it fairly burdensome for a documentation standpoint for therapists but if your SLP is working with people living with Parkinson’s and some of the atypical disorders (including PSP), it won’t be the first time they’ve had to deal with that.

Good luck (and if you run into trouble finding an SLP that can do what you need, perhaps you can give me an idea of what part of the country you’re in and I’ll see if I can help you find someone nearby)

[MissMolly19]

My husband started on Thick and Easy, which is starch based and is best referred to as wallpaper paste, i.e. really awful. The SLT he saw recommended switching to Nutilis which is gum based and more palatable. We got this prescribed on the NHS. However, it made wine taste bitter (spoilt moules mariniere as a result!) and made all drinks taste a bit unlike they should. Not great.

A bit of research led to Slodrinks, which he now uses. Outstanding. Again gum based, developed by a company based in Glossop which focuses purely on thickeners for those with dysphasia. The thickeners come in individual little sachets, each specifically designed for a particular drink, e.g. Tea, coffee, water, fruit juice, wine, beer etc.. well labelled and easy to use. I've tasted them and the integrity of the different drink flavours is maintained. They're great, took years to develop apparently and I highly recommend them. They also do a pump based thickener to help taking tablets, for later stages. Oh, and the drink thickeners come in Stage 1 or 2 strengths.

Isn't it weird, the areas of knowledge we all suddenly find ourselves acquiring, that we never knew about?! Good luck.

[Bhakthan]

The food I give my wife is rather complicated! First I take 1/2 cup of almond nuts, walnuts and cranberries and powder them well and keep aside.

Next I keep pureed tomatoes, jack fruit, sapodilla, purple grapes in bottles in the fridge. I mix about 4 tablespoons of each of these. Make a porridge of Oats and milk in equal measure, mix all the above while cooking the porridge. Add Ensure Powder Diabetic two teaspoons. Add Splenda sweetener powder and water as required to maintain a thick liquid consistency. Cool the porridge mixture and mix it in the blender until it is flowing better than thickly. I store this in the fridge and take out a glass of this porridge mixture and feed it to my wife three times daily. After this glass I give her a cup of either fruit juice/ or salt lassi (dilute yogurt)/ or ice cream/ or Hershey chocolate! She has stopped taking solids totally. But is able to swallow the porridgy mixture! Don't know for how long!

[MissMolly19]

Oops, I should have said that you can google Www.slodrinks.com

They do ship abroad I think and will send samples.

[Dadshelper]

Dad used a thickener that last 18 months or so. It was called Thick-It. He didn't care for it in water since as pointed out before it's just cornstarch based. We made a lot of smoothies with various things to thicken them. One thing that worked well and served a dual purpose was powdered peanut butter. This had the added benefit of extra protein and calories to dad's smoothies.

Ron

[Birdieboo]

It’s been a few years since my mother used thickeners as she is on a feeding tube now, but we used to get the thickener from Walgreens. It was called Thicken Up, it worked fine and was about $10 for an eight ounce can. You can also check the pharmacy at Walmart they offered to order us thickener in a larger, more expensive can, but would have been cheaper in comparison because of the amount in it. We didn’t get a chance to try that one because we had run out of thickener and needed some that day.

[pgleos]

Besides PSP, my husband had 2 strokes and left him with weak left muscles specially his throat. Four years ago the speach therapist recommended thicken Up, but at that time he was able to drink regular water and he get the runs. Stop using it. But a few months back he got a shock incident with a hot dog that take him to ER (the winee was cut in small pieces but he didn't chewed it at all) After that incident, he starting to chocking with regular water even a small sips and start using Thicken Up again. Started with 1 spoon, now he is on 3 spoons. He tolerate very good and drinks a lot of water. I used Thicken Up for all his drinks, tea or fruit drinks and works very well for him. My husband don't use straw for more than 4 years and can't drink carbonated water (he used to drink a lot mineral water before). I"m afraid to try different brand, but I think is worth the try.

Best,

Mrs Leos

[daddyt]

I use Thicken Up - a brand by Nestle. It does not alter the flavour and can be added to both fluids and food.

Tim

[Cuttercat]

We used Simply Thick and it worked well. No taste so used in many things.

I’m in Raleigh, NC. I see you are in NC too. Let me know. I have some here if you’d like me to give to you to try.

Bless you.

Cuttercat

[ncgardener799 in reply to Cuttercat]

Hi Cuttercat, Thanks for offer to try thickener. I live in Wilmington NC. My husband does not need to thicken just yet, but I anticipate he will at some point. We are still in the "probably has PSP stage " We have been seeing Drs/Neurologists here in Wilmington and Duke for 3 1/2 years. Nice to come across someone from NC. Who diagnosed your husband? Are there any support groups in your area?

[Cuttercat in reply to ncgardener799]

Diagnosis was at Duke Movement Disorder Center. My husband Charles passed away last June. He held a valiant battle with PSP. Hateful disease.

Support group was in Chapel hill. Way too far to go when he was sick.

If you need anything later on let me know. I come that way and offer my support

Best

Cuttercat

[ncgardener799 in reply to Cuttercat]

We have a movement disorder neurologist here in Wilmington. We are so tired of running to doctors, so we are sticking with her and see how things progress. We like her and she believes he has PSP most likely. We have follow up in 4 months. Last year we where at Duke at least twice a month seeing several Drs , but not a movement specialist. At first Dr thought my husband had IBM, inclusion body myositis , so we spent a lot of time seeing a neuromuscular Dr at Duke, Dr Lisa Hobson Webb . Dozens of tests and procedures, finally told no evidence of IBM, so we moved on. Was there a specific Dr you like or were seeing at the Duke Movement Center?

I am technology challenged so not sure how to find people at another time. I'd like to keep in touch with a "local" member. I'm sorry to hear your husband lost his battle. I am trying to remain focused on the present, but preparing for what will come a little at a time. Scary stuff!!! Thanks so much for your offer of support!!

[Sam_S]

"Thick-It" is a good brand at an affordable price.

Sam

[Vswamy]

I tried several thickeners and settled on "Thicken Up clear". My husband likes this better than other products. It does not change the taste of the drink I believe. I am able to use this for water, coffee, tea etc. it is not inexpensive though. I ordered it thru Amazon. We have been using it for about 3 years. Good luck.

[Nanny857]

Hi, my husband's speech therapist prescribed Nutilis to thicken his drinks and it's working well. He is at Stage 1 so liquid thickened only slightly. Best wishes, Nanny857xx

[ncgardener799 in reply to Nanny857]

Thank you!!

[teresa1988]

Simply Thick was recommended to us by a SLP. I found it to be superior to Thick-It and Resourse Thicken-Up. It is available in individual packets to be mixed with 4 oz liquid, as well as bulk containers, and can be ordered from Simplythick.com or Amazon. The individuals I spoke to at SimplyThick.com were kind and helpful. If you are interested in trying it, they have a sample kit available on their website. Additionally, I have some packets that I would be happy to send to you to try. We live in US.....Georgia.

Teresa

[ncgardener799 in reply to teresa1988]

HI Teresa, Thank you for your support and advise. WE have not started to use thickner yet, but swallow evaluation has suggested we consider it. He eats and drinks without issue right now, occasionally a little cough with thin liquids, so I am suspecting things may be changing . Swallow evaluation will be repeated in 4 months. I will contact Thick it for sample kit. This site is so amazing, the support and information is remarkable!! I live in Wilmington NC.

[Megabrew88]

Resource Clear by Nestle, works best for T.

It’s gelatine base and not cornstarch base. We find cornstarch base thickeners aggravates his throat and makes his cough worst.

[naz01]

Sorry to hear your loved is going through this. I wish you all the best. When our father God bless him suffered swallowing liquids we used a product called Nutilis Thickner it comes in a white and purple tin. It can be used in water and certain foods to thicken it. In order to aid swallowing, and to reduce the risk of aspiration. He left us about ten months ago after a huge battle which ultimately they lost. I wish you all the best for you and your loved one. My heart goes out to you. Stay strong my friend. May God bless all of us.

[ncgardener799 in reply to naz01]

Thank you!!!

[naz01 in reply to ncgardener799]

What 4? Thank u for the chance to help some1 if my comment has helped you.