HealthUnlocked will undergo site maintenance on 8th April 2025 from 11:30AM (BST) / 6:30AM (EDT) for a few hours. We aim to restore the full service as soon as possible. Learn more
Ahem, ahem, ahem....is what my father is doing. He is still the same otherwise, but its like he has a frog in his throat. He doesnt have a cold or cough (that I am aware of).
It goes on for half an hour, and then will stop for a while, and then it starts again. Is this a sign of aspiration?
As you loose the ability to swallow you tend to get a build up of saliva in the mouth and throat, the Ahem would be trying to clear it. Carbocisteine is very often prescribed to make the secretions more watery so they go down easier and don't build up.
you don’t say what stage your father is at. I was diagnosed in April and probably at an early stage. I have been getting the same thing for long before then. Sometimes it’s when I eat or drink and things go down the wrong way. Sometimes it’s when I am talking and end up croaking! This happens several times a day. The question is, does this foreshadow what’s to come? No problems with saliva at present.
Hi, I don't like to look for stages, some peoples symptoms appear earlier than others or in a different order, my wife started with speech and eating problems very early on.
Eating and swallowing shows differently too, you may have a strong swallowing but struggle to do it, this can cause the build up of saliva as you don't swallow automatically which causes the build up mentioned. You may not have a problem instigating the swallow but your swallow is weak, which sounds similar to what you describe.
Either way, they both put you at risk of aspiration.
Hes in a resthome, mostly wheel chair bound......two people flank him to walk. Confused and sleepy a lot. Diagnosed with parkinsons in 2019, and symptoms existed about a year or two before that, so I would say Year 5 or 6.
While someone without this disorder swallows every 8-10 seconds, someone without it may swallow only 2-3 times in a minute. As mentioned in other responses, the saliva builds up and they are not able to clear it. We have used mucinex (guafenicine) twice daily to help thin secretions. Do not be tempted to use a cough suppressant, that would make things worse. It is not really a cough. Like my husband, he needs to clear these secretions. It is annoying to my husband and distressful at times.
It has helped my husband to be gently reminded to swallow. If watching tv, playing on the phone or listening to music, I may suggest he swallow at every scene change, something different on the phone or change in music.
Take care
Thank you. Its odd, because when he eats, he seem to show a really strong chew.
If I’m understanding the strong chew as you meant, some of that may be trying to position food in the right place to prepare to swallow. Everyone is different and this darn disease is constantly changing things. My husband now has trouble with things that are solid/liquid such as cereal and milk, large tablets and water and watermelon. For months it was more as you described, so aptly, with ahem ahem ahems.
That makes a lot of sense to what I observe. His first mouthful of a meal - he is still for a couple of seconds and then its chomp like.
I wanted to bring some awareness to a very concerning symptom that my mother unfortunately developed in March. She started to make a groaning sound throughout the day like HMMM MM sound. At first I thought it was some type of daytime apnea because it sounded like she was having trouble breathing or swallowing challenges. It was very concerning and scary to say the least but what I found out it's an involuntary vocal tic. I learned it happens when the disease has reached the frontal lobe of the brain which is more common in the later stages. I went to 4 neurologists which the majority had not advised accurately. Only one doctor mentioned the involuntary and frontal lobe dysfunction. So I dedicated myself to reading medical journals and found more information about it. The above doctors all mentioned various scary options that varied from opioids to morphine. I wanted to convey that this vocal tic does not cause any pain to my mother (which was noted in medical research that pain is not associated with such tic in most cases) so I decided to administer higher dosage of cbd to help manage the frequency. She is able to still attend her PT it just takes some extra effort to work through this tic when it occurs during her excercises. I will be looking to get her marijuana card since THC is also known to aid in such tics. I hope I can share some insight and this information is useful to eliminate any unnecessary trauma or further stress that such a challenging symptom may present if any of your love ones end up experiencing this.
When my husband made a similar sound I would ask him if he in pain or soothing himself. He said he was soothing himself.
Thank you......this also started a couple of days ago......its quite loud as well. Your post is very insightful.
My partner did this for a while, and then it stopped again. Its definitely a phase, I would say. I think it might be one that comes and goes.
Driving license.
Father with PSP
Chris 
Hate
Losing a loved one to PSP
