Aspirating When drinking? Don’t be a Bird Brain

Most birds drink some water every day, but they don’t drink the way we humans do. Their anatomy is obviously quite different from ours, and that includes not having cheeks and lips. With a few exceptions, birds lack the ability to suction liquid into their throats,...

Drooling’s Association with Quality of Life in Parkinson’s

Although medication advancements and surgical interventions such as deep brain stimulation (DBS) have provided significant improvement in managing the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, the non-motor symptoms, which can include drooling, dysphagia, sleep...

How Common is Drooling in Parkinson’s?

Some individuals newly diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, are surprised to learn that constipation, is a  common, prodromal symptom (a symptom that precedes a diagnosis) of Idiopathic Parkinson’s disease. This early presentation of dysautonomia (disorders of the...

Swallowing Problems in Parkinson’s Common But Under-Reported

For many years, a local neurologist has referred most of his early Parkinson’s patients for a comprehensive speech and swallowing evaluation. While I have always appreciated his acknowledgement of the incidious nature of these problems, the patients are often...