The trouble with living longer with OPMD is my symptoms just keep getting worse: swallowing becomes more difficult, liquids run out of my nose while drinking, my saliva gets thicker, my arms and legs get weaker, my eye lids get droopier, m y speech becomes more difficult, and eating normal food becomes impossible. I have been in a electric wheelchair for the past five years.
I take all my meals through a PEG Feeding tube inserted through my abdominal wall with a surgical procedure. Prior to that procedure, , I lost over fifty pounds as eating became more difficult. I now take in about 900 calories a day using the tube. I usually add some liquid fiber (Ready Fiber) once a day, and two tablespoons of Geri-Tussin Guaifenesin Syrup with every feeding and at bedtime to thin my saliva. My wife Toni is an angel. She crushes all my blood pressure pills into some warm water and puts them through the feeding tube. The Guaifenesin Syrup takes about 30 minutes to take effect, but it really helps. I buy the Geri-Tussin from Amazon by the case at half the cost of the individual bottles.
