Speech Therapy | Telepractice Services | Voice and Swallowing Center | Waldo County General Hospital

Indications of Need for Referral and Information to Share with Your Doctor

Other Indications: In addition to food getting "stuck" when swallowing, and a "lump" in the throat, other indications for manometry can be chronic coughing and throat clearing; frequent heartburn; non-cardiac chest pain; or the feeling of food coming back up or of "backwash" coming into the throat.

Ask Your Doctor About Evaluation. Many people suffer with symptoms of heartburn, swallowing, coughing & breathing difficulties and food getting stuck in the throat without getting a full understanding of what the problem is or know how to fix it.

Unfortunately, people may go from one evaluation to another, often over many years, with no effective symptom resolution or answers about what the problem is.

Sometimes patients just give up reporting the symptoms or may be treated with less-than-optimal results and figure they just "have to live with it. This fragmented care increases costs and risks increased patient illness, including risks of more serious problems in the throat and esophagus.

Working with referring physicians, these problems can be addressed in a comprehensive assessment.

Without a complete evaluation, these symptoms can be a difficult to manage:

 

  • Approximately 3.1 million people are hospitalized annually in the United States for GERD/Reflux-related symptoms, complications, and treatment. 
  • There are approximately 64.6 million prescriptions written for GERD medications in the United States annually.
  • Approximately 5% of all patient consults that a primary care physician completes are related to GERD.
  • People with GERD have a lower reported health-related qualify of life, which includes reduced enjoyment of food (80%), sleep problems (60%), and work concentration difficulties when symptoms were present (40 %).
  • It is estimated by the American College of Gastroenterology that the symptoms of GERD result in almost $2 billion in lost productivity each week of the year.




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