Up to 50% of stroke patients can suffer with a swallowing disorder known as dysphagia, which causes difficulty in eating enough to meet nutritional requirements.
The majority of dietitians work revolves around ensuring you receive all the nutrients you need by advising you on texture modified diets (puree or soft diets) and suggesting oral nutritional supplements.
In more severe cases, patients may not be able to swallow safely at all and may require feeding via a tube directly into the stomach to bypass the faulty swallow.
You will also receive advice on healthy eating, which includes:
- weight reducing
- cholesterol lowering
- blood pressure lowering
- how to control diabetes through diet.
The stroke dietetic team consists of two dietitians and a dietetic assistant:
Additional advice and information:
The below web links can offer you some basic information on some of the information mentioned above:
The Stroke Association: information on swallowing problems and tube feeding
Patients on intravenous and naso-gastric nutrition: information on tube feeding
The British Dietetic Association: fact sheet on healthy eating
The British Dietetic Association – Fact sheet on diabetes
British Dietetic Association – fact sheet on diabetes
The British Dietetic Association – fact sheet on lowering blood pressure
The British Dietetic Association – fact sheet on cholesterol