Looking for evidence that feeding tubes prevent aspiration pneumonia

@ltecato
I had a feeding tube for a bit over a year. 2014-2015. I never aspirated, but was cautioned that I could. I was to be at a 35° angle when sleeping. I just slept in my recliner. My feeding was 24 hours to begin with. A pump was set to pump so much in me.. formula and water. I could eat soft foods and progressed to solid food. I had to maintain weight for I think it was six weeks before they would remove the tube.

My esophagus does not work… and the sphincter to my stomach does not work well. If the sphincter to my stomach does not open the food stacks in my esophagus. Sometimes I get nauseous and vomit and other times food just comes up. I go have my esophagus dilated… stretched ever once in awhile. So far it helps.

I did not have a stoma on the outside… it was just the tube. I cut a small piece of gauze to go around it and taped the tube in place. It was tape that does not rip your skin off.. can't think of the name right now, I changed it morning and evening… cleaning it. If it got irritated the doctor said I could put antibiotic cream around it.. but not on the rim of the hole. It kept infections at bay. I have pain where the tube was especially if I sit an hour or more.

I did not like the feeding tube one bit!! It did keep me alive. In 2018 they said if I did not gain weight I would need to go back on the feeding tube, I was taking care of my mama and it was difficult for me to take care of me too. My mama had another stroke in Dec 2019 and had to go in a nursing home for rehab Jan 2020. She did not do well with rehab. Covid hit bad in mid March and we could not visit. Another stroke in June and the fatal one August last year.

I gained a lot of weight since… inactivity with two thumb surgeries.. same thumb.. last year and this year SI (sacroiliac) joint fusion and vaginal wall repair. My husband is saying “what next?” 😂 I am doing better … I just need to eat better and exercise more.

You will figure out what is best for you. Write out the pros and cons.

On the chewing… frequent meals and having to chew well… my jaws hurt. I have an overbite that makes it hard to bite… so chopped, tender meats for me.

ZeeGee

Your history sounds a lot like mine. Wife calls people like us medical unicorns. I wish. Good luck with your recovery!

I have other problems with the tube: It requires me to interact more with people who think the ADA is a joke. I can’t function by myself and that is mostly due to lack of accommodations. This reason is straight out of HP Lovecraft: A perfume smell came out for a while. Jasmine or honeysuckle aroma reproduced exactly. Just creeped me out. Mupirocin stopped it.

@ltecato
It seems like I cannot get one thing better before another flares. My husband has problems too… the worst is diabetes.

There are several types of feeding tube contraptions. Some people syringe feed. The doctors wanted mine slow feed so I had a pump. It was a bag that held water and formula bags. My husband did all the mathematics on the settings of the machine.. not sure what I would have done with out him.

I had a gastric bypass to hopefully permanently fix a hiatal hernia. I had complications. .. and really needed more surgery to fix it all. I was too weak. 6 months later the complications worsened and I had open abdominal surgery and had everything put where it would mostly work. .. it is never going to be as good as it once was.

My feeding tube went into what is referred to as a remnant stomach .. what is now my stomach is referred to as a pouch.

I eat no more that a cup or cup and a half of food at one time.. depends in how filling it is. … eating several mini-meals a day. I drink no sodas and my stomach does not like very cold foods like ice cream and ice in drinks. I stay away from white potatoes and rice and most breads. I can eat crisp foods like Ritz crackers… but no saltines… I can also eat Cheez-Its… but not most chips. Cheetos I can handle most of the time, but sometimes not. I can eat “very small amounts” of overcooked pasta. No raw foods at all except ripe banana. Fruits are either cooked or canned. I can eat most cheeses and eat small curd cottage cheese. For some reason I can eat Bush's baked beans.. without much gas.. if I chew well, but they need little chewing, and I only eat a couple of tablespoons at most. It helps with fiber intake. I get diverticulitis ever once in a while.. so I try to keep my fiber up. I eat too much junk food .. like chocolate candy and the chips… because it digests easier. I need to try to eat better.. need proper nutrients. 😁

I am a person that likes to be told exactly what is going on. I handle it better that way. Before my open abdominal surgery the surgeon answered every one of my questions.. even on the worse case scenarios of what my limits of physical recovery would be and approximate recovery times from it, and about the 80% survival rate.. and I thanked him for it. He would not have if I had not asked. When I talk to a doctor about anything I tell them I want the truth.. tell me like it is… don't tell me the side effects of a procedure or surgery after the fact.

My husband knows my wishes and promises he will keep nothing the doctors say from me and I have made the same promise to him. He handles the whole truth better too.

I know doctors want you to have hope… the truth for me cannot take that away. I choose my quality of life over quantity of life.

I can still enjoy my grandchildren.. I even pay a gentle games with them… and listening to my husband's thousands of stories that I have heard many times. My husband and I have been best friends for 54 years and married 52 years. I have known of him since I was 10 years old .. I am 70 now.. with him being my brother's friend. We know each other well.

This was mostly just to tell you how I eat. Sorry I rattled on 😁
It is trial and error as what you can eat. It needs to be easily chewed, swallowed, and digested. For me not too spicy or greasy.

A unicorn.. 🥳 I was called infamous by my gastro doctor at Mayo clinic that took over after my surgery.

ZeeGee