HealthInfo Canterbury
Safe eating & drinking with facial weakness or numbness
Some conditions, such as brain injury and stroke, can cause muscle weakness, shortness of breath, and fatigue, or tiredness. This means it can take a long time to eat.
The following tips will help to make eating easier and safer.
Keep food to a soft, moist consistency – for example, mince, mashed potato, boiled fish, soft vegetables and soft fruits such as avocados and bananas.- Avoid dry foods that need a lot of chewing, such as steak, crackers, biscuits, toast and toffees.
- Sucking on an ice cube before you eat may improve sensation and reduce numbness on the weak side of your mouth. This may make it easier to eat.
- Take a sip of water or other drink between each mouthful at a meal.
- Clear your cheek with your tongue during and after eating to make sure food doesn't remain in your cheek.
- Having a drink after a meal will also help to clear any remaining food out of your mouth.
- Remember that if you can't feel one side of your mouth properly you are at more at risk of biting your cheek. Take extra care!
Written by community speech-language therapists, Canterbury DHB. Adapted by HealthInfo clinical advisers. Last reviewed December 2016.
Image courtesy of tiramisustudio at Free DigitalPhotos.net
Review key: HISWD-121957
