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  • MG Community Member

    Member
    November 3, 2021 at 8:02 pm

    I’ve had experience with feeding tubes, ng tubes, and central line nutrition.

    Central line nutrition is far and away the most expensive and was used only when a crash was so severe that the hospital stay and recovery looked to extend for weeks. Although intrusive it is easy to live with and allowed me to work with speech therapy to restore my speaking, chewing, and swallowing.

    NG tubes were, for me, easier to onboard and much less intrusive day-to-day and allow speech to happen so much easier! as to worrying about the trauma of insertion I can only say, it happens quickly and so take solace in that.

    Feeding tubes are truly intrusive for me as a patient. It’s so hard to talk, makes my gag reflex happen on an hourly basis and is an awful experience if it happens again and again if they are not “left in” for days at a time.

    In the end, I would say to face any of these options as bravely as you can with the hope that it is part of getting you out of crisis. If you have the choice, I would choose an ng tube first and as part of your healthcare plan make this option known to family and your healthcare team.