I spoke with a dentist who has MS, and can no longer practice. In our conversation, he said that swallowing is a four part process for your body. Three parts are automatic but depend on the first part (you chewing food and moving it via your tongue to the back of your mouth, and then triggering the process)which is voluntary. If you "forget" this part, you end up with a mouth of something. The command is, for most of us, just a little slow in getting there. But it still works.

Choking on saliva - an old situation that's a real problem for a singer: I take a deep breath to start a phrase, inhale my own spit, & cough for the next 1/2 hr. (It's one of the reasons I no longer sing professionally - PBA is another)

Eating "starchy" solids is another old problem: I make a point of taking very small nibbles of things like baked potatoes or hard-boiled eggs, and keep a glass of water handy to wash things down.

Then there was the day I put a spoonful of clear broth into my mouth and sat there for 5 minutes trying to remember how to get it from my mouth into my throat, and from there into my stomach. My problem with liquids only lasted a few weeks, luckily, but from what my neuro said, it's apparently more common than my problem with starchy solids.

My MRI shows lots of sclera in my pons - which I gather is the seat of the autonomic nervous system... scary! Swallowing is one automatic activity, but I could also forget how to breath or make my heart beat...

I too, have a problem with swallowing, I forget how, have to think about it. Before my diagnosis, I would choke on sweet, sticky candy (Kraft Karmels). It seemed to me, that my epiglottis would clamp shut, when it detected the sticky sweetness and I couldn't breathe, it was terrifying. Can't talk and eat at same time, will choke. Dry foods too, crackers, hard boiled eggs, you name it. Oh, the joys of MS

Evidently this effects 30% or more of us. I found that article on multiplesclerosis.net encase anyone is interested...

http://multiplesclerosis.net/symptoms/swallowin...

I have difficulty swallowing too. I have done a barium swallow test and it showed that not all of my food goes down properly which causes me to choke. They taught me to look to the left and then swallow and also massage my throat to get the food to go down. There are technical terms for it. It is not in your imagination and if your neurologist doubts this then its time for a new Dr.

Yes. Take Baclofen for it.