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My dad is living with Parkinson’s. We’re both living with reusable straws. When my dad drinks, he drinks with a straw. When my dad wants a drink, I give him the drink and straw.
Parkinson’s in infamous for dehydration. [1] So I use straws to help keep my dad hydrated. He drinks too much Diet Coke still.
For my dad, it’s mainly the mobility and motor disabilities that cause the trouble. My dad’s up-and-down dementia adds color to daily refreshment.
Not my dad, but many people with Parkinson's use straws to prevent drooling and salivating. Doctors talk about using straws for practice and training. Sucking and drinking from straws is like therapeutic rehabilitation because it uses the muscles of the lips, mouth, and throat.
And some people buy assistive straws to help with swallowing. Some people are unable to eat solid food, so rely on straws to drink their blended meal purees.
“Assistive drinking straws” or “adaptive drinking straws” are part of a parent category “adaptive drinking aids”, which is part of a master category of in-home “adaptive technology”.
Special straw features are designed to help people living with different disabilities. The soft silicone tips on metal straws, for example, are meant to protect the mouth from the sharp straw material. One-way liquid control straws make sipping and swallowing easier, because the liquid in the straw stays at the same level between sips - a much more efficient sip. Straw clips are one accessory made to keep the straw in place at the rim of the cup.
The broader department of adaptive drinking aids include everything from spill-proof drink aids, liquid flow drink aids, drink aids for both hot and cold beverages, drink aids for both one and two hands. And all sorts of accessories to provide extra comfort and convenience while adding stability to prevent spills.
You get the point. People with different disabilities have different needs. My daddio is 74 with gargoyle style Parkinson’s freezing and out-and-back roller-coaster style dementia.
His biggest challenge is starting his movements, actually lifting his hand and arm towards the beverage, bringing his head close to the beverage and bringing the beverage close to his head at the same time, and then set the beverage back down and return to a resting position.
My dad can sip from the straw like a champion. Swallowing can become a challenge for many elderly, but not my dad, not so far. He’s cute when he sips. He sips so well.
Materials. Reusable straws are commonly available in the materials of hard metal, hard plastic, or soft silicone. For a person with mobility challenges, stay away from glass straws because glass can shatter.
Disposable straws are available in plastic or paper. Mother Earth would prefer you choose paper or reusable straws, but that’s your choice as a caregiver. Even the Parkinson's Foundation chimed in to say it's okay for people with Parkinson's to buy and use disposable straws likely to be discarded as rubbish.
Shape and size. Long and skinny, short and wide, straight and bent. The beverage industry sure does thrive on variety, and the market for reusable straws for elderly and disabled people knows that.
I’ve tried them all with my dad.
If it's your first time trying out reusable straws maybe you could look for a pact with a variety pack with some short some long some bent some straight within lots of those are material.
Length. The best reusable straw with my dad had been a straight straw well-fit for the drink container. The straw tip should protrude 1.5 to 3 inches from the top of the drink container. Any shorter, and it either falls inside the glass or my dad can’t get good suction with “too little runway”. Any longer, and the straw swings and rolls around too much, and my dad can’t get to the straw with his lips because it’s too wobbly.
Shape. Bent straws are the worst kind of reusable straw with my dad. You hope the bent will go upwards at a 45 degree angle, but in reality the bent top part of the straw falls flat or droops down towards the table, and drips sticky Diet Coke onto the table.
Width. I just buy standard width straws now.
I tried wide-mouth boba style silicone straws with my dad, and he says it’s harder to sip from. I took a sip too see for myself, and I completely agree with him.
Too wide is too hard to drink from because “you need a big mouth to suck with”. Too skinny is too hard to drink from because “you only get a tiny squirt after sucking so hard”.
I won’t be buying wide-mouth straws again.
My go-to straw right now is the hard plastic clear color short standard width straw. (Again, plastic not glass.) Not only does it adapt to the color of every liquid but it also lets you see inside to know if there's any chunks of gunk inside.
Some of our clear straws have gotten cloudy because we've used him so much. But none of our solid color straws and done that. That tells me, by getting a clear straw, we can determine when it’s time to be replaces. When it gets cloudy and gross, you know it. But you can’t do that with solid color straws.
I'm a person who never bought a blender for healthy smoothies and protein shakes because I'd hate to wash that thing.
Cloudy. I'm happy to report that I've never had one of these problems cleaning reusable straws even when drinking with hot coffee, syrupy sodas, or thick yogurt drinks.
Distorted shape. Rinsing it with warm water under the faucet is good enough for my dad and me. I’m clean! For people with more self-respect, check the package for proper care instructions. Unsanitary drinking straws are a health concern.
Possible chemicals. I admit, I put some of our hard plastic straws into the dishwasher, and they've come out a little bent, probably the hot water in the wash. Who knows what kind of icky chemicals are waiting to be sucked into my dad's stomach now? The temperature was too high for this straw.
Temperature. Temperature-wise, make sure you buy a straw that can be washed in the dishwasher and withstand extra-hot liquid. Safety is part of it.
Brush. Most reusable straw packs come with a cleaning brush, like a long squeegee or pipe cleaner you use to scrub the inside of the straw. I just keep mine in the same place I keep my straws so I always know where it is.
Frequent cleaning. You'll see the little scrubber. You’ll use the little scrubber to remedy stuck-on stuff like dried soda syrups and dried powder drinks. It's really easy for gunk and bacteria to build up from previous drinks especially in metal straws and silicone straws, so you should at least hand rinse with water.
A good basic rule of thumb for cleaning metal straws is to treat them just like forks and knives.
