My husband was on thickened fluids. The brand name is "Thicken UP!" It's a powder that you add to your liquids, the amount depends on the thickness of fluid you should be on -- nectar, honey or pudding. It thickens quickly and one is supposed to admit to every liquid that goes in the mouth. It is tasteless and colorless. The idea is thickened fluids help prevent aspiration -- think how water splashes all over the place when you spill it, whereas thickened fluids tend to stay together and have less movement. In swallowing, this means less lucid will escape and go into the trachea.

John was prescribed Prevacid to help with the acid reflux and it worked really well for him. You may want to talk to your doctors about that.

The literature advises against using ice and anything that may melt and change the consistency of the liquid. This includes jello, ice cream as well as ice. When you aspirate, do you cough the liquid up? People who have swallowing problems may suffer from silent aspiration (John had it too), which means when he aspirated, he did not react to it and did not know it had happened. So it is important to be cautious.