trouble swallowing

[Leebr]

Hi everyone, I have been having some strange issues with my throat and Im wondering if its been exaggerated by my worrying about it so much. Its very hard to explain but a week ago I had a couple of occassions where i had trouble swollowing when i was eating an apple and then meat, I had swollowed it but it hadnt gone right down and then I couldnt swallow it, I could still breathe through my nose but couldnt swallow, I manage to have a drink and then that cleared it. Since then my throat feels strange, I feel like |I have to swollow and clear my throat all the time, it feels almost swollen and clogged up deep down with saliva and Im trying to clear it all the time, I dont have a sore throat or a cold or blocked nose and I dont think its allergies as I normally only get itchy eyes etc when i have hayfever and Ive had none of that. Im very fixated on it at the moment as its so anoying and worrying, the glands in my neck dont feel swollen or anything just this constant ned too swollow and feeling like my throats clogged up kind of, very hard to explain, I do get health anxiety so Im wondering if all the worry is causing it, has anybody else had this, thank you

[Kkimm]

Hi Leebr

I have certainly had this problem and it was caused by anxiety. I also started by having an incident in which a piece of food got stuck which was very uncomfortable and frightening when it happened, then weeks later, possibly because this had made me focus on swallowing, I started to have difficulty swallowing in general. There was nothing at all wrong physically but I became really concious of finding it difficult to swallow all the time, as if I had a sort of tight line in my throat. If I was eating out with friends and having a good time I did not notice the problem but most of the time I was concious of it and swallowing was difficult. To cut a long story short I had various tests and was given the all clear and the swallowing problem gradually disappeared once I knew it was caused by anxiety. Now and then I can feel it again but know that it is not a problem and it goes away again. I remember it helped to remind myself that it was just anxiety and that if it never went away , so what? people live with far worse conditions.

It is extremely common for anxiety to cause swallowing problems and if you are able to stop worrying about it it will go away. However that is easier said than done. If there are times when you do not notice the problem such as when eating with friends, that will show you for definite that it is caused by anxiety.

Very best wishes to you and everyone else who suffers anxiety or depression, it can be terribly tough but you do get through it. In my case antidepressants have helped so much I am fully back to normal with just a few niggly symptoms. I do realise that it may not be easy to cope with the difficult early stage of taking them, which is very hard, particularly if you have health anxiety. In my case it was so worth going through all the fear and horrendous symptoms you can get at first because the benefits of the one I took , Velafaxine, were so great. They can be difficult to wean yourself off so some continue to take them permanently. In my case they have not made be feel out of it or zombie like, quite the reverse in fact, I have GAD following a few traumatic events and have been taking them for around 18 months with a few minor side effects.

I wish you well for the future.

Kim

[Leebr in reply to Kkimm]

Hi Kim thank you so much for taking the time to answer my post and help reassure me, yes there is def times when im not so aware of it, its such a strange feeling, its not so much when im eating but more after and in between , it feels like my throat down the bottom is swollen or dried out and yet blocked up like i need to swallow and clear my throat, its not really a lump in my throat but more I guess flemmy but I haven't got a sore throat or cold or anything, but yes def could be an anxiety related thing as Im thinking about it all the time and swallowing all the time so may be making the symptoms feel worse if that makes sense. The Dr had a quick look and def no throat infection or swollen glands, again thank yo for your advice.