I feel like i cant swallow

[Ericamo1]

The past few days i feel like i choke on everything i eat. I also feel like i have excessive saliva. Has anyone had trouble with this before?

[SxufferingSxoul]

Oh yes alot, anxiety caused me a period of not being able to swallow food at all, and choking sensations. Lets say I chewed something up and want to swallow it but can’t, I just try to calm down and breathe because if I don’t have a throat disease then it’s just anxiety, that is when the reflex works. I took Zoloft and my swallowing came back normal. Just breathe and keep thinking that you can swallow. Difficulty swallowing is a really common yet horrifying symptom of health anxiety or any form of anxiety, it’s like trying to breathe quickly when you ASSUME you are having trouble breathing. So when you realize you can’t swallow it’s mainly because it is not necessary to swallow anything yet but anxiety just tricks you into thinking that you need to swallow and the fact that you can’t is an issue, when in reality you actually don’t need to. Which then leads to you trying to swallow and swallow more for no reason (I’m talking about when you are not eating and you’re trying to swallow saliva) When you don’t chew up food properly, your body won’t order the swallowing reflex so it’s normal to have trouble swallowing. I say keep chewing and crush the food so much with your teeth and cover it in saliva so it can be easier to swallow. Remember, swallowing is an automatic reflex, and anxiety causes muscle tension anywhere, especially in the oesaphagus (muscle responsible for swallowing and moving food to the stomach.)

Best wishes

[Ericamo1 in reply to SxufferingSxoul]

Thanks for the reply. It was a scary feeling and the more i was aware of it and thought about it i couldn't swallow. Its been a little better today although i havent eaten much because i dont want that feeling again.

[TonyFl]

I believe it's very common. I had major issues with this 4 or so years ago. For me the biggest issue was when I was talking to someone and felt the need to swallow (due excessive saliva) and couldn't. Over time the symptom went away, as did the majority of all my panic issues. However at the time it was extremely impactful on my quality of life