# throat closes up when eating



## rhonalomey (Aug 15, 2005)

Sometimes when I eat even a sandwhich which is not too dry my throat seems to close and I feel as though I am choking on the food. I then drink some liquid doesnt matter what it is I can then swallow easily. Anyone else get this.


----------



## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

You may want to get that checked, especially if you have had any issues with heartburn.I have a bit of a ring from mild damage and it isn't a problem now, but having problems swallowing solid food (especially things like meat) is the symptom they said would mean the ring is causing problems and they would have to do a balloon thing to open it back out. Something like this wouldn't cause a problem swallowing liquids.


----------



## Korga (Sep 8, 2011)

Are you taking any medications?


----------



## rhonalomey (Aug 15, 2005)

I am taking medication (ranitidine) for reflux but this swallowing doesnt happen that often not really with something specific that is dry or hard, like meat, just a random food thing, sometimes with eating something soft like a sandwhich or even soft fruit.I wondered if it is an IBS thing because it is part of the digestive system which of course doesnt function properly, that why I was hoping to hear from someone else who has maybe had the same.


----------



## Ian Haines (Jan 4, 2012)

Hi...Well, to be honest, it sounds like Globus Hystericus, which translates to "hysterical lump" and has nothing, really, to do with hysteria, at all. A portion of the back of the swallow area, right at the top of the foodpipe, becomes LESS FLEXIBLE...NOT LARGER! What we feel when it happens is, in fact, identical to what we would feel if there really had been a blockage or a form of "closing" of the top of the foodpipe/lower throat. The fact that you experience it as more of a rarity, than a regular thing, suggests otherwise, though...it's hard to be sure. But, if it's any comfort to you, I used to experience so much of what you are, I make it a rule, now, that I never eat unless I have a drink right next to me. Claire Weekes (deceased) in her books on anxiety addressed this feeling. She reached into a cupboard and took out a packet of very dry biscuits. The patient was nervous about taking it, but she did, anyway. She took it and Claire Weekes asked her to NOT SWALLOW ANY OF IT...just to keep on chewing it. The patient could not only swallow it, WITHOUT A DRINK, easily, but she actually found it impossible not to swallow parts of it, in the end. The "closing" of the throat...the "lump" in the throat, if it really is Globus Hystericus, is harmless, but is a sure sign that something tense in the mental sense is popping out in your body. It could just as easily have been foot-tapping, nail-biting, finger-rapping or lip biting, or any of dozens of other "overspill" signs. You need to see a Doctor and ask about background stress levels, how to assess the possible levels of your own background stress and how best to deal with them.It's worth looking that up, I'd suggest.Ian.------------------------------------------------------------------------


rhonalomey said:


> I am taking medication (ranitidine) for reflux but this swallowing doesnt happen that often not really with something specific that is dry or hard, like meat, just a random food thing, sometimes with eating something soft like a sandwhich or even soft fruit.I wondered if it is an IBS thing because it is part of the digestive system which of course doesnt function properly, that why I was hoping to hear from someone else who has maybe had the same.


----------

