feeling very down about latest fear - choking

Hi all,

I am feeling very down at the moment about my new fear - choking... it all started about 3 weeks ago when I ate a large piece of steak and it seemed to stick in my throat ( in my oesphegus - not windpipe for the record!). I frantically started drinking water and trying to clear my throat and cough. it went away after about 3 hours. I think it may have gone before that but it psychologically felt like it was still there..

Since then I have become obsessed about choking when i eat. Suddenly 90% of my normal foods are off limits. I am living off yoghurt, protein shakes and odd things like cheese cake. I normally eat very well, and now all food is filling me with horror and I cough/grunt/puff my way through anything like a cracker/biscuit. It feels like everything is about to go down my windpipe. i find myself breathing all funny when i eat and taking huge deep breaths between mouthfulls to make sure that i can still breathe.

This reallly is one of the worst anxiety symptoms i have ever had to deal with.. i am now really thin and suffering from headaches/tiredness due to my crap diet....what can i do to stop this..anyone else ever overcome this? or am i destined for a life of baby food and cheesecake?..will i really think about this every day for the rest of my life?

STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT lol sorry to be so bossy .I do the very samething. If you can breathe and talk.. then you can eat.. Stop getting to thin.I did the very samething and then realized if I can breathe and do the things I do .. then Im probably not choking.. Sometimes out of the blue I feel that way ..I hate the feeling but it usually goes away . I found the best thing to do is .. to eat something. I have had close calls with choking before and been lucky.. But im not going to stop eating..Im not fat..as a matter of fact im on the medium side.. but if I started worrying again like you I would have wasted away by now.. Im not fussing at you but stop worrying and go eat.. Michael

Hi,

I don't suffer from this worry, but I think in a sense the root of all anxiety is fear...and I have definitely experienced (and still sometimes experience) an irrational fear. And I definitely empathise with the 'checking' thing. Probably seems like a totally irrelevant point, but I struggle with a fear that I'm going to wet myself, and for a period would always be 'checking' my trousers 'just in case'...much like you check you can still breathe 'just in case' you're choking. I came to the realisation that if I wet myself, trust me, I would know about it! Likewise, if you were really choking, you wouldn't be checking to see if you were actually choking or not.

But anyway, you will not feel like this forever. I promise you. How do I know? I'm not sure, but this kind of thing will not last, even if it feels as though it will.

Keep researching, finding help, doing anything you can to help yourself to reclaim this area of your life. Best wishes.

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Originally Posted by Chrissie21

This reallly is one of the worst anxiety symptoms i have ever had to deal with.. i am now really thin and suffering from headaches/tiredness due to my crap diet....what can i do to stop this..anyone else ever overcome this? or am i destined for a life of baby food and cheesecake?..will i really think about this every day for the rest of my life?

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Ten years ago I got something similar while living in London, when I was living next to a busy road. At the weekends, when I spent time at home, I started to develop coughing fits and it felt like I couldn't breath.

In addition to a fear of choking, I also felt as if I couldn't swallow normally. Eating dry food was a particular problem, and I'd panic if I couldn't swallow. I had to always carry a bottle of water around with me for fear of this happening, because a quick sip of water returned everything to normal.

I went to the doctor, and they suggested post-nasal drip, and gave me a nose spray. This seemed to work. I also started to spend more weekends out of London. Over time the coughing fits stops, and my fear of choking subsided.

In my case I think it was due to the pollution from the busy road, but it was probably made much worse by anxiety.

Hi Chrissie,

I just wanted to share with you what I deal with regarding choking. A few years back I was at a huge conference at a very nice dinner (probably about 1000 people there) and the lady sitting next to me started choking on her dinner, went red in face, couldn't breathe and the waitress did the heimlich and she was fine. But it really affected me and the way I eat. I never eat alone in case I choke and nobody is there to help me. I also started eating only things that I perceived would be easy to swallow, like mashed potatoes etc.

I went for long periods of time not eating meat, things like spaghetti because I thought they would get stuck in my throat. As time went on I began to eat more of the normal things and it got much easier. Last week I went out on a company dinner and actually ate a steak, which for me is a really big deal.

I guess I just wanted to say that with time, it will get better, you just have to do it slowly but surely and keep telling yourself that you will be fine. Most of the time when I eat I do it without thinking these awful choking thoughts but sometimes they just creep back.

Please try and introduce more things into your diet. You have to find a way to get the nutrition your body needs and make yourself stronger. I completely understand how you feel but it will get better. It is a confidence thing and once you have successfully eaten something that you are afraid of, it will all start to come back naturally.

Hang in there and take care of yourself.
Natalie x

Hi, I am having similar kind of problems, lately my mouth has felt dry and there's a lump in my throat like I can't swallow. I think the dry air isn't helping, my parents have the heating on almost constantly and I have dry eyes and lips as well as a dry throat. Breathing deeply in between mouthfulls will most likely make your mouth dry too. Try to gradually eat more solid kind of foods. I am struggling to eat properly dry food like toast and biscuits but try something in between. Take small mouthfuls but try to keep going with the food, drink enough water in between, and try distracting yourself from the fact that you're eating, by watching TV or something similar at the same time, rather than focusing directly on the food. I used to get anxious about the ritual of meals and feel unable to eat, but in a more relaxed setting where I had other things to concentrate on, I could eat alright.