Fear of swallowing saliva? PLEASE HELP!

[JustBenn]

Hello my forum buddies, I hope your all doing fine and all is good, I haven't been on here for a long time as I have been doing really well with my OCD. but lately I suddenly have a fear of swallowing saliva. I have been pretty worried and obsessive about it in the last few days.

This has never been a problem before,

I can swallow normally when eating and drinking, also I can swallow my saliva when I need too BUT -

This is what I fear.

I cant swallow my saliva when I want to, or when I think I cant. for example

If I swallow my saliva now, it sometimes takes 2-6 seconds before I can swallow again. sometimes I can swallow the next saliva straight away and sometimes it takes more time and it feels that I cant swallow even tho I want to but don't need to, if that makes any sense, I have been worried about this.

I have been obsessively testing my swallowing every time after the next swallow, and have been doing this since yesterday but not when I'm not thinking about it. also when just about to swallow I remember the fear and cant swallow the first time but can the 2nd time.

I hope someone who is reading this can shed some info on this, I know im fine but the fear keeps popping up so I need some reassurance that It will get better and i'l be ok again.

Stay well

Many Thank Yooooooouu'sss

[jaxx]

hey , i have this swallowinng/breathingg obsession too.. its very annoying and scary .. makes you feel like your going a bit nutty doesnt it? believe me i understand how annoying and disruptive of your daily life it can be.. i hope it may be of some comfort to you to know that as u read more on this forum that you are not alone and theres tons of us out here like you.
xo

[beauty]

Hi, I can really relate to how you’re feeling, I developed a fear of swallowing which I have learnt to live with now but still crops up every now and then.

For me it was more a fear of choking on food, but did extend to swallowing saliva too. Its one of those things where you think about something a bit too much and then all of a sudden it feels like you can’t do it. So you think about swallowing, which usually just happens without thinking, then suddenly it feels like you can’t swallow properly and it doesn’t come naturally anymore.

I can also relate to the part about swallowing saliva then feeling like you can’t again for a few seconds, almost like your throat needs a few seconds rest before the next swallow…I still haven’t quite worked that one out I think again its related to thinking about the process of swallowing too much so your throat temporarily closes up due to the panic and needs a few seconds to relax enough to swallow again.

You can get better from this, I thought I would never get used to it – it even got to the point where I didn’t want to eat out with friends anymore and I became convinced I would choke and die at any moment which was so scary. But in time I realised that nothing bad had happened to me yet and I hadn’t choked, and it gradually dawned on me that the fear was completely in my head and that nothing would actually happen to me. I came to trust my body again and trust that my reflexes would always be there to help me swallow so I didn’t need to worry about it.

It was a gradual process getting better because my brain had to accept and re-train itself.

When you feel it starting and you’re thinking about it try your hardest to think about something else and distract yourself. If it means leaving the room and going to a new surrounding then try that. If you cant distract yourself from it, try to replace the negative thoughts with positive ones like thinking about relaxing your throat rather than thinking about it closing up. And constantly remind yourself that it’s a natural reflex so nothing bad will happen.

I really hope this helps, I think this is one of those things that wont just disappear overnight but rather you have to learn how is best for you to deal with it and get used to it. Once you have maintained what makes you feel better you should be able to start forgetting about it,

I hope this helped.