I'm really sorry, I know I'm posting too much but I'm scared I'll harm myself-!

[Orange Lightning]

I've been having awful symptoms over the last few weeks, and they're progressively becoming worse and worse to the point that I fear for my life right now. It's mostly related to my swallowing. If I eat ANYTHING, from rice to bread to my own saliva, it gets stuck - first at the back of my throat, then halfway down and finally gone, hopefully. When it gets stuck, it makes me faint, short of breath and my body forces me to gasp for air due to the airways being blocked. It happens with every mouthful and every swallow, without fail, and always accompanies very thick mucus. Even alkaline water and my Gaviscon Advance medicine get stuck. Right now I have a thick wad of mucus just below my airways that refused to go down no matter how many times I swallow. When I breath in, I can still feel it hanging above my airway, that's how I know for certain it (and food) is still there.

It's present from the moment I wake to the moment I fall asleep. How anxious I am does not relate to how severe the symptoms are - severity is based on how much gets stuck in my airways. Either way it's horrifying, and has convinced me something has damaged my throat permanently. I have a test for reflux coming up, but I'm worried I won't last that long. I'm being deprived of one of the most basic human actions right now, and I can't stand the possibility of an entire lifetime like this if it is reflux!

And to top it off, I've had even more digestive symptoms I never had for a long time before; indigestion, warm throat feeling, burps stuck in throat too, you name it.

Please, I know I've posted a lot but I need some serious help to get me through the next week until someone can see me. I want it to be stress, but how can it be when it's obviously not?!

[UKmamainUS]

Have you asked a doctor?

[Abbie1]

I used to get something similar and my doctor prescribed omeprazole for acid. I was convinced it was something worse but within days of taking them my symptoms subsided and I was more relaxed

[Orange Lightning]

Have you asked a doctor?

Yep, and seen an ENT, Gastro specialist, A&E, etc. The answer is obvious to me - spasms in the throat caused by reflux - but nobody sees it!

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laryngospasm

I used to get something similar and my doctor prescribed omeprazole for acid. I was convinced it was something worse but within days of taking them my symptoms subsided and I was more relaxed

I've tried 5 different meds like omeprazole in the past. They all made me worse.

[UKmamainUS]

I read your wiki link and am surprised you have diagnosed yourself with this when out doesn't even match the symptoms you described to us. And if that is what you have it says that relaxing and breathing normally should help.

[Linda01818]

The reason it's getting worse is because you're expecting it to. You fear it, therefore it happens.

Now, I don't know if this is related to what you're going through, but I have a weird throat condition called Zenker's Diverticulum. I've had it since I was a kid.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenker%27s_diverticulum

Sometimes things get stuck in my throat. Mostly glutenous things, like rice and bread. I can still breathe normally, I just can't swallow. It's where food gets caught in a 'pouch' that's in my throat and waiting for it to clear usually doesn't work; I have to go get a full glass of water and keep swallowing HARD until I flush it out of there.

I also sometimes have problems with my airway going into spasms and completely closing up to where I can't breathe very well. Breathing out is easier than breathing in. The only thing I can do is try and get through it (which is terrifying, to say the least) until the spasms stop and my airway starts to slowly open back up. But this doesn't normally happen when I'm eating. Just swallowing my saliva the wrong way or if a drink of water goes 'down the wrong pipe' causes it.

Yours sounds a little more severe, though. You said you've seen docs about it, but didn't really say what their diagnosis was. What did the doctors tell you?

[Orange Lightning]

The reason it's getting worse is because you're expecting it to. You fear it, therefore it happens.

Now, I don't know if this is related to what you're going through, but I have a weird throat condition called Zenker's Diverticulum. I've had it since I was a kid.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenker%27s_diverticulum

Sometimes things get stuck in my throat. Mostly glutenous things, like rice and bread. I can still breathe normally, I just can't swallow. It's where food gets caught in a 'pouch' that's in my throat and waiting for it to clear usually doesn't work; I have to go get a full glass of water and keep swallowing HARD until I flush it out of there.

I also sometimes have problems with my airway going into spasms and completely closing up to where I can't breathe very well. Breathing out is easier than breathing in. The only thing I can do is try and get through it (which is terrifying, to say the least) until the spasms stop and my airway starts to slowly open back up. But this doesn't normally happen when I'm eating. Just swallowing my saliva the wrong way or if a drink of water goes 'down the wrong pipe' causes it.

Yours sounds a little more severe, though. You said you've seen docs about it, but didn't really say what their diagnosis was. What did the doctors tell you?

They want to say it's LPR reflux, but none of my tests have confirmed it yet. If it is reflux, it's as severe and uncontrollable as my specialist has ever seen. And that would pretty much spell disaster for me, as my ideal career would mess up my body really bad.