Obsessive swallowing

[elma34]

Just wondering very curiously if some of you have had some of the following issues in your life before or onset of your excess swallowing&excess saliva problems; strep throat, sinusitis, deviated septum, acid reflux or thin/weak neck?

I suffered from a bad long lasting strep throat with URTI, coughing fits and pharyngitis just before I started to be aware of my swallowing for the first time. At the moment I've got mild chronic sinusitis, deviated septum, thin weak neck, and suspect of acid reflux. I heard acid reflux, strep throat or sinusitis might trigger the excessive swallowing and or saliva. I'll see a doctor to have some tests done in the hope of ruling out the triggering or complication factors.

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[johnny boy]

Just wondering very curiously if some of you have had some of the following issues in your life before or onset of your excess swallowing&excess saliva problems; strep throat, sinusitis, deviated septum, acid reflux or thin/weak neck?

I suffered from a bad long lasting strep throat with URTI, coughing fits and pharyngitis just before I started to be aware of my swallowing for the first time. At the moment I've got mild chronic sinusitis, deviated septum, thin weak neck, and suspect of acid reflux. I heard acid reflux, strep throat or sinusitis might trigger the excessive swallowing and or saliva. I'll see a doctor to have some tests done in the hope of ruling out the triggering or complication factors.

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yes i have had strep throats before and had whooping cough when i was little. so my doctor thinks that the whooping cough could have some affect of why im frightend of chocking, from when i was a kid maybe i was scared of chocking.

[AbbaDionysius]

Ahh...could be an association of the fear of choking from past medical issues, yes indeedies.

One way to possibly find out is to keep a journal...every time you have an urge to anxiously swallow, note it down, the intensity (maybe 1 to 5, 5 being the worst) and what thoughts/feelings/associations went along with it. In about a week, notice if there are any patterns. One place to start with, anyhow. And, will give ya something to do by way of channeling the anxiety into something constructive.

[PixieL]

I do this to. i dont like eating anything but soft foods like rice and pasta and even those i mash up. i spit into tissues alot to and i sometimes dont like going to sleep as im afraid ill stop breathing in my sleep. i also worry i might swallow my tounge. i do agree with Michael R, when i dont think about it it dosnt bother me, its very hard not to think about it tho, maybe you could try taking your mind off it by doing something you enjoy, I.E: reading, drawing, playing video games, watching tv, playing music ect. hope everyone is ok and trying to stay positive although its very hard there is always light at the end of the tunnel xxxx

[KittyLittle]

Hello

Gosh this swallowing thing is soooooooo horrible. Firstly YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY ONE!! NO NO NO NO NO YOU ARE NOT!

From this forum it is gradually becoming clear to me that many many people with anxiety suffer from swallowing/throat/choking/neck tightness/tongue basically throat and chest related things that are ONLY a symptom of the anxiety. i say only but I am not playing them down.

I know its hard but try to think about it like this. If it doesn't bother you when you are asleep then it must happen automatically while your asleep, I know its hard by why not (even for just a few minutes) try trusting your body to do it automatically when your awake? Just a suggestion.

Also how old are you now? Probably an adult or well on your way to adulthood, if so then your body whether you have been thinking about it or not has coped perfectly well with breathing and swallowing up till now so it is more than capable or doing these things.

Do you have any old video tape of yourself before the swallowing/throat/whatever thing started? Now this may be a bid wierd but if you do have yourself on tape try watching it and watch to see if you can see yourself on video swallowing, breathing etc, without thinking about it, if you can then this proves that you can do it without thinking about it.

Also if you can stop yourself being scared of the thoughts that come with these symptoms and say something like 'ok its just my mind trying to test me but I am not interested or bothered about the tests it wants to do' then this may help. Try talking to your therapist or reading on how to help stop yourself from being scared by thoughts and feelings.

I think many of these symptoms are made worse or even caused by muscle tension, to prove my theory try tighting your muscles in your mouth/throat, this make its worse doesn't it (sorry) but surely it makes sense that if you relax these muscles it could (and I am pretty sure it will) make it feel better.

It's even better if you can relax these muscles without having to think about relaxing them. Now, I tried taking Valarina tablets the other day and found that while I was waiting for it to help my mind relaxed I actually found that my throat and chest was far more relaxed - and would you believe it when I ready that Valarian (which is in Valerina) is actually a very effective muscle relaxant!

Sorry for the long post but hope this helps.

[slondon]

this is an awful fear and sensation.
i have had an obsession for over 7 years. i have to check i can swallow all the time. my throat then tends to get so dry and this in turn makes me feel worse.
a very difficult problem to explain to people and thereaction makes me feel worse as i then get so anxious when they ask questions that i really cannot swallow and my mouth goes dry too.
because i check contantly i cannot travel as i am scared that when i do i wont be able to swallow. need to be near a hospital!!!!!!!!
sad but true x

[dannic1]

Hi all,

I'm a "newbie" to this forum, but have been posting on another health board about the obsessive swallowing problem. I ran into a couple of people on there that also had the same problem, as well as another person through another website. It was a relief, in a way, to know that there are other people out there like myself. Perhaps a better word is "comforting" to know that other people go through this. I sympathize so much with everyone, let me first say. I think I've suffered from various symptoms of OCD my entire life and didn't know it. They have come and gone throughout the years - I guess waxed and waned, you would say. In addition to focusing on my swallowing, I have also focused on my blinking, heartbeat and breathing in the past. I've also had some of the classic checking, counting, re-reading and other symptoms, just to name a few. My first bout with the swallowing problem was while in high school, quite some number of years ago. As crazy as this may sound, I remember the very moment that it first started. I was watching a soap opera and one of the soap characters was lying in a hospital bed. I noticed him swallowing a lot and then I started focusing on my own swallowing. I was also taking Driver's Ed. during the summer and I had a big crush on the instructor. I remember being bothered about being in a quiet, enclosed car with several guys. What if they heard me swallow? My mother had also just gotten re-married and we were moving to a new state. I think that the stress and anxiety of my life situation at the time started it all. The swallowing episode probably lasted through high school and then I simply remember it going away after I graduated. I didn't do anything - it simply disappeared as quickly as it had come on. I do remember telling my mom that I felt like I always had a lot of extra saliva in my mouth. This could be due to acid reflux as well, because now that I'm older and take my medication, the saliva problem has gotten much better for me. Anyway, she took me to the dr. and, of course, he found nothing wrong with me. I've heard the same complaint about extra saliva from others with the anxiety/swallowing problem. My guess is that we're either too focused on it or we're not swallowing normally like we used to or maybe anxiety really does cause us to produce more saliva. Who knows? The swallowing problem/excessive saliva problem stayed away for several years, even though I did have other symptoms (less annoying ones) come and go. Back in around March of 2006, the swallowing problem slowly started rearing its ugly head again under extreme anxiety. I was having relationship problems at home and had met someone who I really liked on the internet. I started thinking about the "old problem" and before you knew it, I had made it manifest in my life again. My first therapist did not believe that I had OCD, but merely "anxiety manifesting itself into physical symptoms". I did biofeedback, group therapy and individual therapy, all the while draining my bank accts. and not feeling all that much better. I tried another therapist who did more biofeedback and eventually nothing but "talk therapy". I liked her and the anxiety was subsiding by then, but not the obsessive swallowing problem. Problem is, I can hide the problem and make it go away when I chew gum, oddly enough. I somehow relax and don't do the swallowing thing. In fact, I barely even chew the gum. It's just like a "security blanket" in my mouth, as odd as that may sound. I don't think the therapist realized how much I was suffering, because I could control it in front of her. Anyway, I switched to an OCD specialist and he, himself, started swallowing furiously while I was in therapy with him. He said that "his mouth was filling up with saliva" - great! $180 an hr. and he's possibly OCD himself! I finally am in therapy with someone whom I really like and who specializes in OCD. We are working on my "little" issues first through exposure and response behavior therapy and I would rather imagine that eventually we will tackle the swallowing issues. Again, I can control the swallowing with gum in my mouth. I guess that's a real Godsend for me, though. I can go out in public and not worry about if I'm swallowing too much. This problem has given me some social anxiety and I used to be so NORMAL and love to do things and be around people. If I ever did feel the swallowing problem come on, I would "snap out of it" and it would go away, as quickly as it came on, when I removed myself from the stressful situation. Anyway, I think I'm making small improvements, but I'm not 100% yet. If you do pre-occupy your mind with something else, the swallowing problem WILL and DOES GO AWAY. I truly believe that good nutrition and exercise are also vital to our recovery, along with faith in God as our ultimate Healer. Relaxation is also key to beating this disorder and stress reduction. I believe that behavior therapy also is necessary, to help us realize our irrational thoughts and to expose us to the very things that make us anxious and bring this condition on. I'm learning to also increase my serotonin through diet alone. Sorry the post is so long, but thanks for letting me share my story. You are not alone. Keep the faith. P.S.) Has anyone tried medication for the swallowing obsession or hypnosis?

[onemore]

Hi everybody. Only now I know i'm not alone into this horrible problem, I have been suffering this swallowing obsession for 6 months now. Now my throat is so irritated and it hurts sometimes. It started so suddenly, but since that moment I could never stop thinking of it, I swallow all the time, with or without saliva. Sometimes I think what if I can never get rid of this, o God, i'm desperate!

[SuperInfinity]

I've got the swallowing obsession as well, I hate it so much.

The worst thing is that sometimes it seems like it could move on to breathing, blinking etc. THAT'S what I'm afraid most of. OCD is a horrible, horrible, wretched thing.

You know the hypnotherapist I went to sounded like he hardly believed me. He was just so nonchalent about the whole thing. He talked to me like it was something stupid, like something I was just making up.

And in a way I was GLAD he was like that, cause what I was afraid of was that he was going to get all panicky as WELL. I stopped going to him before it could have any real effect though, just cause I didn't like his attitude and how he spoke a little sharply to me.

[onemore]

The worst thing is that i can't tell anyone, I can't talk to my friends and not even my family, because i'm afrid they'll react on this negatively, I mean they could get obsessed as well! But i'm feeling much metter since last night when i found this website and I found that there are ppl with this problem, because i thought I'm the only one. I wish I could meet or chat with someone with this problem, and talk about it withought the fear that i could implant this horror thing to them!