Please. My throat keeps closing up. Anxiety or infection??

[LostinThought]

Hello.

Since Monday I have been ill with a nasty bout of tonsillitis. (bacterial). I have been taking penicillin since Thursday and my glands and tonsils have decreased in size. However, since yesterday, I've had a very terrible cough. I have coughing up A LOT of mucus, sometimes choking on it as I had so much.

Aside from this, every 30 seconds or so I get a sudden attacks of tightness in my throat which makes me catch my breath. This often follows with a gagging, desperate sounding cough in attempt to open my airways. Last Night I was in bed when I felt my airways closing, with a slightly wet feeling in my throat. HOWEVER, it is very hard to tell the difference between the two, and they both seem to bring about the other.


My natural instinct straight after these attacks is to take a sharp breath in through my mouth, which seems to worsen it. Vicious circle.

I find if I attempt to talk I last about 5 seconds and then feel my throat close and erupt into a coughing fit. I lost my voice for a few days due to the tonsillitis.

I'm worried that the infection somehow caused me to become asthmatic, or that my throat is so inflamed it's literally closing up on me. I am coughing literally every 5 seconds, and I feel like I am really going to damage my throat and voice by all violent coughing.

I also have a lot of mucus up my nose, possibly causing post-nasal drips.
Any thoughts? This is driving me quite insane. I don't know whether to suppress the urge to cough (which has been impossible) or carry on coughing trying to get all the mucus up.

---------- Post added at 18:18 ---------- Previous post was at 17:49 ----------

I now feel like there is stomach acid in my throat. I keep bringing up acidic liquid.

[MissC]

Hi, im pretty new to all this but I had this, I also get the sensation of throat/tongue swelling, I thought it was through my b12 injections but have just learnt its a symptom of anxiety also...anyway my point...I went for the small camera up my nose and turned out I have post-nasal drip...some days are worse than others but its awful to live with aswell as the anxiety. ...if it is PND youll find alot of things can help it....dont drink drinks that are too hot or too cold...avoid fizzy drinks...avoid spicey foods..and not too much dairy n milk etc...ive recently quit smoking to which has helped it the most as I think the smoke was irritating it more. It semed impossible to stop doing the above things as they are all things ive loved but ive stopped and have really noticed a difference. I also prop myself up with loys of pillows when I go to bed. Also try avoiding the need to cough to clear you throat to as little as possible as it makes it worse. Before anything though id have a chat with the Dr .Sorry for the long reply but hope it can help in some way. X

[Lilharry]

Oh that doesn't sound very nice, you poor thing! I doubt you've suddenly developed asthma, but it sounds like you should go back to the doctor and see if there's anything they can do to help. You may need some ventolin or something to help keep your air ways open. Please don't be frightened of it though, you will be okay, but get yourself off to the doctor so they can help you. And make sure you drink lots of fluid, get lots of rest and stay warm xx

---------- Post added at 16:22 ---------- Previous post was at 16:20 ----------

You could also try steam inhalation with a drop of eucalyptus oil. That will help open your airways and encourage the phlegm to come up so you can dispell it. Make sure you spit out the phlegm when it comes up because you need to get rid of it.