hangingbasket
21-12-13, 21:35
My 9 year old daughter has suddenly developed a fear of choking. She says it feels like something is stuck in her throat and that she cant swallow. I took her to the doctor who looked at her throat and said it seemed fine. So I am now looking at a phobia I think.
She got a bone from a fish stuck in her throat about a month ago. It terrified her. She was hysterical. Eventually she got it out but for hours afterwards she was upset saying she was scared it would come back. Everything seemed ok for a couple of weeks and then she got a huge problem with eating.
She went a few days barely eating at all, and now, although she is eating, she is eating a LOT less than she usually does, and taking about an hour to pick at a meal. I made her 2 scrambled eggs for breakfast this morning, she sat for about half an hour and only ate half of it. She is chewing every mouthful for over 5 minutes until it's completely liquid in her mouth.
We are pretty close and she's fairly open with me, so we had a good chat about it earlier, and she told me she doesnt want to eat anything big, or hard or chewy because she's scared it will get stuck. I explained to her how the swallowing reflex works and how her food travels through her body, but the issue remains... she's terrified of choking.
I dont know whether to let it go in the hope that it's just a phase, or seek help for her. I dont want to make it more of an issue than it is, it may pass in a few weeks. But I worry she's not eating enough. She's a very tall 9 year old and I would imagine she needs quite a few calories a day. She's just picking at food and drinking about 4 glasses of water with each meal.
She was having major panics about it... saying her heart is beating too fast and she would go cold (classic panic attack symptoms) but these seem to have gone now, yet the eating issue remains.
This is what I've worried about. This was my main reason for working so hard to get myself better. I was worried it would pass onto my daughters. I think I was too late and I've already given my daughter the dreaded HA!!!
Has anyone experienced anything similar?
Can anyone give me any advice?
(not about myself btw... about how to help my daughter overcome this)
She got a bone from a fish stuck in her throat about a month ago. It terrified her. She was hysterical. Eventually she got it out but for hours afterwards she was upset saying she was scared it would come back. Everything seemed ok for a couple of weeks and then she got a huge problem with eating.
She went a few days barely eating at all, and now, although she is eating, she is eating a LOT less than she usually does, and taking about an hour to pick at a meal. I made her 2 scrambled eggs for breakfast this morning, she sat for about half an hour and only ate half of it. She is chewing every mouthful for over 5 minutes until it's completely liquid in her mouth.
We are pretty close and she's fairly open with me, so we had a good chat about it earlier, and she told me she doesnt want to eat anything big, or hard or chewy because she's scared it will get stuck. I explained to her how the swallowing reflex works and how her food travels through her body, but the issue remains... she's terrified of choking.
I dont know whether to let it go in the hope that it's just a phase, or seek help for her. I dont want to make it more of an issue than it is, it may pass in a few weeks. But I worry she's not eating enough. She's a very tall 9 year old and I would imagine she needs quite a few calories a day. She's just picking at food and drinking about 4 glasses of water with each meal.
She was having major panics about it... saying her heart is beating too fast and she would go cold (classic panic attack symptoms) but these seem to have gone now, yet the eating issue remains.
This is what I've worried about. This was my main reason for working so hard to get myself better. I was worried it would pass onto my daughters. I think I was too late and I've already given my daughter the dreaded HA!!!
Has anyone experienced anything similar?
Can anyone give me any advice?
(not about myself btw... about how to help my daughter overcome this)