Choking fear Is taking over, please help

[eightieschild]

I've always had this fear but the last 4 months it has spiralled out of control , I'm stopping myself from swallowing normally and I panic once I've swallowed, i work full time and I'm also hypoglycemic which means I have to eat often, how can I overcome this?

[Carnation]

I had a bout of this due to Anxiety. (One of the many symptoms Anxiety likes to throw at you). I was getting really worried and on many occasions thought I was going to choke to death. Well, I didn't; otherwise I wouldn't be answering your thread. I found by doing a few breathing exercises; breath in through the nose gently counting five and out through the mouth counting 7, really helped. And; and this one is difficult to do. To not panic, don't see it as a choking fit, tell yourself you are just clearing your throat. The Mind will intercept this as not a threat and it will happen less and less until it stops completely. It is very difficult to do this as your natural reaction is 'you are choking', but you have to trick the Mind and say to yourself, "Oh, it's just an Anxiety symptom".

[MyNameIsTerry]

I've had this when I was at my worst. I think its a lot like manual breathing because you feel the need to manage the swallowing process that would normally be automatic.

I also found I had this with food.

I found a useful article about something not many people seem to know about called Sensorimotor OCD in this article http://beyondocd.org/expert-perspectives/articles/when-automatic-bodily-processes-become-conscious-how-to-disengage-from-sens and one the techniques which I think could work for a lot of this is using Mindfulness meditation to focus on the bodily function so that over time your perception changes to view it as a normal thing. It will take time though. I guess that makes it similiar to exposure therapy in some way, just using the Mindfulness method of focus.

Mindfulness will help you with anxiety in general anyway so perhaps its worth a go? Just bringing down your anxiety levels might shift your focus away from this symptom. I remember I found I stopped with certain symptoms or they didn't bother me as much once I started recovering.

[Carnation]

I was just wondering MynameisTerry, have you fully recovered? You certainly have had some really good tips for recovery and you have been really helpful to a lot of people on here. :)

[Izzie2494]

I got this when I was 12 then again at 18/19 it's horrid isn't it, I got counselling for it when I was younger and my counsellor said to do the "15 chews" technique, you chew your food 15 times then swallow, it's chewed enough for you not to choke but so you can get used to the feeling of it going down xx

[MyNameIsTerry]

I was just wondering MynameisTerry, have you fully recovered? You certainly have had some really good tips for recovery and you have been really helpful to a lot of people on here. :)

Thanks Carnation, thats means a lot :hugs:

I'm a work in progress. I've recovered enough in the past to have a more normal life and again enjoyed a very stressful job but I relapsed a few years back as I went too far with my work and it started to bring back the anxiety with a whole load of depression with it. I'm much better now than I was though and I have significantly reduced my GAD, many of my OCD rituals are gone, the intrusive thoughts no longer bother me, etc but I have a tendency towards obsession and getting stuck in ruts and until I retrain these areas, I won't see myself as recovered because I will just push myself back into being anxious again without these changes.

My first time around, I had no clue about anxiety. I was messed around in the system and alone. My second time around, I spent a lot of time reading forums like this, medical websites and I'm very interested in some alternative therapy forms such as the old Mindfulness, Qi Gong, etc. I just thought I would join up for support and to help others in what I have learned. My job also required a lot of researching of obscure information and analysing problems to create solutions and much of what I did was based on understanding client problems, prompting them deeper to find the causes, etc and I find it easy enough to apply in this context. In fact, when I had CBT I found many of the tools similiar to those I used in business. Because I used the internet to research a lot of stuff, often regulation work, if someone raises something on here I will do some searches to get them the information if it helps them as I think we don't get this from our GP's who seem to think they are due our trust regardless of their performance. I often just Google something to learn more so I can post it later if it comes up again, thats the beauty of everyone on here, its a good place to learn, I know I have & still do learn loads.

Besides, helping people is good. When I attended the charity walk-in groups I found helping others helped me. Prior to my anxiety I always far more motivated by helping one old lady struggling with her bills than 10 directors giving hollow thank you's.

[RosieBelle]

Hello :) first I wanna send you {hugs} because I know what you're feeling. My severe anxiety started when I felt I couldn't swallow/was scared of choking 6 years ago and then again for a couple months a year and a half ago. Last night it started up again because I'd had a sore throat and I looked up choking and now I'm panicky again :(. So if you ever need to chat, then I know how you feel xx

[Carnation]

I apologise 'Eighties Child' as I have hijacked your Thread for a moment to talk to 'MynameisTerry'. I just wanted to say that I think you have contributed a great deal to this Site and you never give bad judgment. I actually think this helps you too. I can relate to the problems with obsession and ruts and just wanted to say that you could maybe try something new each day; even if it is a small thing and it may break your pattern without realizing it. And Well Done in achieving what you have so far. You are a great addition to the Site. You come over as a really nice person. :)

[MyNameIsTerry]

Thanks Carnation, that means a lot too :flowers:

Being able to help is good for me, I think it speaks to my deeper attributes that felt little nourishment from the rat race I was in. It may not always feel it, but I think it always helps on a subconscious level.

I will keep shifting things around as you say, thanks for the advice. I started altering some of my routines in the last 2 weeks and I can see how it has made me more positive again. I will start making some small changes each day as you recommend and see where that takes me but I'm sure it will help. Its strange how routine can first help us through the endless days of terrible anxiety levels and later they become a crutch we need to throw away or get stuck in these cycles.