Taking over my life

[rudiskacel]

I have been having a CONSTANT swallowing problem now for over a month now. It really is taking over my life and I'm not the person I used to be.
I will describe to you my issue. I swallow and it feels like the back of my tongue doesn't want to push what's in my mouth down. Sometimes I go to swallow and nothing goes down. The swallow action seems to stop midway through. I can swallow water and food fine, but it's when there's nothing in my mouth that I have the issue.
I keep telling myself it's anxiety but I have to fight to keep of ALS forums as I am so worried about it.

Is this anxiety? Why would it come on like this and what can I do to fix it.

I'm only 19 and I don't want to waste my life worrying about this swallowing problem. I need it gone before I do something silly :weep:

[Dedre88]

I think when you focus on any bodily function to an extent it stops being autonomous and you start thinking about it which can cause the feeling of 'something's not right'.

To me, the fact that you can swallow food and water suggests there's no actual problem. Otherwise you would be struggling to swallow food and water too right? Plus it's not natural for us to swallow when there's nothing in our mouths. Sure we swallow when we are not eating or drinking but usually there's a lot of saliva to help lubricate things. I suspect your focusing on this too much and swallowing with a dry mouth / throat which is making the situation worse.

I would go see your GP, if only for comfort, and try to avoid unnecessary swallowing. Maybe drinking more water would help too?

[.Poppy.]

It's caused by anxiety and being overly conscious - which is supported by the fact that you don't have a problem when eating/drinking (which makes sense because swallowing is an automatic action).

I get the same thing when I go to the dentist's office - whenever they are working in my mouth I get very conscious of my swallowing and then panic because I feel like I can't swallow when I need to. In reality, you're not supposed to notice you swallow, you just do, so when you start to freak out about it it just gets worse.

Do whatever you can to ignore it. If that means you keep a bottle of water with you and take a drink when you feel nervous, do so -- just be sure to phase it out! Or take a walk, watch a movie, hang out with friends, etc. to keep your mind off of it. It will pass :)

[Toby2000]

Hello!

It sounds like it's caused by anxiety.

I bet it will go when you stop worrying about it.

POSITIVE THOUGHTS!!

Toby :hugs:

[rudiskacel]

How do I overcome this? Even when I watch a film or play the Playstation it's still there. I can still fell it.

[.Poppy.]

Keep in mind that it will be, at least for awhile. Even if you're not consciously thinking about it, it's embedded into your subconscious.

That's kind of the trap of HA - you think, "well, I'm not thinking about it and the problem is still there - so it must be a real, dangerous symptom!" when in reality when you dedicate that much time and energy to a thought it's hard to get rid of.

You'll just have to keep at the distractions. Maybe when you start out, you'll have to try something even more engaging than a movie or a game - you may have to seek out friends/family to talk to. Sometimes when you get involved in a conversation, it's hard to keep up with the subconscious.

What has helped me in the past is the mindset that I'm just not going to give power to the thought. It may help you to "prove" to yourself that nothing is wrong - logically, if you had a swallowing disorder so severe that you couldn't swallow saliva, you wouldn't be able to swallow water. But you can! So if you're finding yourself thinking that something is seriously wrong, take a sip of water, prove that nothing is wrong, and that you are stronger than this, because of course you are.