feel like there was a sharp foreign object in my food? :/

[eastofeden]

okay I know this is stupid but I have a major fear of accidentally ingesting sharp or dangerous things hidden in food. I seem to have bad luck with food and this phobia was triggered by finding shards of glass in a drink at a restaurant a few months ago.

so today I prepared nachos (lol) and I was being really careful and making sure nothing got in them. I tipped the bag out and poured the sauce over and I was eating them with my friends, I chewed and felt something very hard and around the size of my pinky nail, like something non food-like, that shouldn't be in there, at the back of my teeth. there was nothing in those tortilla chips or the sauce that was that hard or solid. the chips were normal and the sauce was just regular salsa with no hard bits. I have no idea what it was or how it got in there. it wasnt a hard bit of chip. it was super hard and couldn't be chewed.

so I quickly excused myself and spat the mouthful of food out in the trash, then went back to my friends. needless to say I didn't eat anything after that. but I'm still really worried I might have accidentally swallowed whatever the hell that thing was, as it was kind of stuck to my back teeth and I didn't brush my teeth or feel for it afterwards, which I should have. I didn't check because I was too busy trying to remain calm and seem normal in front of my guests. I'm worried because I don't know if that thing was a piece of food, a piece of plastic, or something more dangerous or sharp.

I really don't know what to do and I don't want to go to A&E because I've been up so many times over things like this before and all they can do is give me an x ray which a lot of the time doesn't even show small ingested foreign bodies.

so yeah my irrational mind is in complete overdrive and I'm just lying here thinking whatever the hell that thing was is going to pierce my internal organs and I'm going to die.

I'm really struggling with this phobia and need some reassurance :/

I really feel like this is it.

[Frenchy]

I have a mental challenge for you to take.

I would like you to accept this challenge. I promise, I wouldn't ask you to do this if I really thought it was dangerous. I really don't believe it is.

I would like you to view this situation as "exposure therapy" and to actually do nothing - and just see what happens for 24 hours. Don't call the Dr yet - don't go to A&E. Just wait this one out. At the end of the day - you know you have a contamination phobia. When you say this wasn't a hard bit of nacho, I don't believe you can know that for sure. That is just your phobia and your anxiety dictating to you what something was/wasn't. But your anxiety can't know that for sure. It can't. I'm pretty sure almost every one of us has at one time or another popped a corn snack in our mouths and bitten down on a hard bit. It happens often to me. Corn snacks... just like you will find in a tub of cinema popcorn - occasionally will have a rock hard bit of corn in it that hasn't be processed/baked/fried properly and makes us nearly lose a filling.

In any case, our bodies are designed - over thousands and thousands of years - to be exceptionally good at moving objects, even non-organic objects - completely harmlessly through and out the other side, with no problems. Even if you did swallow something hard... it will simply move through you and out the other end.

If after 24 hours, there is nothing untoward then you have to accept this as a part of your therapy - reward yourself for not going in to a complete panic and going to A&E and start trying to build up from there. You must get on top of this phobia somehow with therapy and challenges like this for yourself.

---------- Post added at 12:40 ---------- Previous post was at 12:31 ----------

Also - as part of your exposure therapy - I would like you to make a point to eat Nacho's again next week. Do not let your phobia or anxiety win by telling you that you shouldn't eat something you obviously do enjoy again.

Hope you take this challenge. Good luck and report back :)

[countrygirl]

Brilliant advice from frenchy. Remember that loads of people swallow bits of teeth filling and bits of broken teeth that have sharp edges and suffer no ill effects they just pass through and are expelled. The bowel is covered in mucus that protect it from sharp seeds/nuts etc.

[Fishmanpa]

In any case, our bodies are designed - over thousands and thousands of years - to be exceptionally good at moving objects, even non-organic objects - completely harmlessly through and out the other side, with no problems. Even if you did swallow something hard... it will simply move through you and out the other end.

Great post and challenge Frenchy! Just to affirm the above statement.... In the animal kingdom, this is very prevalent and we're animals after all :) I recall a friend's cat that had a unusual liking for Christmas Tree tinsel and small ornaments. The long silver strands that would follow him around after using the litter box as well as the odd shaped poo is proof of the above!

Positive thoughts

[eastofeden]

Thanks guys, and thanks Frenchy. It's been about 20 hours since the event, and so far nothing has happened. I'm really hoping nothing happens. And you're right, I'm thinking of the number of people who must have inadvertently swallowed something that they shouldn't have, maybe without even knowing it, and have lived. I guess everyone has done it at least once before.But I'm guessing my stomach has already digested whatever it was. That's if I indeed swallowed it. There are so many if's here. Which is a good thing.

I just don't know how something could have got in there within the space of me preparing them and then sitting down to eat, because I'm pretty careful. Maybe it really was just a piece of food? I'm really hoping so. Thanks for your advice. I'll just have to wait this one out.

[Frenchy]

Thanks guys, and thanks Frenchy. It's been about 20 hours since the event, and so far nothing has happened. I'm really hoping nothing happens. And you're right, I'm thinking of the number of people who must have inadvertently swallowed something that they shouldn't have, maybe without even knowing it, and have lived. I guess everyone has done it at least once before.But I'm guessing my stomach has already digested whatever it was. That's if I indeed swallowed it. There are so many if's here. Which is a good thing.

I just don't know how something could have got in there within the space of me preparing them and then sitting down to eat, because I'm pretty careful. Maybe it really was just a piece of food? I'm really hoping so. Thanks for your advice. I'll just have to wait this one out.

Well done. Have a nice relaxing evening tonight. When you get up tomorrow feeling fine, think about this - congratulate yourself for making it through the anxiety and treat yourself to something you enjoy as a bit of a "well done me". Think to yourself "Yes, I think I might have eaten something hard - and I'm not sure what it was, but hey it didn't hurt me at all". In your mind, you need to associate this situation (and situations like it that may happen in future) with this positive outcome, and a positive feeling. And put nachos on the menu for next week.