Choking Health Anxiety

[gtaz]

I have been suffering from Health Anxiety off and on for a while now with various symptoms. I was starting to feel better and but now it has caused one of the worst anxieties and that is to eat.

The other day I was eating and accidentally inhaled a small bit of a chip. I coughed up and had to cough quite hard and it sent me into a panic. I went to A&E because I was convinced something got stuck in my windpipe. I was discharged and told nothing wrong. Next day I was ok but on Sunday I started to panic when eating I was going to choke.

Since then I can barely eat. My throat feels so tight causing me pains and I am conscious of every single swallow of food. All I can think of every time I eat is that my swallow will fail and food will go down the wrong hole. I strugglee through a can of beans. I am so frustrated I dont want to have this issue! I just cant shake the fear of swallowing and the extreme tightness in my throat..

Has anyone had this before? How can I beat this, I am so hungry :(

[lindadiana]

hello,your not alone,this is a common fear,i myself barely eat anything,so much so that my stomach can no longer hold much food without it starting to hurt i cant eat anything without drinking tea with it,im hungry right now and i struggle with most foods,ive had this from childhood and im 58 now,sometimes if i do somthing else while eating,like read or watch somthing i like it helps,if you just sit looking at the food concentrating on (what if i choke) it will make you feel panicky,ive read that others on here have got better from this fear,myself i have not.but logically swallowing is a natural thing we all do and have done since forever,but i know its hard and it is a horrible fear to have,i hope you can find some peace and a way from your negative thoughts,because like you i choked on a large mint imperial when i was around 9 years old,ive never got over the fear,i never got any help and there was nothing like nomorepanic in those days,but it does get worse for me at certain times,i never eat in front of anyone, this provokes my fear as there are people talking and noises etc,but dont give up,im sure you will find your way to get over ,try not to worry about it,all the best lynn

[Clydesdale Epona]

I myself struggle with this and have since I was about 8(I choked on some chocolate cereal if I remember correctly) I haven't 100% got over it as I've only just stated to get help buy it can really suck, I get terrified of eating mulligatawny soup even though its only tiny rice pieces.
I've been supplementing with things to keep my weight and vitamins up and I eat low risk foods like readybrek and things like tinned spaghetti and soup x

[gtaz]

Thanks for the replies, I am 30 years old and love my food so it hurts so bad to have this.

It is supporting to know I am not alone. I keep thinking I am going to starve but I forget about alternative ways to get my calories so will supplement for now. I ate some pasta today to try force myself past it but was a struggle.

[Clydesdale Epona]

Pasta, porridge, soup, and rice is good for now,
i drink protein or weetabix shakes and sprinkle some flaxseeds on my morning readybrek to punch the calories and vitamins in, if you're in need of fueling up i usually make a smoothie consisting of banana, peanut butter and sometimes oats x

[gtaz]

Thanks. I tried a bit of pasta today but struggled with it. Can you even choke to death on chewed pasta...

I have been eating soup, quavers because they melt, had mash with sauce today. I am so hungry though so will try to top up with the drinks.

[Clydesdale Epona]

If you eat it one at a time and chew it well then you should have absolutely no chance of choking on it, it can be hard but it's just anxiety telling you otherwise x

[gtaz]

Thank you Aiden, will keep trying day at a time

[gtaz]

Had a rough start to the day and struggled with a lumpy soup had to switch to pure tomato but I calmed down and managed to work through a few biscuits and feeling a bit more positive. :)

[gtaz]

Sorry to keep bumping up but just ate dinner. Had scrambled egg and beans. I ate very slowly but finished most of it. Feeling positive still :)

[Clydesdale Epona]

Sorry to keep bumping up but just ate dinner. Had scrambled egg and beans. I ate very slowly but finished most of it. Feeling positive still :)

Always glad to hear positivity :) i'm proud you're making progress x

[bingjam]

I haven't read all the replies so I'm just going to reply to your first post
When my anxiety is reaallllyyy bad I literally can not eat. Anything that needa chewing before I swallow I just can't do it, I've go days without eating sometimes because everytime I tried to chew and swallow it waslike my throat was closing up and i physically couldn't swallow no matter how many times I tried.and this all started from eating a bag of chocolate buttons and having a huge coughing fit from having a teeeny tiny bit of chocolate stuck in my throat.

Any way what I findI can eat when I have trouble swallowing is mash potato, as creamy as you can get it without any lumps, jelly, icecream, belnd fruit into a smoothie, yoghurt,
Meat is a no no, even when I'm fine swallowing I still struggle withmeat... especially pork..

Hope it eases up for you.but I promise it's all anxiety.

If you look at my previous posts I dida similar post last year

[gtaz]

Struggling today :(

I had porridge for breakfast but required me to eat with water for fear I would choke.

I tried a packet of Quavers today and cant even eat one too scared to swallow.. looks like I am back to soup for lunch, feel so down today

[Clydesdale Epona]

Struggling today :(

I had porridge for breakfast but required me to eat with water for fear I would choke.

I tried a packet of Quavers today and cant even eat one too scared to swallow.. looks like I am back to soup for lunch, feel so down today

We all have down days even I do, I only had soup for lunch couldn't even face much else but getting my protein shake in later to try and bulk me up, anything like quavers, Cheetos, skips, all dissolve so if you chew them one at a time and reassure yourself you'll be okay then it will work out, as far as porridge how do you make yours? I get readybrek which is much smoother pats and I make mine with water because then I can control how thick it is x