swallowing

[beauty]

This may sound really silly but as well as panic attacks I tend to focus too much on swallowing, even if I’m not eating or drinking at the time its more the reflex. It scares me because when I think about swallowing I sort of cant, I get stuck in the reflex as in like being unable to swallow and it makes me panic. Its worse if I think about it when I’m eating as if I do get stuck in the reflex the food kind of stays there for a few seconds and I’m scared I will choke! Also it seems to be getting worse the more I think about it and I get stuck like half-swallowing for longer each time. My body always comes round though and I am able to swallow, but I’m worried that eventually I wont be able to at all! I don’t think there’s anything wrong with me physically, but I just wondered has anyone else had a similar experience?

[SammiB]

Beauty i have this all the time. as soon as you think about swallowing you automatically think that you have to do it, so when you try you can't.

i get very paranoid about swallowing when i'm eating cause if i panic i think i'm going to choke but everytim you think that, just distract yourself or have a glass of water because when you drink you automatically swallow

hope you feel better with it soon

[Blackstar]

Hi Beauty,

I too have this problem all the time. Sometimes it's because I'm worrying about swallowing, and sometimes it just happens out of the blue and the reflex won't come. It isn't nice, but as Sammi says thereflex does come back soon enough and you can swallow again.

I don't have much advice to offer because I haven't quite conquered the problem myself (!), but I'm sure that if you can try to relax and distract yourself a little, you'll come through this.

*hugs*

Anna. x

[beauty]

Thanks guys!
Yeah i suppose the only way to overcome it is to relax and forget about it, its a relief to know I'm not alone though! It's one of those things that even if people you work with or your friends got it you probably woudnt know they did, so u end up feeling totally alone like you're the only person ever to get it lol x

[Angelcake]

Hi beauty,
I get this all the time too!! Its one of the first signs that my anxiety is high. I get it waiting in que's in shops which is triple horrible!! I try and keep a bottle of water with me most of the time. I almost developed a phobia of eating in public because of this - I hope that you try and learn to forget this annoying anxiety symptom - let it go!!! (easy obviously!!)

take care

[AngieJ]

Hi Beauty,
I get this sometimes too, usually when I'm in a situation that is already making me anxious.
Like Angelcake I try to keep a bottle of water in my bag when I go out which 9 times out of 10 solves the problem.

[alexis]

Hi, I had this symtom at the height of my problems, it seems to have gone now, but I spent weeks of continuosly drinking water, just to prove I could swallow, and like a lot of my other symptoms it just went without me really noticing, hope it can with you too.xxx

[beauty]

Thanks! Yeah i try to keep water with me all the time too, and yeah it does help. I should be fine, im still eating anyway which is good but just need to try not to think about it while im eating or i cant cos i panic too much! xxx