excessive swallowing

[lin]

does any1 have excessive swallowing i've been told its down to anxiety and it wouldn't do me any1 harm but i'm not convinced don't know why.It annoys me because i would b ok if i could get rid of it i hope i haven't got this for good. I hope some1 has had this problem.

lin

[seh1980]

hello Lin,

I used to have this problem of excessive swallowing quite often. It just disappeared after a while and I had completely forgotten about it till I just read your post!! I'm sure it will go away with you as well so try not to worry too much..

Sarah :D

[jill]

Hi Lin,

My daughter suffered anxiety from the age of 3, she is now 11 and doing very well. Her axcessive swallowing was always at night, it sounded like she was drinking water in her sleep.
It WILL NOT last forever, in time it will go.
I know its hard Lin but try not to worry, the more you worry about a symptom the longer it last. I suffered PA anxiety back in June last year, this symptom was one of many. Since finding this site in August I am now 98% better most days 100%.
It WILL go.

TAKE CARE JILLXXX

[Kez]

Hi

I had your symptoms last year, particularly excessive swallowing, excessive salivation and a lump in my throat. It was totally anxiety related and cleared up when my mood improved. It's just a matter of trying not to think about it too much, and you'll find that gradually each day your symptoms will improve.

hugs

kez

[Jacquie Brimson]

I also have excessive swallowing and have had this for about five years. The saliva would continue to build up in my mouth and so I make continuous small swallowing actions which are undetected by others. By the end of the day my mouth is sore and my jaw tense which prevents me from having good quality of life and also means I am never able to relax. I wake from it in the morning and it continuous until the night when I go to bed no matter what I am doing, except when I am talking or eating food. Doctors and even psychiatrists are unable to establish the cause and can only suggest it could be stress related. My mother has something called 'burning mouth syndrome' which is not dissimilar except that her mouth is dry and has tried antidepressants but nothing helps her either. I would welcome any advice anybody can give.

[barb mrozek]

I'm replying about the excessive swallowing problem. I googled my problem (which I've had before) and as easily as it came, it disappeared, but it reappears. I am a high-anxiety person and a hypochondriac at that. I never related the swallowing problem to anxiety, but it makes sense. It does go away. Sometimes a few days. Thanks for being there as I don't feel so all alone. I always say who else would have this problem but me, but thanks to websites like this, I feel so much better. The symptoms are exactly like the other posters described. So annoying, but no stomach ache or anything related. Thanks again for being there as I panic out again! Barb

[barb mrozek]

<b id="quote">quote:</b id="quote"><table border="0" id="quote"><tr id="quote"><td class="quote" id="quote">does any1 have excessive swallowing i've been told its down to anxiety and it wouldn't do me any1 harm but i'm not convinced don't know why.It annoys me because i would b ok if i could get rid of it i hope i haven't got this for good. I hope some1 has had this problem.

lin

<div align="right">Originally posted by lin - 08 April 2005 : 14:28:50</div id="right">
</td id="quote"></tr id="quote"></table id="quote">

[barb mrozek]

<b id="quote">quote:</b id="quote"><table border="0" id="quote"><tr id="quote"><td class="quote" id="quote">I also have excessive swallowing and have had this for about five years. The saliva would continue to build up in my mouth and so I make continuous small swallowing actions which are undetected by others. By the end of the day my mouth is sore and my jaw tense which prevents me from having good quality of life and also means I am never able to relax. I wake from it in the morning and it continuous until the night when I go to bed no matter what I am doing, except when I am talking or eating food. Doctors and even psychiatrists are unable to establish the cause and can only suggest it could be stress related. My mother has something called 'burning mouth syndrome' which is not dissimilar except that her mouth is dry and has tried antidepressants but nothing helps her either. I would welcome any advice anybody can give.

<div align="right">Originally posted by Jacquie Brimson - 23 June 2006 : 21:22:45</div id="right"> Hi Jacquie - I had the excessive swallowing problem and I just came back from my ENT who said I have allergies. He said No it was not cancer, he can SEE the mucus. So I got some allergy pills and nose spray and I'm gonna give it a chance. He said everyone asks if they have cancer. I'll keep you posted as to the allergy diagnosis and see if he is correct. I don't trust doctors. But you have to keep going till you find someone who can help you and you like and trust. I have so much anxiety, I thought it may have come from that. My advice is to keep trying. Barb
</td id="quote"></tr id="quote"></table id="quote">

[laudatod]

I have also had this problem with excessive swallowing. It started in college about 10 years ago and comes and goes. I haven't had it for awhile until just recently. It seems like it always starts in the Fall, around September. Anyways, it just feels really good to have someone to talk to about it because I haven't told anyone, friends not even family. Everything in this post is exactly what I feel. It seems almost like I can't control this and I get really exhausted mentally trying to control my thoughts. Maybe it has to do my job which is not very challenging. I don't know, I just get really worried. Does anyone have any suggestions or help.

Thank you so much,
Dominik

[kingjamesuk]

I had this problem severely when I was 19. It was the beginning of my spiral into the anxiety state - constant anxiety. It lasted for months but seemed to develop from my fear of swallowing my tongue (which is still with me 18 years later, though much milder). I craved constant food or liquids, and oral satisfaction - chewing, sucking licking etc (not sexual by the way, I mean sweets, pens, ice cream etc). I have counseling now and most of the health care professionals I met put this throat/tongue/swallowing obsession down to a form of anxiety.
It could be down to a psychodynamic problem - oral phase of childhood, where we were not satisfied orally, leading to smoking, heavy alcohol, biting nails, sucking thumb, obsessions around the mouth/throat/neck/tongue etc in adult life.
It could be related to control - the fear of relaxing and 'letting go' or accepting, in case something terrible happens - so we keep swallowing to keep away the 'danger', a bit like self harming and other controlling issues, almost like a metaphor of our demonstration to try and control something. There is also a lot of 'guilt' associated with people suffering these kinds of obsessive/panic symptoms. Inferiority as well.

Try to work out if they happen more often at certain times - what is different then? My fears of swallowing my tongue get worse in public - especially when I am in full view of other people, like in front of a staff group. Strangers make me feel even worse! I start to wonder what they are thinking of me, adding to the fear.

I really DO believe that lack of stimulation is a key player in making your situation worse. A dull job for instance does nothing for your self esteem and allows you to think about swallowing all day long. Once I became more stimulated in life generally, my symptoms eased off - which is great! However, any return to mundane activity will increase the anxiety again.

Did you grow up in a tense house hold? Did you feel safe and ACKNOWLEDGED? Any traumatic experiences? Any addictions at the moment? What about any sign of OCD symptoms?

The good news is that it is possible to get rid of this nightmare. Counseling is a good start but ultimately there will need to be a change in lifestyle. Stimulation and achievements are key to less anxiety. Learn to accept who you are (can be very difficult but easier to achieve with counseling) and become more genuine. Incongruant (false, not genuine) behaviour causes a lot of anxiety and is unfortunately common in a modern world, however it costs us a lot of physical and mental energy. I found that I felt a relief from anxiety once I learned to be more ME - not what I had been brought up to be. I wanted to be recognized, heard, acknowledged, loved, able to follow MY OWN instincts, to be considered able, trusted, to write music and so on. The more genuine I am the more calm and Less OCD/anxious etc I am.
Carl Rogers believed that much of our 'odd' symptoms are the result of incongruant thinking/behaviour - i.e. not satisfying our needs enough. The suppressed feelings result in all these bizarre symptoms. Most of us are behaving how we think we should behave - to fit in, but more respect will come our way if we learn to become more of what we really are - and all this good feeling will eventually reduce anxiety by the truck load.

Remember the act of obsessive swallowing is the result of long term anxiety - we all develop our own symptoms in different ways, however strange.:wacko:

I am more genuine by saying 'no' instead of 'yes' all the time, listening to and writing 'orchestral' music (instead of pretending I like jazz or rap), not agreeing with everyone all the time, not going to pubs and getting bored watching people get drunk (I don't drink), not putting up with bullying behaviour at work etc. Ultimately I am learning about what I like and dislike, and knowing when to protect myself and not be afraid to do so. If a situation feels wrong, then my instincts are telling me to do something about it.
By becoming myself, my symptoms of anxiety ease off.:yesyes: But to truly be free or MORE free of these symptoms I would definitely recommend counseling, as you will need to get to the root of the problem.

[Davidb]

I'm 66 and have sleep apnea.

To have a deep and restful sleep, I use a C-Pap machine with a humidifier with warmer.

Sometimes the machine will pump too much humidity into my body and it is condensed in the nasal passages; and this causes me to spend the rest of the night "swallowing" until it drives me to just get up and give up trying to sleep.

So I wonder! Perhaps for some of you who have this problem of excessive swallowing, if perhaps it is not allergy based? Perhaps there is some sinus drainage and your body is trying to expell it from your sinuses and nasal passages by swallowing. Perhaps trying an over the counter sinus or allergy pill would be an inexpensive way of testing yourself to see if this solves the problem. I hope it works for you, because it really is an anoyance.

[miche]

wow, I didn't realize other people had this! I started to have the exact same problem when I started high school, and I'm a Senior now. My biggest problem was just that I imagined every time I swallowed my jaw bone would start to protrude or enlarge...which was silly, but I was really worried about it. I'm still pretty worried about it, but it got better with time.