Can anxiety cause your throat to hurt when swallowing?

[reddevil]

Hi,

My throat its not that sore, its just when i swallow one side of the back of my throat feels like it hurts but this only happens now and then, is this anxiety?

I went to my doctor on Tuesday, who took a good look and felt around my neck and said everything was ok apart from lots of catah going down from my nose to my throat and no to worry as my anxiety is improving etc.

I have noticed when eating or drinking, I can swallow with no pain, which gives me something positive to think about as I'm sure if it was c, then it would hurt all the time.

I go away this weekend and I don't want to go away worring.

Red

[joyce99]

hi there are you constantly swallowing as thiswould hurt your throat

[joyce1980]

oh yes, throat problems are common in anxiety, you tense your muscles

[joyce99]

the constant swallowing would hurt the throat wouldnt it

[joyce99]

any ideas how to stop constant swallowing as its driving me mad and making my throat sore and throuble swallowing sometimes

[nomorepanic]

Joyce

I think we have offered all the advice we can to you to be honest.

Go and read your threads and then act on that advice and it will help.

[nomorepanic]

Red - I have had this 3 years now and it is anxiety related.

I have no cure and no miracle that will sort it.

You have to ignore it apparently

[mariusstokka]

Hey, i've had this for the last 2 weeks exactly as you mention and this post makes me so happy to know that im not alone

[EKB]

I tend to be a nervous swallower, which in turn causes throat pain. I found meditation helped me. I realized I had been swallowing several times a minute, and when meditating would maybe swallow once or twice in ten minutes. That helped me be more aware of what I was doing and helped me work on curbing the habit. Sipping water frequently also helps, because it gives you something to actually swallow, and it keeps you hydrated.

[cattia]

I've had this a few times. A couple years ago it got so bad that I felt like my entire throat was locked up and it hurt just to swallow water. I looked up some tmj massage techniques and I ended up sticking my fingers down my throat to massage the big jaw muscles at the back. I'm not sure I'd necessarily advocate this behaviour as it's a bit extreme, but once I'd done it, I instantly found I could swallow with ease for a couple weeks minutes until it all locked up again. That was enough for me to know that it was just muscle tensing. It gradually went away over a period of a few days.