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mlondon
19-01-09, 14:15
Today I began to be really aware of my tongue and have been finding it hard to swollow. This has happened before and then over time I forget about it. I am scared I am going to swollow my tongue or not be able to breathe. Has anyone else experienced this?

gtrgrl3369
19-01-09, 15:23
I have had the breathing issue but I havent had the tongue swallowing problem. If it makes you feel any better, it is a fact that you can not swallow your tongue. Not even during a siezure. I know all about being aware of my tongue though, I used to always think it was swelling up after I ate. Try to remember that this is anxiety and it will do some crazy things to us. Take slow deep breaths to calm yourself down when it gets to be too much. You can do this. Take care and I really hope you feel better.

mlondon
19-01-09, 18:02
Thanks, yes it feels like it is swelling up but I don't know why and then I become really aware of it.

parisdeb
19-01-09, 18:12
hi mlondon,

i have some problems with my tongue, i just feel like it doesnt belong to me andshouldnt be there!, it can be very frightening, i try to ignore it. Try not to worry about swallowing your tongue because i can promise you it wont happen, but then thats easy for me to say! try to go with the feeligs and you will see that it wont happen. I used to have a terrible feeling of not being able to eat solid food because i convinced myself that it would come back up and choke me, i could only eat soup for four months and my food never did choke me! i know you feel crappy xx dont worryxx parisdeb

Krakers
19-01-09, 18:30
Hi mlondon - I have suffered with a similar problem which came and went for over a year. It only stayed for a day or so, but it was the thinking about it that always brought it back.

I suffered from a condition called globus hystericus - meant I felt like there was always a lump in my throat and I couldn't swallow properly. In actual fact there was no lump, it was just the anxiety and on some bad days I thought I'd swallow my tongue.

What made my condition virtually disappear was just putting a name to it. I stopped fixating on it after that, and soon only had a problem when I thought about it.

Today I just dismiss it to anxiety and it lasts less than 30 mins when it does crop up.

Can't say its definately the same, but sure sounds very similar to me.

I've fixated on other stuff after that to know that its the thinking that does the work for the anxiety (or vice versa).

First thing I was ever told was to ignore it - I thought the person mad, but sure enough day by day I spent less time thinking about it until now its just a passing thought from time to time.

Krakers.

alias_kev
19-01-09, 20:50
Hi m - noticed your post. It is possible in VERY RARE cases that the Escitalopram you are on could cause swelling of the tongue and other parts of the mouth in an allergic reaction. I would assume that that would be really obvious though rather than just a sense of wrongness as you describe. So your feeling isn't one that should just be dismissed or ignored. BUT I would have thought you'd have had this earlier if you were actually allergic especially as you were ramped up via a low dose.

Others have experienced this so I'm guessing it can be a symptom of both our conditions and our medication - especially while it remains a feeling and assuming there is no visible swelling. Get someone else to look as us sufferers are too good at either ignoring problems or being very hypochondriac.

Take Care

kingjamesuk
09-04-09, 18:51
I have had this horrible fear since I was 19. I am now 37 and it is still with me every moment of the day. The very first time I panicked was one freezing cold evening when I was on a bus. I was so cold that I momentarily found it impossible to swallow. This frightened me and reminded me of an experience many years before - witnessing someone having a seizure at a high school dinner table. I believed the old wives tale that we could swallow our tongues during a seizure. Of course I am now well aware that this doesn't actually happen.
Anyway, after the bus incident I was terrified that I may have almost swallowed my tongue. Gradually I became more and more worried of this happening again. I was particularly worried of it happening around people so I very gradually became more and more nervous in situations where there were crowds. I became convinced that I could swallow my tongue at any given time and this caused tension in my throat as I prepared for the worst. After a few weeks I had a permanent lump in my throat and I had to regularly force my tongue forwards in an attempt to stop it going down my throat. I was a nervous wreck.
My mum was as terrified as I was. I wouldn't tell anyone else because I felt so ashamed. I began to get scared of going outside in case I choked in front of someone. I managed to finish college (somehow) and became permanently anxious. No doctor or hospital could understand it. I felt hopeless.
2 years later I discovered alcohol. This was my only remedy. The more I drank the less I panicked. I was too drunk to worry about my tongue. However, once I sobered up I felt worse. All the effects of withdrawal turned the nightmare into a super-nightmare! I was now an alcoholic. Over the years I used alcohol to suppress the fear of swallowing my tongue. This lead to chronic dependency and regular ambulances trips to A and E. At 32 I gave up the booze (up to 4 liters of vodka per day) and have had to put up with the tongue thing. However, I had counseling for some time and trained for 2 years on a counseling course my self. Somehow I am in more control of my panicking but I am not sure how this has come about. I still get the fear severely, but I am better at avoiding situations that make it severe. With all my knowledge and strength I can not understand why the fear does not go away. I still dread crowds and have to find excuses to avoid the crowds at work and sociably. I have a pretty normal life on the outside but I still panic on the inside. Like most of us I have learned to hide it or avoid the symptoms by 'running away' to somewhere safer.
As a child I was brought up in a house where my mother and stepfather argued all the time. I was regularly put down by my stepfather and was seriously bullied at school and out of school. I lived in constant fear of being beaten-up or shouted at. I am quite sure that my fear is linked to the overdose of anxiety, anger and frustration I suffered as a child/teenager.
It seems that a number of us have this ridiculous fear of swallowing our tongues so I wonder if it develops as a consequence of high anxiety experiences. I am amazed that there appears to be no specialists out there that recognize this symptom and can appropriately guide us to find help. One thing is for sure though - it definitely feels real and has a potentially huge impact on our lives.

PVS
24-04-09, 23:20
Only today have I been brave enough to research this topic on the Internet for fear of what I might see (yes, it is going to happen). I can't describe the relief to see that many others have this fear and the many messages saying this is not possible.

I only feel it in certain situations - in meetings where I am in close proximity to my colleagues and the fear of "disgracing" myself is overwhelming.

Thanks for all the positive comments on this subject.

skyblue
28-04-09, 17:59
hi

i sympathise with you 100% i spent 6 months convinced my tounge was going to swell up,and could actually feel it.
when i looked in the mirror it was normal but to me it was'nt.

this could happen at any time or any where and i would go into full blown panic. sooo frightening

my gp told me there was no chance of my tounge swelling unless i got stung by a bee or wasp and we dont usually go around with our tounges sticking out!!!!

it is the anx,and its fixing directly on this!! remember its an irrational thought not real ,foucus on this...think have i any evidance that this is happening,no so keep that thought..

take care

talk anytime

skyxx:winks:

CherryRed
14-06-09, 15:00
This is one of my post's i posted a while ago. I do read the boards, and have found it interesting, and helpful with the info members give other members, well reading i've came across a lot of ppl with issues concerning their mouths and tongue's, so i thought i would write all about what happened to me just over 19 yrs ago, and maybe it will help others
Just over 19 yrs ago i had my first baby, I never liked hospitals, and wanted to go home straight away, they wouldn't let me, i don't no if it was because i was a first time mum or it was my age, i was 18 yrs old, anyway I've suffered with panic attacks ever since i was 14, and had to leave school because of them, so being in hospital didn't help, I couldn't eat whilst in hospital...oh that's another one of my collections of phobia's i have lol, anyway i didn't eat the whole time i was there, i was only there three days then came home, i thought that when i got home everything would be back to normal and i would start eating again, but no that didn't happen, it developed into very bad postnatal depression, being young and never having depression, i didn't no what the hell was happening to me, , because i wasn't eating and not drinking enough i was obsessed with my tongue. It was sore, felt way to big for my mouth, but the worst part about it was i couldn't get any spit into my mouth, and it felt bone dry like i was going to choke on it, it was constant, always in my mind and i was convinced i was going to get cancer of the mouth, i would continually check it, ask my partner to see if it was ok, i was going mad, but i was driving everyone else mad with my obsession, it was that bad that i couldn't look after my little boy, because i was so scared all the time that something was going to happen to me, when i did eat i would try things that i didn't have to chew, i still do that now lol, and it would get stuck on my tongue, and send me into a frenzy of panic, i would send my hubby out to the chemist to get me mouth wash, pastels, anything you can think of, but that didn't help, because i was to scared to put anything in my mouth, catch 22 lol, the only thing i did put into my mouth was hardboiled sweets, just so that i could try and get some saliva into my mouth, but that made it so sore, not even a drink helped, in the end it got so bad i ended up with thrust in my mouth, i was convinced i was going to die and anything anyone told me i didn't make any difference, i was put on AD's, and it took three months got get rid of the obsession, and post natal depression, i never ever thought it was going to go and i was going to be like i was for the rest of my life, but i'm not and it dose go, if i had know that your mind can make you think the things you do when you get depressed, i might of been able to understand it a bit more, but i didn't no what the hell was happening to me, and i thought that i was the only person to have a obsession about my tongue and mouth in the world, until i came onto this site, and seen other ppl are scared about the something, i still do get the symptoms now and again, but if i had to put it on a scale of 10, it would be around 2, not like it was back then at 10, i no i'll always be like it, but when i am, i do no its panic and anxiety, and i'm not going mad, it dose get better, trust me, sorry if that was a bit to long, i just wanted ppl to know there not on there own , and not going mad, like i thought i was x x x :hugs: