Fear of swallowing my tongue

[nikkia]

I have a fear of swallowing my tongue. I know it sounds very strange but i have been suffering with it for a while now. I think it is due to anxiety???? I have had panic attacks from it. It has effected my eating and it is there everyday now. Its all i ever think about and it is like it is controlling my life. I went out with my girl friends last night for dinner and i could only eat a few mouthfuls. I felt like a idiot and when they asked me why i did not eat it i said it was cold and i found a hair in it. lol. I did not know what to say. But it is stopping me socialising, going out at all and it is even effecting me at work. I feel like a freak because i know you can not swallow tongue, but i' am constantly aware that my tongue is there. My throat even feels like it swells and my jaw aches when it is at its worst. People may read this and laugh, but i am really struggling with this at the minuet. Can someone please offer me any advice??? Thank you.

[Vanilla Sky]

You cannot swallow your tongue , it is not possible . Put it out of your mind xx

[eeyorelover]

I have a food allergy phobia so I get the fear that my tongue or lips might swell too! All I can tell you is that you have to counteract the negative with a positive thought (in your case "I'm breathing fine" or " I know that I can't actually swallow my tongue" and then try to concentrate on something else to get your mind off of the negative thought.
xxx
Sandy

[Ryanthegunner]

This made me smile a little bit as horrible as it sounds. Because I have had exactly the same. When I hear about a footballer swallowing his Tongue for example, I get paranoid I'm gonna swallow mine for hours at a time. It does go eventually though, so I guess you have to be patient.

[billphilbertson]

This made me smile a little bit as horrible as it sounds. Because I have had exactly the same. When I hear about a footballer swallowing his Tongue for example, I get paranoid I'm gonna swallow mine for hours at a time. It does go eventually though, so I guess you have to be patient.


That's interesting, because that's how my tongue swallowing phobia started: I was watching the football (Rugby League) and one of the payers tackled an opposing player, and for some reason the tackler thought the guy he tackled was in the process of swallowing his tongue, so he started banging him on the back or something like that.

Then the next time I was in the dentist's chair and had all the tubes and whatnot in my mouth, I started to fear swallowing my tongue, then it started happening in school assemblies, then during and mainly after exercise, then on a plane…...

I found it interesting on another thread on this topic that someone recommended among other things, putting an ice cube in your mouth to prevent the dry feeling that often precedes this fear. This is what I do when I go for a ride in the heat and it works quite well. I wonder if it would work in any of the other situations I mentioned?