Hi there, I've suffered from a variety of anxiety related problems since my mind-teens I'm now 31. I've made a lot of improvement over the past year, I've gone from being a housebound agoraphobia mess to pretty much getting my life on track then out of the blue I seem to have developed a fear of swallowing. Mid way through a highly anticipated pulled pork bap the food seemed to get stuck in my throat and I panicked, every mouthful after that I became terrified that I wouldn't be able to swallow. I persevered but every swallow, my throat seem to constrict and my anxiety rose making it increasingly harder. I'm now scared to eat solid foods, I panic if there too much food in mouth and I'm hyper-aware of the swallowing process. I've since been confined to soup and ice cream but sometimes even that can be an ordeal. I just can't stop thinking "what if I won't be able to swallow this?!" I know swallowing is an automatic process and that I'm not likely to choke but now that thought's rooted it's pretty hard to budge. I've got a big meal coming up with my partners family and I just don't know how I'm going to get through it.
I'd be really grateful to hear from anyone that has overcome this problem and has any tips to offer. What should I eat? Are there any techniques to make eating easier? It's only been a week, what can I do to stop this getting worse.
Please help, my boyfriend is a chef this is torture!