Swallowing, Anxiety or Not?

[rudiskacel]

Hi there.

For a month now I've been having trouble swallowing my own saliva. It seemed to start one day all of a sudden and I have been conscious of it ever since. It feels like swallowing is no longer an automatic act, and that I have to tell myself "OK body, swallow now". One of my problems is I think I'm swallowing too much.

Also, I seem to be burping quite a lot of air. I'm also swallowing a lot of air unintentionally which causes these burps. The burps are more often than not, every single time I swallow.

I should also say that these troubles in swallowing are constant. They came about on January 29th, and have not stopped. There is some let-up in the morning when I wake up, and then as the day progresses the swallowing gets progressively worse. I seemed to have the problem under control for just under a week. I did this by concentrating on not swallowing as often. However I have lost control again and it's really getting to me

I am a 19 year old male who is training to be a chef, and this is really putting a downer on my final year, as I'm too concentrated on swallowing than enjoying cooking.

I had been googling my symptoms and came across things like ALS, Cancer and all sorts and ot scared the crap out of me! Could this just be anxiety?

Does anybody have these symptoms or know what it could be?

[Mrsmitchell1984]

It sounds like something I have. What happens is: you notice your swallowing, you tell your brain it doesn't feel right, you get anxious and your brain focusses on it- it is a vicious cycle. The anxiety is the glue. It is not dangerous to notice your swallowing- and once you keep telling yourself it is ok to notice your swallowing and that you are swallowing correctly- then your attention will gradually drift away from it- but it will not happen straight away.

If you need any further help with this let me know.

Best wishes,

Sally

---------- Post added at 19:41 ---------- Previous post was at 19:38 ----------

You should get checked by a doctor for anything else- but it does sound like the anxiety I have.

[Steve1964]

I used to play a lot of cricket. It was my special sport, hobby, and obsession, although I was never particularly good

I had to stop playing, though, because when fielding, I would have the gagging sensation, with my Adam's Apple feeling as though it was popping out through my mouth, and have great difficulty swallowing.

On the field, I alleviated it by chewing lots of gum, because, I suppose, I felt that if my throat went too dry, I really wouldn't be able to swallow.

Strangely, I have never had the swallowing symptom since stopping playing some 14 years ago now, so it is clear to me that this was associated solely with cricket. I play golf now, and never have this when out on the course.

This is a long winded way of saying, can you change anything in your life to alleviate the symptom? Is this problem associated with a particular thing like mine was?

Just a thought.

[rudiskacel]

The problem is always there, no matter what I'm doing, unfortunately. There is no pain though.

[Steve1964]

The problem is always there, no matter what I'm doing, unfortunately. There is no pain though.

I hope that this gets better very soon for you.

I do think this forum helps. I only joined today, and I am extremely positive about openly discussing these issues for the first time in many years.

[herbie73]

Hi there, I have had this problem in the past, its because you become hyper aware of your body and bodily sensations, the reason it is better in the morning is because you forget about it for a while after waking and then when you start thing about it, it starts up again, don't worry its nothing serious just anxiety xxx

[Mrsmitchell1984]

Hi Herbie,

Have you overcome all your bodily focus hyperawareness. I have this and it would be great to hear a success story about this.

Xx

[herbie73]

Yes pretty much, I could feel every twinge in my body at one time, which made me worry more, I think in time you stop focusing on your bodily sensations and then they seem to dissapear, it is hard when your are in the grip of anxiety but it does get better, I'm not saying I am 100% better yet, but I'm probably 90% there, I do still worry about lumps, bumps and marks but I don't panic like I did, but I have made really good progress, hope this helps Herbie xx

[louise123_uk]

I have had this too, its like my body can't remember how to swallow! I can't even remember how to position my tongue to swallow at times, but after the initial waves of panic that I must have something like Motorneurone Disease I realise I can swallow. Having read about this type of thing on here before it even first happened I do believe that its nothing but it still feels scary when I suddenly can't swallow for a bit. Its worse when I'm really thinking about swallowing.

[Mrsmitchell1984]

That is really positive - thank you both.

Herbie- it will probably be nothing. I had a lump in both boobs and I convinced myself I was going to die. I saw the doctor and she said come back in 2-4 weeks if they were still there. Luckily they just went. I used to suffer with health anxiety a lot- but then I realised they if you really are ill- your body will tell you and you will feel terrible. You should keep checking for lumps and see your doctor- but you can overcome health anxiety and I am living proof of that.

You have given me hope and so I hope this helps too.

Best wishes,
Sally