Tips to overcome fear of swallowing

[Pigoonlet]

Hello everyone

I have been going through some horrible swallowing phobia to do with liquid and food recently that came about from a delightful blend of acid reflux and health anxiety and a lovely dollop of general anxiety. (disclaimer: anyone with swallowing issues should probably visit your gp as a first port of call, please don't worry)

I just wanted to share some tips to help you that have slowly gotten me through it. I feel like a lot of lot of people write about an issue they are having and then don't post back to say how they got through it. I have seen a lot of people posting about this on anxiety forums and promised to myself I would post back if I found any methods or tips to help.

Okay well this is a pretty nasty phobia so if you are reading and going through this you have my sympathy; but you can get through this. If I can, anybody can.

You will have to be patient and not obsess (easy to say). Obsessing online will feed this phobia.

Okay, I got pretty bad with this, I was scared to swallow even liquid. What I had to do was wait until I (and my frazzled mind) were tired. So first thing in the morning or in the early hours (you could set an alarm) 'test' yourself, I poured some berocca and took a tiny sip, I said to myself ok that works lets try another, only tiny sips and very slowly. This is the first step to undoing this anxiety (for me). You have to prove to your brain everything is fine.

Okay the next tip along for me was getting rid of the 'hesitation' when swallowing, this was a bit scary because it was like my brain was 'convinced' that swallowing had to be controlled completely by me.

So when I would forget and go to swallow as a reflex my throat would spasm and try to stop it.

This is from obsessing on the process of swallowing. What I had to do was at that moment of swallowing form a strong fist (or grip an armchair handle) anything to distract, think of a time in my life when I was happy eating and then concentrate very fully on the squeeze of your fist or grip. Then swallow. This will help so you can start to 'undo' the process that has become anxious.

Keep using these couple of strategies, take it slow, take however long you need to eat, drink, be nice to yourself, anxiety is horrible, you can't click your fingers and be better like that. Take it all slow, if you feel overwhelmed when trying. Stop. Go for a walk, read some nice stuff online, watch tv, do the dishes. Go back to it again.

Think of the tips you would give someone else going through something like this, give them to yourself, love yourself. We are so quick to give others help and love, give yourself positive self talk be kind to yourself.

Keep repeating the grip and distraction tip and confirming you can swallow by doing it when groggy. You will convince yourself and you will be ok.

Sorry for the long post, I just wanted to try and help other people as I found this very challenging and scary but I wanted other people to know they'll be okay and if any of my little tips help anyone I will be really happy.