Throat tightness/Lump in throat feeling caused by anxiety?

[HillyBerrington]

Hello, recently I've experienced a symptom that has been bothering me a lot. The symptom I have is a tight feeling in my throat, or a feeling that there's something in throat. I actually first had this symptom back in June of last year, and it lasted for a couple of weeks but as I started to not pay attention to it, it went away. Around christmas I started to have major anxiety about my health because of another symptom that I was having, and after a couple of weeks of feeling anxious about my health I started to notice the throat tightness symptom again. It's been about a month since I started having it again, and it won't go away. It gets worse when I am really thinking about it or if I'm feeling anxious about it, and there are times when I completely forget about it and it's not even there.

I should note that I've had situations like this before over the past couple of years, I've had times where I've convinced myself that I'm having trouble breathing but in reality it was most likely just from me thinking about breathing too much, and also I've convinced myself that I'm extremely thirsty/dehydrated all the time but when I stopped obsessing over that symptom it went away too. With all that being said, is it worth seeing a doctor over this, in your opinion? I really don't feel like having unnecessary intrusive examinations of my throat if it's something that can simply be explained by anxiety, but that being said I also want to be careful. Tell me what you think, and also if you've had a similar experience with this symptom I'd love to hear about it.

[WiseMonkey]

Hi,
Yes I have this at present but it does come and go. Sometimes I feel it one side of my throat, sometimes in my chest and sometimes my upper back, so it shifts around. I also get a lot of burping! Sometimes talking a lot seems to make it worse, probably air passing down the esophagus.

When I go for a walk it seems to help as I'm more relaxed. Also eating helps and it actually disappears for a few hours.

I had it years ago but it resolved much quicker. I'm booked to see the ENT specialist next month so will see what's what, I'm 61 so have to take these things more seriously.

[nomorepanic]

Hi

This is just a courtesy reply to let you know that your post was moved from its original place to a sub-forum that is more relevant to your issue.

This is nothing personal - it just enables us to keep posts about the same problems in the relevant forums so other members with any experience with the issues can find them more easily.

Please also read this post:

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=213239

[nomorepanic]

Sounds like Globus - common with anxiety.

[HillyBerrington]

Hi,
Yes I have this at present but it does come and go. Sometimes I feel it one side of my throat, sometimes in my chest and sometimes my upper back, so it shifts around. I also get a lot of burping! Sometimes talking a lot seems to make it worse, probably air passing down the esophagus.

When I go for a walk it seems to help as I'm more relaxed. Also eating helps and it actually disappears for a few hours.

I had it years ago but it resolved much quicker. I'm booked to see the ENT specialist next month so will see what's what, I'm 61 so have to take these things more seriously.

I'm interested to see what they'll find, be sure to tell us how it goes next month.

Sounds like Globus - common with anxiety.

Yeah, you're right it definitely could be that. I'm just very conflicted on whether or not it's worth visiting the doctor because of this though.

[WiseMonkey]

Yeah, you're right it definitely could be that. I'm just very conflicted on whether or not it's worth visiting the doctor because of this though.

Hi,
If it doesn't resolve then I'd see your Dr especially if you're older.

My daughter (32) had it last year, went to the ENT and had the scope. The specialist told her that most of his patients see him for this complaint, so it's very common. My daughters scope was all good and her symptoms resolved shortly afterwards. She doesn't have HA

[HillyBerrington]

Hi,
If it doesn't resolve then I'd see your Dr especially if you're older.

My daughter (32) had it last year, went to the ENT and had the scope. The specialist told her that most of his patients see him for this complaint, so it's very common. My daughters scope was all good and her symptoms resolved shortly afterwards. She doesn't have HA

I see, I'm glad everything turned out fine with your daughter. I'm 19 by the way. I'm seeing the doctor next week for something unrelated, if the symptom still continues I will bring it up with him.

[BazB44]

I have kind of the same issue lately. tight feeling in throat, voice goes in and out. it sent me into a panic yesterday and I was crying too, as I was crying so much post nasal drip came out (back of nose). im wondering if I have GERD. I do have sinusitis issues, and IBS.

[drachia]

I'm having this as well. I am having trouble eating because it seems swollen or tight in my throat, with a lot of mucus and the roof of my mouth seems strained, swollen and I'm burping a lot after eating or drinking. I had a bad time last night eating a hot dog. I have been very stressed out lately due to HA and some family medical problems and I had to get off the depression medicine the doctor gave me because it was making me too groggy to work. I do concentrate on the problem when I'm eating and I wonder if that is what is causing it as a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. All I know is it's making it very difficult to eat anything and my appetite has gone to hell because I'm almost afraid to eat. Doctor said he thinks it's post nasal drip and sinuses and gave me medicine for that after examining my throat. My HA screamed ALS, but he said that my muscle function was fine. He didn't seem to think that an ENT visit was necessary, but if this keeps up, I might ask him to do that just for peace of mind if nothing else.

[Carys]

Can I be honest here, if you've had this symptom before and it went after a few weeks, and months later its come back - then why are you too concerned ? You've described perfectly that it came on with anxiety last June, and you re also very anxious now, and it's back. It IS a common anxiety symptoms, that much we know. So.....serious throat problems don't come and go, and wax and wane. No, I wouldn't go to the doctor if I'd had it before and it went just fine.