I Can't Swallow

[Neeranam]

I have been having difficulty in swallowing my food. I remember years ago I had it after heavy drinking binges. I haven't drank ooze for years now but it has come back. Tonight I had a great farang-style chicken pie but couldn't eat it all with the feeling of it being stuck in my aesophagus. Usually I walk around for a while and wait till it drops. Sometimes I have to go to the toilet and throw up. Embarrassing when eating out, where it is often worse. I think it could be psychological as well as physical. Tonight when driving home, I had to stop a couple of times thinking I was going to throw up. All that came out was phlemy liquid.

A month ao I swallowed a garlic clove and it stayed stuck in my throat all through the night.

Can anyone recommend what to do.

N N

[Cornholio]

I stopped eating chicken because I was getting a similar type reaction to it, especially white meat. I dont know what it was, I just assumed some kind of allergic reaction. I had experienced it with chicken on and off for years but it slammed me like a ton of bricks a year ago so I gave up eating my beloved chicken.

[Andiamo]

I have been having difficulty in swallowing my food. I remember years ago I had it after heavy drinking binges. I haven't drank ooze for years now but it has come back. Tonight I had a great farang-style chicken pie but couldn't eat it all with the feeling of it being stuck in my aesophagus. Usually I walk around for a while and wait till it drops. Sometimes I have to go to the toilet and throw up. Embarrassing when eating out, where it is often worse. I think it could be psychological as well as physical. Tonight when driving home, I had to stop a couple of times thinking I was going to throw up. All that came out was phlemy liquid.

A month ao I swallowed a garlic clove and it stayed stuck in my throat all through the night.

Can anyone recommend what to do.

N N

Is it easier for soup to go down and mushy food? The problem is chewy or more substantial pieces of food?

If so, I would recommend you go and see an ENT (Ear, Nose & Thoat) Doctor at the Hospital. Check on the Hospital's website first to check the person is specialised in this area. It could just be something minor, like I think it's called "Reflux" - where things come back up and you feel like you want to bring back up the food you have just swallowed.

Have you also lost weight recently? Or you avoid eating because you feel there is "something" in your oespohagus or it hurts or you have difficulty swallowing?

Best to get it checked out to check it is nothing more serious.

[moldy]

I have been having difficulty in swallowing my food. I remember years ago I had it after heavy drinking binges. I haven't drank ooze for years now but it has come back. Tonight I had a great farang-style chicken pie but couldn't eat it all with the feeling of it being stuck in my aesophagus. Usually I walk around for a while and wait till it drops. Sometimes I have to go to the toilet and throw up. Embarrassing when eating out, where it is often worse. I think it could be psychological as well as physical. Tonight when driving home, I had to stop a couple of times thinking I was going to throw up. All that came out was phlemy liquid.

A month ao I swallowed a garlic clove and it stayed stuck in my throat all through the night.

Can anyone recommend what to do.

N N

Does sound like an allergic reaction or alternatively throat irritation. When irritated the membrane linings swell sometimes quite dramatically. It's more than likely nothing, but yes get it checked out, choking is quite serious if you think about it.

Is it easier for soup to go down and mushy food? The problem is chewy or more substantial pieces of food?

If so, I would recommend you go and see an ENT (Ear, Nose & Thoat) Doctor at the Hospital. Check on the Hospital's website first to check the person is specialised in this area. It could just be something minor, like I think it's called "Reflux" - where things come back up and you feel like you want to bring back up the food you have just swallowed.

Have you also lost weight recently? Or you avoid eating because you feel there is "something" in your oespohagus or it hurts or you have difficulty swallowing?

Best to get it checked out to check it is nothing more serious.

[Neeranam]

Is it easier for soup to go down and mushy food?YES The problem is chewy or more substantial pieces of food?YES

If so, I would recommend you go and see an ENT (Ear, Nose & Thoat) Doctor at the Hospital. Check on the Hospital's website first to check the person is specialised in this area. It could just be something minor, like I think it's called "Reflux" - where things come back up and you feel like you want to bring back up the food you have just swallowed.

Have you also lost weight recently?NO Or you avoid eating because you feel there is "something" in your oespohagus or it hurts or you have difficulty swallowing?NO

Best to get it checked out to check it is nothing more serious.OK

[Andiamo]

Is it easier for soup to go down and mushy food?YES The problem is chewy or more substantial pieces of food?YES

If so, I would recommend you go and see an ENT (Ear, Nose & Thoat) Doctor at the Hospital. Check on the Hospital's website first to check the person is specialised in this area. It could just be something minor, like I think it's called "Reflux" - where things come back up and you feel like you want to bring back up the food you have just swallowed.

Have you also lost weight recently?NO Or you avoid eating because you feel there is "something" in your oespohagus or it hurts or you have difficulty swallowing?NO

Best to get it checked out to check it is nothing more serious.OK

Hi Neeram,

Have sent you a PM.

Cheers

Andiamo

[oldoldgit!!]

Sounds like Acid Reflux, the weak HA valve allows acid and fumes to rise from the stomach causing sticky mucus, running nose, heartburn and coughing fits and fighting for breath soon after meals, and continualy clearing the throat, do a Google for ''excessive coughing/mucus after eating'' hope that helps,

[BEENTHEREDONETHAT]

Try drinking a large glass of water when it happens, it may help.

[yanabill1]

I HAD THE SAME PROLEM AN WENT SEE THE DR, I HAD A TUMER WHICH IS COMMON IN EUOPE BUT NOT SEEN MUCH HERE NOT TO ALARM YOU BUT IT IS GOOD THINKING TO HAVE A PRO TAKE A LOOK GOOD LUCK

[Ijustwannateach]

Perhaps a few spoonfuls of rice to clear out the gullet? That's what you're supposed to do with a stuck fishbone, right?

[Theyreallrubbish]

Any pain? If there is, can you describe it, type, location, severity, duration, does it go anywhere else, anything make it worse or better?

[sbk]

My mother had her esophagus stretched, it turned out it was too short or something along those lines (don't know the technical details, sorry) but she had difficulties swallowing for as long as I can remember, it just got worse as she got older. Best to see an ENT and get it sorted.

[Mobi]

Check it out mate.

Worrying about it is only going to add to your problems.

It's probably nothing too serious that can be easily treated, and it will put your mind at ease.

[taxexile]

go to a decent hospital , see a digestive diseases specialist , and ask for (and demand )a gastroscopy, thats where they put a camera down your oesophagus and into the stomach. its done under sedation , its painless and takes about 15 minutes. its the only way of correctly diagnosing your problem.

without the gastroscopy , any diagnosis is just guesswork , and as such could be wrong.

[Dakhar]

A visit with an ENT is needed, along with a stroboscope and a laryngeoscope.

good luck

[adamx]

Take Taxexile's advice. Do a gastroscopy. You need a gastroenterologist, not an ENT. Do it now to prevent further complication as you get older. Need to rule out cause of obstruction or whatever symptoms you are having.

Edited January 5, 2008 by adamx

[Sheryl]

Take it from a nuirse --- Taxexile and Adamx are correct. While it is possible you only have reflux/esophagitis, some of your symptoms are suggestive of a more serious condition and you could have an esophageal tumor. The fact that your trouble is worse with solid than mushy food, that you actually vomit, and that it sounds like you are actually having trouble swallowing food -- as opposed to swallowing OK but just having the sensation of something stuck in the throat -- all ring alarm bells. Get to a GI specialist ASAP. Call ahead and schedule a gastroscopy if cou can, if not, go without food and water from midnight the night before anyhow in the hopes they can do the procedure the same day. Don't delay. Good luck.

[seonai]

Ridiculously stupid posts removed, this is the Health Forum

[tracer5050]

as a retired paramedic you need to see a dr. this could be bad, i ahve seen several people choke from this

[twix38]

Here is a link to my experience and there is a lot of valuable info and links in this thread. PM me for anything further

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=145801

Edited January 8, 2008 by twix38

[oldoldgit!!]

Saw this, maybe a clue to your problem.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml...08/nfood308.xml

[Neeranam]

I went for a Endosopy today at the local govt hospital. It was not a very long wait about 1 hour getting a xray first. A pain in the butt everyone asking me where my 'faen' was. Seems that people in Isarn think all foreigners are tourists and are helpless without their Thai partner.

I got some xrays whilst swallowing a barium drink. The doc suggested that everthing was normal and there really wasn't any need for the tube down my throat. I'd had enough of the place by this time and agreed to come back and see the original, and best doctor, who was late today.

I got some medicaton - omiprazole, domperidone(sounds like a champagne) and diasgest.

[moldy]

I went for a Endosopy today at the local govt hospital. It was not a very long wait about 1 hour getting a xray first. A pain in the butt everyone asking me where my 'faen' was. Seems that people in Isarn think all foreigners are tourists and are helpless without their Thai partner.

I got some xrays whilst swallowing a barium drink. The doc suggested that everthing was normal and there really wasn't any need for the tube down my throat. I'd had enough of the place by this time and agreed to come back and see the original, and best doctor, who was late today.

I got some medicaton - omiprazole, domperidone(sounds like a champagne) and diasgest.

Good news- nothing as the more sensible predicted.

Seems to me you are wolfing things down - guess you need to slow down really. It's not easy to take time with food these days, still less easy not to overdo things.

Say this because if you don't adjust, it's going to happen again.

[Sheryl]

Most docs would agree that with a negative barium swallow you don;t need an endoscopy. The only additional exam that might be indicated -- and this only if it feels to you like the constriction is very high up -- would be a manual exam by an ENT specialist to check the back of your pharaynx. The barium swallow will have shown anything in the esophageous but not the upper throart area above it. Unlikely that there is anything there but it wouldn't hurt to have it checked out. It's a 5 minute exam and usually no cost beyond the consultation fee.

Most likely you just have GERD. Not that this isnt misery, it is. but it beats the other possibilities. The omeprazole will help'but you should also makle some lifestyle adjustments:

- no food for 2 hours before going to sleep or lying down for any reason

- eat more slowly and stop as soon as you feel full (if you're dying to finish something sdelicious anyhow, save it for later on)

-reduce caffeine intake as much as you can (made a world of difference for me...it weakens the sphincter between stomach and esophagus, contributing to reflux).

-ditto nocotine if you're a smoker.

-elevate your head at night, e.g. extra pillow.

Good luck

-

[Tammi]

Most docs would agree that with a negative barium swallow you don;t need an endoscopy. The only additional exam that might be indicated -- and this only if it feels to you like the constriction is very high up -- would be a manual exam by an ENT specialist to check the back of your pharaynx. The barium swallow will have shown anything in the esophageous but not the upper throart area above it. Unlikely that there is anything there but it wouldn't hurt to have it checked out. It's a 5 minute exam and usually no cost beyond the consultation fee.

Most likely you just have GERD. Not that this isnt misery, it is. but it beats the other possibilities. The omeprazole will help'but you should also makle some lifestyle adjustments:

- no food for 2 hours before going to sleep or lying down for any reason

- eat more slowly and stop as soon as you feel full (if you're dying to finish something sdelicious anyhow, save it for later on)

-reduce caffeine intake as much as you can (made a world of difference for me...it weakens the sphincter between stomach and esophagus, contributing to reflux).

-ditto nocotine if you're a smoker.

-elevate your head at night, e.g. extra pillow.

Good luck

-

If you don't like sleeping on extra pillow put some pillows under the mattress.

[FBN]

This topic was fairly extensively covered in another post about 2-3 mths ago.

Useful to be clear on certain terms:

GERD: Main symptom is reflux; ie acid (heartburn) and sometimes food as well. This is due to a defect in the diaphragm where the esofagus passes through; gap is too wide. There is no valve in the upper stomach as at the lower end and the stomach content is prevented from flowing back up only by the angle with which the esofagus passes through the diaphragm (functional valve).

Narrowing: The chronic irritation of acid in the lower end of the esofagus (from GERD) leads to inflammation and when this heals (either through medication or other), the lower end of the esofagus becomes thickened and narrowed. The muscle action of moving food into the stomach is disrupted and food, especially meat, gets "stuck".

Narrowing can also be caused by malignancy or tumour in this area. Relatively rare in caucasians but more common in Japanese.

Esofageal spasm: In this condition, the muscle coordination of the esofagus is uncoordinated. This is caused by irritation of stomach contents or other reasons and also causes food to get stuck. Difference here is that it is not constant. Sometimes food gets through without any problems. Can cause severe central chest pain and even sometimes resembles that of a heart attack.

Tests:

GERD: Barium swallow usually shows the defect; Gastroscopy can also but shows the inflammation at the lower end.

Narrowing: Barium swallow is the definitive exam. Gastroscopy may also show narrowing and pale lining indicating fibrosis.

Spasm: All tests may be negative in this condition.

Treatment:

GERD: Diet changes, weight loss and medication like Ranitidine (Zantac) or Omeprasole

Narrowing: Only treatment is physical dilatation or surgery in extreme cases or tumours

Spasm: Dietary change, Motilium, sometimes combined with Zantac/Omeprasole.

Advice: See a good Gastro-enterologist.

Consider ENT if the findings are negative.