I had the same problem since 2 years ago, I visited a famous doctor, he told me that there is nothing physical, it is psychological problem cause this disfunction, but he didn't give me xnax, look it is ok, this problem appears for me many times during the last 2 years I visited no more doctors, I had no more medicines, I tried to relaxed and having a good hours of a deep sleep and everything be ok.

I have had this problem for about 6 months. Food sticks to my throat. I have been living on mostly protein shakes since july. It helps to try very moist foods. I use chicken broth. Gravy, bbq sauce - anything to eleviate the dryness. I feel very panicky when the food will not go down. Sometimes even water is a problem. I have found that drinking warm water sometimes helps. I have had many medical tests and have been told the problem is mostly stress. I do have chronic dryness in my throat - it is a real symptom, not just in my head - which makes the problem worse. I am just hoping the problem eventually goes away. I try not to stress about it. If I do not feel like I can eat, I just drink a boost . This is causing complications in my life - both at work and at home. I avoid social functions because of it. I would love to feel normal again. It helps to know I am not the only person with this disorder. Stress will kill us if we let it. We can not give in. Better days are ahead. Good luck

i have this problem as well. i used to smoke cigarettes so i thought it was due to that , but i've quit smoking and the problem still exists. it has to be related to stress, but i can't seem to get this in my head. sometimes we are our own worst enemies. i used to drink protein drinks all the time too, and might have to again. i also used to take pills for anxiety, as well, but that didnt help, just made me feel worse. when i am totally relaxed, this is when i can eat normally, most of the time. recently the swallowing thing has gotten worse, and it is definitely worse in public places. this i believe is due to my fear of choking in public. (which isn't really any different than choking at my own house, i guess!) anyway, if anyone has any new comments, i am all ears, but i still believe de-stressing has got to be the answer...i just need to learn how to do it.

pkay, so everytime i go out to a restaurant, i cant eat, i can eat fine at home and i just feel scared in public, when i walk in the mall i get all hyped up feeling like i cant swallow, at school people make fun of me for clearing my throat all of the time. and everytime i take a bite of food i need to sip water before i can swallow it. sometimes i get scared i cant breath. i know for a fact its all in my head, my dad suffers from anxiety too, so unluckily i got it from him and im only 13 YEARS OLD! im trying to figure out wats wrong with me, nothing is wrong with me phsically. but right now as im writing this i feel a lot better. i tell my mom, but i guess she doesnt really understand, no one understands! its all in my head, i know it! but it makes me feel better when im with my mom and dad and family and friends. sometimes when i go to restaurants with my family im just fine, but when im with people i dont know well i get scared and have trouble swallowing. and i also sing, and im performing in front of 7500 people on dec. 1 2007, and im really scared that i wont be able to swallow or something when im on stage. it makes me feel better im not the only one who suffers from this. it just makes me wonder why im the only kid who has to go through this, i mean ive never met a person in my life who has the swallowing pproblem i have. I pray to God everynight that it would please go away, so I can live my life not if fear.

I ask this because I do and I always have the glob in my throat due to post nasal drip. If this is the case, there are a few good over the couter things you can buy for it. But check with your doctor first because some do not fair well with high blood pressure and some other things.

Carrie

I got swallowing problems too. It's been like this for 3 months since it started, going crazy sometimes it gets better and I can swallow more solid foods other times I eat something and I feel it gets stuck then I can only eat blended almost liquid foods, shakes. pudding etc. Been to gastroentologist he just gave prevacid, also I am getting anxiety attacks now because of this because my heart have started racing when I am just in bed doing nothing, it's all very scary and I wish I knew when it will all just go away so I can live a normal life again.

I have had trouble swallowing for almost 6 years now.It started with
a choking incident I had one day.I started eliminating foods a little at a
time until eventually,I had to start blending all my food into liquid so I could drink it.It took my Dr a really long time to finally get me the proper help I needed.I had all the physical tests done and everything came back fine.
I still suffer with this problem.Its a fear of choking,combined with extreme anxiety.Knowing what is is however,doesnt seem to be helping me overcome it.I recently had some dental work done and because of this,I had to eat mostly liquids.This seems to have stirred up my problem again.I always feel as if Im starting over again.I did almost a year of therapy..helped a bit.I would recommend two things that helped me ..deep breathing and muscle relaxation.Also if you have had this problem for awhile,see your Dr and get some help as soon as possible.Its a frustrating and scary thing,but it is treatable.Eliminating certain foods is not the answer..Ive been down that road.

I never realized so many people suffered from this problem. I was beginning to think I was alone in this. It started about 4 years ago, suddenly I felt as though I couldn't swallow anything anymore. Some days are worse than others, but it never truly goes away. I try to drink boosts and shakes once a day, but I still try eating solid foods mostly, I just end up spitting everything back out. I'm really dreading having to puree all my foods and I don’t know what to do about it. I'm continually losing weight because of it and now I'm starting to feel that I'm getting too thin. It's such a hopeless situation. Like you, I just want to be able to eat again...

I am 46, I have had issues with this since I was 17. Seems like I focus too much on swallowing and this includes saliva as well. I hear folks talking about public places. Thats when I become self conscious and of couse when it comes to swallowing liquids or foods I have bigger problems. Swallowing is an involuntary action, however, if you think too much about it, you tend to disrupt the natural function of your body. They compare this to blinking-another involuntary action, however you may appear a bit strange by overblinking, but it doesn't make loud squishing sounds that peopel notice. I ever now and then hear others do it, I try to avoid drinking coffee at meetings at work for this environment is very stressful. I recall a few years ago someone sipping coffee in a meeting and made the same sounds I do, so its not my imagination, the sounds are quite audible. Like I said, like a "squish". I talked to a doctor who said it is stress and put me on Zoloft, however no matter how medicated I am. I still have this issue burned deep into my conscious mind, and the minute I think about the process of swallowing, it will happen. It's like your thoughts that would have been occupied with over things in your environment are interrupted and all that occupieds your mind is the fear that when you swallow you will make this sound, and then wallah, it happens. I have thought about hypnosis as a possible remedy. However one strange thing is that when I have a cold and there is plenty of mucus in my nose as a result, even when I think about swallowing, I seem to be able to swallow without the "squishing" noise which makes me tend to believe that this issue is in fact physical despite the fact that several doctors I have talked to about this say it is psychological. Which in and of itself can lead to more fixation and worry about the issue and the reasons why it is happening to me. I have gotten to the point where I fear going to any other doctors about it because it seems like no one really knows why this happens. I honestly believe this is a big issue with many people but like myself, most of them are embarrased to talk about it. Thank God for the internet. Maybe discussion groups like this be a catylist for a breakthrough. Any ideas from some out there?

I'm another one who has problems with swallowing, I'm 41 and it all started when I was about 11 years old. At first it was only around other people but for the last 20 years it has been all the time. I can't eat out or with other people and its affected my whole life, not working, no friends and of course no relationships (men always want to eat out, right?). Up until about three years ago I only had problems with food, however now the main problem is with liqiuds! I take a sip, hold it in my mouth and then can gradually swalow it ,but it can take up to four swallows to get one sip of liquid down!

I think this all stems from anxiety, have always been a shy person, uncomfortable around others, but its really frustrating to feel almost constantly hungry and also have a lot of problems with my stomach being achey after I've eaten. I've had tests done and all have come back normal so it must be psycological, but a constant nuisance! I just want a normal life, being able to eat out and enjoy eating instead of missing out on so much, so frustrating!!

I too have problems swallowing in public. I am 20 years old, in college, and it is starting to affect my everyday life. I am afraid that one day I am going to swallow the wrong way in class and possibly become nauseous. I was thinking about some sort of anti anxiety medication to make it go away but from what I am reading it does not seem like that is a solution. My Mom passed away suddenly from a stroke last year. She was my best friend and I loved her more than anything in the world. This is the only thing I can think that is contributing to this sudden strange disorder that I am experiencing. I am also stressed about my appearance and financial stuff too but this is becoming a serious problem.

It's good to hear I am not the only one with this problem, I think many people think I am crazy as they simply cannot understand my condition, mainly my husband. I have struggled swallowing food/liquids/saliva on and off for about 6years now with the last 2years getting worse and worse. I saw a doctor and shrink earlier this year but felt like they knew nothing about the condition and the only thing they did was put me on prozac and xanax, i must admit the prozac did seem to make me feel better overall, calmer but still didn't combat the problem. the problem (more) that I face now is that I am 3months pregnant, my ob advised me to come off the prozac 6weeks ago which I have done but I am loosing my mind with where to go from here, everything is hard and uncomfortable, I have trouble swallowing my saliva all day at work (open office environment) and I have to sneak around to get some fluids, yoghurt etc through the day, by the time I get home I am so worked up it is impossible to eat, if I put food in my mouth it fills up with water and I have to spit it out. I am trying to get all the nutrients the baby need by pureed things etc but I feel a mess and would love to know any advise anyone has to give at this point...thanks

Hi,

I had trouble swallowing for about a year. I told doctors and they all believed that it was psychological, but I believed that it was physical. I found that I had to stand up for myself within that year, and push and do my own research. Everytime, I ate I got sick and they thought stress triggered this reaction. It was very difficult for me to swallow and to top things off my voice would disappear for long periods of time and it would be hoarse for days. I would wake up at night and find myself running around my room with my hands to my throat trying to breathe. To make a year long scary story short, I went to the 50th doctor, a ENT Specialist and she knew what it was right away. She said that it was acid reflux, acid that was coming up in my throat and causing inflammation. Therefore, my throat became swollen and inflamed to the point where it was hard for me to swallow or talk. I also found liquids to be more difficult to swallow than solids. Funny thing was that I did not recall feeling heartburn and i had no food coming back up so I guess that threw off most doctors. She put me on Prevacid and I immediately started to feel some kind of relief. To get the inflammation down I took Apis-Homaccord, which I received from my Naturopath because conventional drugs just made things worse. I am off Prevacid, I did not take it for long because drugs scare me, especially because they tended to make me feel worse during that year, but I wanted to solve the situation, because throat cancer scares me more. I have not done research on this so please do not take this as fact, but most drugs I believe just makes acid reflux worse, because during that year, they sure did do that. I have found for me what helps now is to take a high dose of Vitamin C everyday. If I miss that Vitamin C, my voice does get slightly hoarse, but it never gets to the point where I feel that I need to call 911.

I get problems just normal swallowing. Usually at night its the worst. I feel like if I swallow my tongue will roll back. Not eating or drinking anything. Just swallowing saliva. I used to get it when I was little. But just recently it has gotten worse. I started eating a multi vitamin at the exact time it got worse. Which I suspect is the culprit to my problem. Its seems right after I eat the multi vitamin with food(maybe certain foods/liquids?) this problem starts occurring.