Dealing with Doubt & Choking

Hi everyone!Well I have been so well but lately that little horrible seed of doubt has been creeping back!! As you all know I had a great visit with my neuro back at the end of March and all was well!! BUT I have been having this thing happen sometimes when I swallow like food is going down the wrong way! Yesterday at lunch it happened and my goodness I nearly choked!! Please has anyone else got an explanation for this, it has so got me back on the doubting road again, I do not want that!!!!Warm regardsSandra

Sandra, I know you are waiting for replies from the others, but in the meantime, I just wanted to mention a couple of things. First of all, that is a VERY COMMON symptom that goes along with BFS and anxiety. I've had that several times, in many different ways. Just TODAY in fact, I was eating some grapes, and I felt like I couldn't get them to go down my throat, like they were getting stuck there. It's VERY nervewracking when you try to swallow several times, and it just doesn't feel right. I remember it happening off and on for the last several months. I was in a panic one time when I was eating cheese cubes, and one totally got stuck in my throat, and that was months ago now. I called my brother in a panic, who has also experienced this, and he helped calm me down. It's a really vicious cycle with this symptom, because anxiety makes it worse, and of course just having it makes you very anxious! My brother has had this as a primary symptom for a very long time. He used to have twitches, and still does, but of course doesn't worry about it any more since it's been many years since they began for him. Anyway, he would get the swallowing issue, and still to this day gets it, but he notices that he gets it really bad, for some reason, when he's driving. And, to tell you how psychological it is, he was explaining this story to me about how he was in a hurry, and eating in the car on the way back to work at lunch, and he was just doing fine, until it dawned on him that he was eating in the car, and how he usually has a swallowing issue then, and it suddenly came on again, and he couldn't even finish his lunch. I thought that was amazing, how your mind can really play a trick on you. It really is amazing what anxiety can do~~I remember when I was having anxiety attacks, I couldn't even cross a bridge in my car without getting short of breath and almost panicky. But, you don't have to have all-out anxiety attacks to have a low level of constant anxiety going on, and not even know it. One more thing, I just wanted to mention that when I said I get it in several different ways, I meant that I have the difficulty swallowing as I described, but I also get other things, like a feeling like it's going down the wrong way, like part of my throat is not working right or something, hard to explain. And, sometimes I feel like my swallowing can be loud, like people around me can hear it, like something is wrong with that function. Anyway, just wanted to hopefully reassure you that it is a common symptom, and many people on here have written about it! Val

I have been experiencing that since I was about 18 with my anxiety. Its like you just cant swallow it down or get it down. The more you think about it the WORSE it is. Ive actually had to spit my drink back out before (awhile back when it first started happening) til I learned to calm myself and swallow easily.It is ANXIETY! I dont know that I would even relate it to BFS to be honest. It has nothing to do w/ muscle twitches. Also, the more you think about it the more it will happen..because your anxious. Its totally benign just ridden with anxiety. I had a EMG today and if I had only listented to my GP, the NEURO the first time etc..but TODAY they sprung in the EMG on me and WOW..I AM SOOO HAPPY AND RELEIVED, but it in the long run they told me BELIEVE my NEURO from the get go.. They have seen this...and I should have.So you do the same.Love, Lovely Also, let me post this for you real quick, I posted it for Bart..This is directly from medhelp about Bulbar and Widespread twitches- You either have it Bulbar- or you have it UMN LMN cant have both. Here is the proof....

In my experience, swallowing and talking can seem incredibly difficult if you think about it while you do it. Just think, you've been doing it your entire life and never thought about it before, than you get some anxiety and the smallest tasks seem impossible.

Val, thanks so much for your post!! Nice to hear from you again.Dee-Dee, hon congrats on your fantastic EMG result, now you CAN put this behind you!The thing with the swallowing has really scared me, food seems to be going down the wrong way and I cough and cough to put it right, yesterday I couldnt get my breath, it was a bit scarey!! I guess I have had this thing happening before but just maybe I am focusing on this more I dont know!!Sandra

Sandra!Sean to the rescue! LOL! Not really but here it goes....I think most of us have had that. Mine came out of the blue. I would be at a resturant and not be worried or thinking about anything. Here is what I think it is. Have you ever tried to swallow a pill, and it does not go down? Then you try again and it just WONT go down? I think there are reasons for this such as anxiety, illness (that we dont feel but our saliva can be increased and membranes can put out more mucous thus making it harder to swallow (or allergins might even cause some sort of swelling or irritation). I do know that after the first time you have a problem swallowing it just seems to get worse to the point where if you forget about it and do it later there are no issues. BOTH of my neuros said that by the time you have swallowing issues you would have MAJOR speech issues and visible atrophy in tongue (at LATER stages of ALS). SO NO FEAR! We almost all get this from time to time. Its just another one of those symptoms that come and go and you say "AHHH TWITCHING AND I CANT SWALLOW...OH NO"! Because you have heard of bulbar ALS. But if they tied increased appetite to ALS we would all think "OH NO I HAVE BEEN EATING MORE LATELY". See what I am saying? This happens to normal people, but because of your worry it causes you to be scared. Im sure its really happening, but I can remember this happening quite often before I even knew about ALS like I do now. Everything is A-OK! Sean B.

Thanks Sean!You are wonderful!! Please dont ever leave the forum, we would be lost without folks like you!Warm regardsSandra

No problem! I am just here for everyone. I had several that came to my aid when I was VERY worried and could not function and I am glad to help anyone an give them as accurate info as possible to ease their minds =) Thank you ) Sean B

You guys are all so reassuring! Sean, that was a great post, and helps alot of us! JUST TODAY, like about an hour ago, I was meeting my daughter for lunch at school, and I had made her some bow-tie noodles--she was done with them and I had a few, and they wouldn't go down right! It was like pieces of them were getting stuck in my throat. And, like Sean said, as soon as I'm panicking and focusing on it, it gets worse. It's one of those really frustrating things that definitely gets worse with anxiety, which is the entire reason you have it, blah blah blah. It is great to come on here and see familiar names, I have to admit that I'm very bad at remembering who I wrote last or whatever, maybe it's all part of this 'brain fog' that seems to come along with this sometimes! But, it's like a feeling when you haven't seen someone's name in a while, and then I remember and think, hey, I hope they are ok. I was thinking of Sir_Trouserz recently~~has anyone heard from her? It seems like she hasn't posted here in a while, but I could be wrong. It feels like you make friends on here, and I worry when you don't hear for a while. I remember Sir_Trouserz as being really helpful, and just haven't heard in a while. Also, it feels like a while since PlayfulPants has been on. Hope all is well with everyone! Anyway, thanks again for all the reassurance. It's great when someone like Sean shares his neuro experience, it's more reassurance than I get from going myself. The thing that scares me about my recent neuro visit, is that I think he was pretty sure it wasn't als, but I don't think he really knew. Maybe he's not that experienced in that particular area, but sometimes he acts kind of perplexed, and focuses on other things. Of course, this is the typical hypochondriac in me not trusting my doctor. You know the routine of going, getting at least some degree of reassurance, only to have it fade away after a few days. Back to square one! And, he said that's what happens! I mean, he's not going to come out and tell my that I'm a psycho hypochondriac, he's going to say it in a nicer way, and try to help me into realizing what this truly is. I am such a spaz. Talk to you soon, Val