Dysphagia Confused With Choking?


Jan 18, 2015

I've had dysphagia all my life and as a child was diagnosed acid reflux disease and underwent surgery for both a fundoplication and dilation of the esophagus.

The dysphagia never completely went away though.

What often happens is the feeling of food caught in the throat. Like it won't go down even after swallow and I get a gurgling sound and also feel a very uncomfortable "pressure" in my throat.

I liken it to choking, except when this happens I can still breathe fine for the most part so I know I'm not technically choking.

Sometimes when this happens literally spend hours coughing and swallowing until I finally feel it slide down.

Here's my question. When this happens, I know I could swallow much harder and with more force, but psychologically I'm terrified of choking. If I swallow with more force the pressure in my throat gets even worse and whether I can breathe or not it still feels very much like choking.

Am I being irrational here?

Do I just have to suck it up and swallow very hard to force the food down, and just tell myself it may be uncomfortable but I'm not going to choke?

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