Food Stuck In Throat, At the Base of Tongue, Causes Choking!

You poor thing. My mother does this often, could it be something as simple as her problem is --- she talks and laughs when she eats, and gets overexcited as well, trying to swallow quickly before she has chewed her food properly ... Just so she can get her say in !!
I had one terrifying time I thought she was going to die and turned grey, thank god she got a piece of my soggy muffin out ! Just imagine your mum dying because of your cooking !
What are the circumstances that this happens to you in ??
Lyn in australia

It is anytime, not just when talking, etc. And it is usually small things, like slivers of tuna!! Gross, huh? I think there is something wrong there, and was just hoping that someone knew what!!

Hey! I think I have the same thing. A few months ago I started getting bits of food --especially things like bits of peanuts and bits of tortilla chips stuck in some sort of flap at the back of my throat. I don't choke on the stuff, but it's really annoying--it's like a constant low level "something's caught in my throat" feeling. If I reach way back in there while shining a flashlight into a mirror, I can get the stuff out--and it always amazes me how big the stuff is. No tuna slivers though. I was thinking maybe it had something to do with tonsils (?) I never had mine taken out...Did you?
Stefan in boston

Hi there! I am no Dr. But it does sound like you might have a hiatal hernia and it does have to do with a flap. You should go check this out with your Dr. Their is a little minor surgery they can do for this situation. I am sure that they have a lot of info on this situation on the internet. A lot of people have this problem.
Sincerely,
sandy

Hey sandy,
so i'm not a doctor either, but I don't think this a hiatal hernia. I went and looked it up and hiatal hernias happen down where the stomach meets the esophagus. It looks like it's when part of your stomach bulges up through your diaphram.
It's just too far away...I have a hard time believing that a flap in the back of my mouth that catches food could result from that sort of thing. Thanks for the idea, though...

I have the same problem. An egd (upper endoscopy) is been scheduled for me to figure out the problem. See your doctor.

Same thing happens to me, I have to stick my finger in my throat and push against the back of my mouth to squeeze out what is stuck..It is gross. I am going to go to the doctor soon becuase I am fed up with it. Does anyone have any idea what the problem may be?

I have the same problem. My regular md told me today he wants me to see an ent. I tried an ent two yrs ago - the first time it happened - he put a scope down my nose and 'didn't see anything', just a big ball of snot - which he pushed on, and I felt the tiny piece of hard candy inside it - (i told him so - but he said it was only snot) but he ended up accidentally breaking it up - so I had relief after the office visit anyway! Now it happens more and more often. It really is food getting stuck in my nasal cavity or in a pocket of the soft palate - just behind the uvula - as I swallow. Sometimes it is a few minutes or sometimes a couple weeks before I can hack it out, or it falls down into my mouth when I relax, often as I am beginning to fall asleep. A couple of times, I blew it out thru my nose - a gross phenomena - having a tiny piece of broccoli blow out of one's nose! It's always tiny pieces of food - often meat, nuts, candy, a piece of rice or raw veggies - and it is aggravating while it is stuck - keeping me from sleeping. My poor huusband - trying to sleep when I start to fall asleep and then start coughing and hacking - and have to jump up and run to the bathroom, sometimes, as it makes me involuntarily vomit. He is really patient with it all. When I start to relax, it falls but tickles terribly - so I cough involuntarily and it jumps right back up into the nasal cavity...Or wherever it was...If only I could ignore the tickling - I know it could fall down. I have tried qtips and my fingers, a 'sinu-cleanse netti-pot' and a dental water pic - and can not get to release mechanically - all that happens is I accidentally gag myself and sometimes vomit - yuck - an accidental bulimic! So I have to wait until it falls of its own accord. When it falls - if after only a few minutes of being stuck, I can see what it is clearly - but after a few days, it gets surrounded by a bloody snot-ball and I have to disect it to figure out what type of food it was. My md thinks it may be an adenoid problem and need surgery - or a slim chance it could be a nerve thing - caused by the 'vagus nerve' not doing its job. It is not when I am talking, and I have tried eating alone and slowly, taking small bites and chewing carefully and thinking "swallow" before each time I swallow to try to prepare my uvula to close properly each time. Nothing works - and after a couple of days - sometimes in the 1st day - I get something stuck up there again! For the last ten days, I have quit eating anything but very soft foods, baby food, ice cream, mashed potatoes, popsicles, smoothies and liquids. I worry my diet is now not balanced - I don't like very sweet foods - and store bought smoothies are way too sweet tasting for me - so I make my own. I am becoming fearful of eating - because once I get relief - I want to stay that way! I drink v8 and take big, unstickable vitamins - hoping that makes up for the dramatic shift in my diet. I also don't want to lose so much weight as to be unhealthy - I have a wonderful family to stay alive and healthy for - whom I love very much. This annoying problem is something I would like to go away or to learn to deal with effectively - and be back to being able to eat out socially and eat with my family again. It is hard to be cheerful around the kids with something always stuck in my nasal cavity! I am glad I found your posts, tho, as there is some relief knowing there are other sufferers w/ the same problem. Thanks for listening - anyone with any new ideas for getting particles of food unstuck more quickly, please let me know - this is no fun!

Did anyone ever discover anyting about this condition? My husband had developed it and is losing weight. He is also losing sleep. Quality of life has decreased dramatically. He has been to MD's, ENT's and Dentists. He even had his thyroid removed because they thought that was the problem Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!!

I wont go into all the detials but I thought for a month I had swallowed a piece of chicken at a restaurnat on Jan 11th.... never came out, I' was miserable every since, went to see emergency roon, Dr.'s office, ENT, specialist, etc. they never found anything.... sent me home...
Two days ago someone suggested I take Mucinex ( over the counter from drug store that loosens phlem) THIS worked, not the first day, but the second night this huge muscus ball, literally POPPED out of my throat while I was sleep and woke me up..
Only thing is , the pill is big so I had to cut it up to be able to swallow it all because I couldn't really swallow anything big .... Check it out,, this worked for me, I am sooooooooo Relieved today.............
The thing is I was SO SURE it was food caught in there,, but it wasn't , it was hardened muscus stuck somewhere in there....

to midwest gal, Just to let you know from my experience, I am also having trouble with food stuck feeling, I have had a upper endoscopy and it showed my esphogus was restricted and they dialated it, i can swallow better but still have the sensation of food stuck, I had a video swallow and it showed that on diff food consistency it was pooling in the pockets of my throat and my epoglotis was thickened, tho when my ent scoped he said he didnt see anything, needless to say I am seeing another ENT. but in the meantime I have been going to speech therapy and she has given me exercises to do with my throat musceles to help with relieve of the pooling and to also strengthen them.....I have been living off scramble eggs, yougart, and now just started some breakfast carnations, as i have been dropping weight to and my quality of life has also decreased, my whole day has now been centered around how i am i feeling and if i feel like i am choaking all day, this has been going on since dec, and i have found that you have to be your own advocate, if one dr doesnt listen to you find another....hope this helps

I have this also. I will try and explain what i think it is. See i get them in the back of my mouth on the sides. i have what look like slits and holes where food gets stuck. over the years these slits and holes are increasing in numbers (not a whole lot) but i think these holes are from past cases of perhaps strep throat or other type infections. I use a water pic on very low setting and a flash light. After a while you get used to doing it like once a month or so and you would believe how much stuff comes out.

Regarding having them in your throat, thats something you would need to have looked at as a water pic will not reach that far down.

I am also convinced that if this food is not cleaned out from time to time, it will lead to irratations of the throat and mouth

there also is procedures where they can take a laser and basically burn off excess skin so food will not trap anymore so if the water pic idea doesnt work, then this is an option.

good luck fellow chipmunks

I had that food stuck feeling every time I ate. I swore food was stuck and wouldnt go down despite drinking copious amounts of liquids. Turned out toi be simply a sensation of food sticking. I can relate, because you swear there is food stuck in your throat. It turned out as I said to be a sensation caused by acid reflux disease. ( GERD) Prevacid took care of it, one pill daily.

My wife was in a coma four months ago, and slowly went back to solid food two months ago. She chews her food ~20 times before swallowing, but every so often food gets stuck at the top of her throat. She can still breath but cannot swallow anything else.

She wants to know how to get it back out. She tries to vomit it out, but it often takes 5-6 hours sometimes to get it out. She does not want to go to an ENT as she does not feel it will help. Does anyone know anything that may get easily it out.

tmonkey - Sorry to hear your about wife being in a coma a while back. I hope she has recovered from whatever caused it.

I believe I have a similar problem with respect to food being stuck in the throat. I can breathe but cannot swallow anything. Neither water or saliva can go down while this condition is present. I do not believe my condition is related to an allergy since I can resume eating the same food without any re-occurrence after clearing up the blockage. It is also not related to anxiety as this has happened in many different calm, relaxing, pleasant surroundings. I am usually a slow eater and tend to chew my food well before swallowing therefore I cannot link it to eating too quickly or not chewing properly. The vast majority of the times it happens I am not even conversing so that will rule out swallowing while talking. There is no forewarning - it happens very quickly.

These are some of the steps I take to overcome the problem when it occurs. I believe something in my throat below my airway seizes up (sounds like an allergic reaction but I don't think so) and my mouth will produce a lot of saliva. I will usually spit the excess saliva out while trying to relax my throat muscles. That works only a few times and it can take 5 or 10 minutes before the trapped food slips into the stomach. Sometimes the action of walking around helps but this is only done at home - cannot do this in a restaurant. Lately I have discovered the quickest way to obtain relief is to bring the food back up so this is my preferred method.

In a standing position I bend over (gravity plays a big part here) the toilet, open my mouth wide, and touch the back of my tongue as far down my throat as possible with my little finger. This usually results in bringing the food up. Sometimes I need to repeat the steps a few times before all of the blockage is cleared up. I do not go back to eating until I can swallow some water without any difficulty.

I know this does not identify the root cause of the problem or how to get rid of the problem altogether however it does provide fast relief. I hope this helps.

PS Ensure hands are washed properly before and after it is placed into the mouth.

I don't know because alot of people who replied seem to have the same thing but I thought I'd give my two cents here. My father in law had the same thing. he ignored it for a while before it got bad enough for him to visit a dr. about it. It turned out he had throat cancer and within 6 months he had died. I'm no dr. either but a symptom like that would have me running to the dr.

I had something stuck in my throat for the second time tonight. The first time it was Pizza and I thought maybe I scratched my throat and was mistaken but tonight it happened again with rice. It was so uncomfortable I was considering going to the urgent care center. I gulped water, ate bread, made myself puke and I finally came to the conclusion that it was trapped somewhere between behind my tonsils and my nasal cavity. I got the flashlight out but I couldn't find a good object to stick back there to poke around. I was hoping to find some chopsticks but the best I could find was the end of a spoon, a paper clip and a Q-tip with the cotton pulled off. I didn't even try the paper clip but the other two objects just made me gag. I even tried treading a thin rubber strand of elastic thread that is intended for bead projects and about the size of a spagetti noodle through my nose but I still couldn't reach it and it was too wierd. After a few hours of spazzing out I started dripping water through my nose every few minutes and swallowing continuously and the food slowly disolved. I am going to see my doctor about this. I have always had oversized tonsils so I think that may have something to do with it. Every time I see a new doctor he/she is surprised I never needed them removed. I hope this helps someone and I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that's had this problem.

I was lead in this direction from my mother and some other websites but I don't think it's the same thing most of us are talking about. I recommend googling it for more info. My best advice that has found me relief is to chew well and swallow carefully. If you get something stuck that is extremely bothersome try taking a shower to relax and try to inhale tiny trickles of water through your nose and repeatedly swallowing as hard as you can. Something logical tells me Benadryl may help but I haven't tried it