Swallowing Worry - Can't get it out of my head

[SurferJoe 10]

I woke up for a midnight snack on Wednesday and made myself a peanut butter & jelly sandwich. I ate it quick because I was worried about the peanut butter dripping, so didn't really chew very well and it was one bit on top of the next. One swallow was kind of painful, like too much going down. It triggered something and now I'm worried about it. I feel like I had a reason for my difficulty swallowing, but still cannot put it out of my head. No issues leading up to that moment (though I went through a bad swallowing anxiety maybe 10 years ago). I'm now hyper sensitive about swallowing. I'm overthinking something that should be normal. I've been eating normally and have not had a repeat of Wednesday night, but I'm fearful. I'm noticing everything about swallowing, so even something small is cause for me to freak out. I've been bouncing around between anxiety issues recently, so this is just the latest thing to get stuck on. Any positive thoughts would be helpful. Thanks!

PS: I really had zero symptom/worries up until that moment, not even a hint of anything wrong. I've not had anything close to that since then, despite eating normally. I ate 2 large sandwiches yesterday, for instance. I would think this would be something I could just push past by eating without any issues, but I've become so sensitive to the process of swallowing that I feel like I'm grasping at little sensations as proof that something is wrong. I think what I felt is normal and a reminder to chew my food properly, but as someone with HA, it's hard to let go.

[Ironman 87]

You tried to swallow too much too fast.  That's all that it.  It sounds normal if you are biting off too much.  Take smaller bites and chew your food!

Peanut butter is sticky, too. 

[SurferJoe 10]

Thanks for the thoughts. Deep down I agree with everything you wrote. It was a bad way to eat a sandwich and also a sensation I've had before and I think most of the time I'd just be able to pass it off. This time it got caught in my mind, but I'm feeling positive about it and hoping to be able to work through it.

[Bobnnat 491]

Hi Joe,

I went through exactly this. About 2 months ago I was eating dinner and a piece of food went down hard and I coughed. That started me doing exactly what you’re doing, over thinking every swallow.  I was testing as well, purposely eating things like bread and meat. When I made the mistake of getting an Arby’s roast beef, which probably had been sitting in the warming bin for hours, it went horribly wrong. I chewed, swallowed and awful pain. Hard to get down. That was all I needed to fear, well something really bad.

Enough meals passed I guess and I finally was able to move on, but not before bugging my doctor who in no uncertain terms set me straight. Of course like you, I’d been moving back and forth with various other HA concerns, and I still am. It’s really difficult, isn’t it? But clearly, like me, your swallowing is fine and once you’re able to stop micro managing every swallow, this will pass.

[SurferJoe 10]

1 hour ago, Bobnnat said:

Hi Joe,

I went through exactly this. About 2 months ago I was eating dinner and a piece of food went down hard and I coughed. That started me doing exactly what you’re doing, over thinking every swallow.  I was testing as well, purposely eating things like bread and meat. When I made the mistake of getting an Arby’s roast beef, which probably had been sitting in the warming bin for hours, it went horribly wrong. I chewed, swallowed and awful pain. Hard to get down. That was all I needed to fear, well something really bad.

Enough meals passed I guess and I finally was able to move on, but not before bugging my doctor who in no uncertain terms set me straight. Of course like you, I’d been moving back and forth with various other HA concerns, and I still am. It’s really difficult, isn’t it? But clearly, like me, your swallowing is fine and once you’re able to stop micro managing every swallow, this will pass.

This sounds exactly like what I'm going through. It's funny you mention Arby's. The day after I first started obsessing, I went to Arby's because there is one by my office and I thought it would be a good test to prove nothing is wrong. It went down fine, but I thought about every single swallow. I find myself testing things, but also worrying about meals. Is that next bite going to confirm my worst fears? Probably not, but it's hard to shake. It's especially frustrating because I felt I had moved beyond this worry last night. I felt convinced that all was good and that I'd had enough normal days to feel okay, but then this morning that voice came back into my head. 

[MARC 390]

I periodically get the feeling of food sort of getting stuck or having trouble going down my throat too and sometimes I feel like I need to drink something to help the food go down. I have a hiatal hernia too, which can cause odd sensations at times. Since I had an esophageal ulcer around 15 or so years ago, I have had many EGD's and all have been OK to date. 

[SurferJoe 10]

Ugh. This HA flare up won't go away. I've moved on from my initial swallowing worry, but I still have a swallowing worry. To recap, this first bit of worry was after a hard swallow of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I felt it low in my chest. That is what I obsessed about for nearly 2 months, obsessing over every swallow, looking for anything that didn't feel normal. Thankfully, I never had that experience again and it like was simply biting off more than I could chew and then forcing it down.

2 weekends ago, I was starting to feel solid again. I was eating without worrying too much. I felt like I was turning a corner, but then ran into a wall one week ago at dinner. We were eating pasta and I noticed a slight burning sensation in my upper throat, almost like an "acidic" feeling. It put me right back down the HA well.

It's hit me off and on since then, now manifesting as a slight burning in my upper throat (on the left). It doesn't happen every time I swallow, but enough to keep me rattled. I'm back to obsessing over every swallow.

The maddening thing is that I feel like both worries are not connected. The first was low in my chest and was a hard swallow. This is now high in my throat and more of a slight burning sensation, almost like a sore throat. My brain wants to link everything together, however.

I do have some congestion in my throat (I had COVID mid-November). There could be a reason for the soreness, but I also feel like my HA is helping to manifest things. 

I'm just worn out by it all. I want to accept that nothing is really wrong, but I can't. I can't just let it go. I'm trying everything I can: meditation, mindfulness, exercise, journaling, therapy.