​

Kinda a vent post sorry think I just wanna get it out since no one irl relates to this. For context im a 24 year old who never had struggles with food.

timeline

Back in June I experienced some weird sensations in my mouth whilst trying to swallow jam and it felt like it was sticking in my throat. The next day I choked on cereal, full on coughing and the milk had slid down my throat whilst chewing. I felt weird and unconfident whilst eating meals and I was so hungry I ate a piece of chicken on night, felt it get stuck so I coughed violently and doubled over and my sister called 999.

I was prescribed famotidine and told it might be LPR. Got an endoscopy which came back clear and I didn't get better. This was in August. Then for the last two months I've tried to get an GP appointment and the doctor didnt even show up to work so I had to wait for another appointment 2 weeks later. I called 111 twice in four days because now I'm having trouble drinking water & dry swallowing, on top of experiencing a gummy stuck in my throat.

I made the mistake of crying to a pharmacist 2 days ago at a consultation. I said I couldnt wait for an appointment when i felt hungry and weak and need a doctor to help me. I then found out she then told my GP I was experiencing a severe mental health crisis just for crying.

At the appointment the next day the doctor said theres a long waitlist for swallowing tests and instead put me on anxiety medication, reffered me to an eating clinic and expensive antifungal medication just to rule it out. I doubt the test will come back with anything at this point. It got reframed into an 'anxiety issue' like im not struggling to swallow anything and chewing it up then spitting it out cos the swallow never comes or I dont coordinate it properly.

Just to add, when i went to pick that medication with my mum the same pharmacist proceeded to tell my mum in front of me: 'she needs help. No not just for her throat....for something...other than her throat', implying I was mentally unstable which is just great.

Where im at now

Not sure what else I can do. I used to be 59-60kg and went to 54kg in months yet everyone is acting like im choosing to starve myself. I dont plan on starting the anxiety medication since theyre fucking tablets I cant swallow & have terrible withdrawal symptoms.

I cant refer myself for any tests so im just gonna have to wait for a doctor who actually believes how dsyphagia can be deadly. Im so fucking hungry and weak im living off mushy cereal and a few chocolate bars with like four tablespoons of mashed potatoes. Its a nightmare i wish i was overweight so i could sustain myself for longer on a shitty diet.

Such an aggressive conditon I genuinely hope we all get better. I wish I didnt have to develop this random problem I never knew about and doctors didnt spare a glance at.

Shits hard I guess. Won't give up though.

I can barley drink water I cough every time and I can’t eat any food they tell me to make smoothies and drink shakes every time I go to the ER

I have been having increasing issues with dysphagia over probably the last couple of years. This year has been bad. At random I choke when eating or drinking something. I had a swallow test done and nothing came of it. But problem is it’s random. I’ve had mris done for some other things with hopes that it might give a reason but nothing. Then I was referred to another swallow test and being dismissed that I have reflux which I know it’s not that. I feel like I’m going crazy and I am even choking on spit nowadays. Any one have something similar?

I have been scheduled for both due to my dysphagia which is relatively mild and mostly with stringy, crumbly foods feeling like they don’t go down easily (they feel like they stick in mucus or the back of my throat). My ENT exam (scope through my nose) was normal. I am worried about these tests due to the barium and constipation the fact that I have IBS - C and diverticulosis in all parts of my colon.

Did any of you have any issues with the barium?

Why do I need both tests? Did most of you take both tests?

Thank you!

Hello - just venting I guess but it's been a little over a month of dysphagia with no answers to what's causing it.

I went camping during labor day weekend and everything was normal but I started feeling weird about swallowing like I had to put more effort. Once I got home and the following week it progressed to only soft easy foods and then the next week to liquids only. Even mashed potatoes or applesauce seemed to feel stuck and struggle to go down. Currently on a liquids only diet consisting of ensure, boost, and sometimes soup or smoothies. On a really good day I was able to get down scrambled eggs and mashed potatoes but on my worse days it's only very thin liquids and even that can be difficult.

I've only done a few tests and only had two blood tests run specifically for myasthenia gravis. Tests include normal and modified barium swallow, endoscopy with balloon dilation. I've seen PT, ortho, gastro, ENT, SLP, and will soon see a neurologist.

Also to note, my gag reflux has disappeared (it's usually pretty sensitive anytime anything goes near there), and I've been getting on and off sore throats but my gastro has me on PPIs and said my endoscopy showed very few signs of reflux damage.

I'm only in my 20s and just had a recent car accident over the summer which resulted in a herniated disc in my neck but it feels too young to be dealing with all of this. I'm really hoping whatever it is is curable.

I'm having regrets about my hernia/reflux surgery at the moment. I got a toupet fundoplication on October 5th. I had LPR/GERD and decided to try this surgery after finding a small hiatal hernia, an LES in hill grade III, a demeester score of 30, and an LES with no pressure. I also had ineffective motility and had been having swallowing issues in my upper airway.

I'm now 15 days post op and having pooling of spit/phlegm/mucus in my upper airway at night which I wasn't having prior to surgery and I'm getting scared. The only way I'm able to sleep is with an antihistamine at the moment. Will this improve as I continue to heal from surgery do you think? I meet with my surgeon tomorrow but they don't seem to know what's going on. On top of that, I still have a sore throat, phlegm in my throat all day, and throat clearing.

Can’t do pills. At all. But I’m very deficient in Vitamin D…does anyone have any recs to liquid versions or chewable versions?

i’m scared i’m accidentally aspirating my food when I struggle to swallow. I just ate a ball of mozzerella and when I swallowed I could feel it almost going into my airway like about to choke but not quite and I just tried to breathe through my nose and drink water. i’m scared of this constantly now with my new symptoms and i’m always feeling things like applesauce and yogurt getting to the wrong pipe and having to cough. can someone please help?

I developed swallowing issues about 3 years ago. It started with intermittent episodes of extreme pain when swallowing certain foods/textures. Oddly enough rice was the worst for me. It was as if my throat would stop swallowing it and then would spasm over it still being in my esophagus. I often thought I might choke. There was no drinking anything to get it down because that would back up too. I'd feel like I was drowning if I drank. Horrible.

That suddenly stopped about a year ago but now every time I eat leads to food just sitting in mainly the bottom of my esophagus for hours. It often hurts but it's mostly just annoying to feel. Sometimes it will crawl upwards and make me worry about choking. I'm able to drink water but it seems to just run right past the food. It doesn't push it through. I just wait until it works it's way down often 4-5 hours after I swallowed it.

I don't have insurance at the moment so I can't see a Dr yet. When is it a real concern?

I'm not sure how to explain this weird swallowing problem I've been having. As soon as I start chewing my food I feel out of breath. Along with this I will have small bits of food that is in my mouth being pushed down before I'm actually ready to do a full swallow. Or like my tongue is not coordinating with my brain and is swallowing way too early. It takes a lot of effort for managing the food in my mouth when this pattern starts along with trying to get some deep breaths in because I get so out of breath.

My GI doctor actually has me for an esophageal manometry since along with this I was having mostly complaints about food feeling stuck in throat and chest pains after eating certain food textures.

Endoscopy was completely normal. Barium swallow showed my entire esophagus was 'mildly narrow' and showed I have slow food transit but didn't go into more detail.

Anyone else? Just trying to figure out if anyone else has this and what did you find?

Hello. I’ve been experiencing difficulty starting a swallow since December 2026. It worsened steadily until may when it suddenly took a turn for the worse. It was already very bad yes but it suddenly worsened even more and I went from being able to eat food slowly (even when I try to eat faster) to having a fully liquid diet within a few days. I noticed I thrust my tongue voluntarily back and forth for the food to be able to reach the back of my tongue and I can swallow. For all of may i remained on a fully liquid diet. I noticed the more flavor the drink had, the easier to swallow. So, water was the hardest, and Gatorade or juice were way easier. I had to move thw liquid around my mouth before swallowing bit by bit and the less flavor, the more I had to move it around my mouth. Then, it improved very rapidly and was almost fully gone, I only struggled with a few stuff, and even then, the struggle was minimal and I could live my life normally. For all of June it was that way. In July it started coming back, just like it did when it first appeared, it worsened gradually. Right now I struggle with almost everything, but liquids not yet which is confusing to me. Why would the difficulty with solids be the same as may, but I can still swallow liquids? I also remember back in 2023 I had a single event where I couldn’t start swallow at all, I was eating a rough type of meat. I don’t know if this could be related but since 2023 I’ve also had my jaw making weird noise when I chew, it stayed for a month then went away, it returned back around march this year but happens only with hard foods. I also feel my jaw is tense when I open my mouth, for example when I open it to brush my teeth in the mornings. Plus my cheeks hurt when I smile for too long or smile too hard. I don’t have fear of choking or anything. I also don’t focus too much on my swallowing and I still struggle when I’m distracted and use the method of tongue thrusting I mentioned. I don’t feel my throat is tight and don’t have globus sensation, but occasionally I do feel like some food gets stuck in my throat. E.g. few days ago I was having a chicken nugget and felt like so,e was stuck, it took me multiple swallows for the feelings to be gone. Another example I had some lays and felt a bit stuck in my throat. What is stuck feels just like the texture of what I’m eating. I don’t feel this every time tho, it’s very occasional. I also have difficulty breathing. Started in April but I think it happened a few months before it too. For some foods, I breathe in, hold my breath, then exhale and the difficulty breathing eases a bit along a rumble sound from my throat. This only happens with very, very few foods. For the rest, it’s just difficulty breathing. Today I had a little incident, I was eating puff chips which is one of the very few solids I can manage right now. I felt I swallowed “weird”, felt it stuck in my throat, and I got difficulty breathing for maybe half an hour, I also yawned multiple huge yawns which I get sometimes when my difficulty breathing is severe enough. I had an endoscopy with a biopsy, a NCS, RNST, all came back normal. I’ve seen an SLP. He did an examination where he touches my throat when I swallow and he said there is some weakness but I don’t know whether to trust it or not bcs he seemed kinda clueless when I asked him what tests there are to find out what I have. But anyway I’m starting twice a week starting this week and we’ll see if there’s any improvement in a month. I don’t like how I’ve given up on finding a diagnosis and just wanna feel better. Both my gastroenterologist and neurologist suggest a manometry but I’m hesitant bcs It’s very expensive and I’ve got a feeling it won’t show anything, since my problem is up. I could also do a barium swallow but I thought it’s better to see if the sessions don’t help, then I will seek further tests. I wanna know what you guys think and if anyone here has ever experienced any of this, or what you would recommend if you went through something similar.

I do not have a diagnosis of dysphagia. I am 37 years old and recently I have noticed that food particularly small foods like rice and shredded chicken are getting stuck in between my gums and my cheek in the buccal fossa.

when I looked it up it said it was associated with dysphagia and can often be neurological. I have extreme health anxiety, and my biggest fear in the world is ALS and I am completely convinced that that is what is causing this. Do any of you here experience this issue?

I don't know if I'm experiencing low blood pressure because I haven't been able to eat solids for a year due to this condition but as of lately I've experiencing these or what feels like low blood pressure it's terrifying me I hate my life so much i hate this condition so fucking much .... I try to consume what I can eat such as soups etc but as of lately I've been experiencing low blood pressure I'm not sure if it's because I'm not consuming enough calories even though I'm not doing it intentionally does anyone else experience these low blood sugar or blood pressure?

I’ve been struggling with gerd for a little bit and now after weeks of acid reflux, feeling full, and burping nonstop I can barely swallow solid food. When I try to swallow it, it feels like I choke for a moment and it feels like I have to swallow several times before it goes down. This morning I just swallowed one of my (very small) pills and it felt like it slowed down and almost choked me, I could feel it very very intensely and then after I forced myself to swallow it feels still stuck in my throat, so I eat a cracker to push and down and the cracker also gets stuck in my throat. Now I feel like I have a lump in my throat and am drinking a protein drink because i’m too scared to eat anything else. I don’t have an appointment to see an ENT until the 30th, do I just get my nutrients through liquids until then? even liquids make me choke sometimes and cough. i’m getting really worried