Board 8 > I'm having trouble swallowing, have been for four hours now

(+) Yeah! (+)

I don't think my life is at risk here so I really don't want to go to the hospital as I don't have health insurance, but of course this started right at the end of the work day so I couldn't go to a normal doctor either

You'd be surprised how difficult it makes things, though
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Have you tried working the shaft?
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TheRock1525 posted...

Have you tried working the shaft?

How did you not expect this to happen immediately with a topic title like that
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That sounds kind of alarming.

You feel fine otherwise?
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Have you been trying to swallow thr whole time? Rest your esophagus for a while then try later.
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Sounds like strep throat. May wanna see a doctor or go to a clinic or something.
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Yeah I feel okay except when I try to swallow. It does not go too well. Thing is I'm pretty dehydrated from not drinking much before this and not drinking the past few hours. All the local doctors are closed so I can't go to a normal one. Hence why I'm trying to stall till morning

However I brought a jug of water to the emergency room and am currently drinking that where they can treat me if I choke. Not technically admitted though
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You went to the ER just in case your own plan to help yourself goes wrong, youre already in the building for Plan B?

Thats pretty genius
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Also I would try to swallow less but I'm over salivating (likely due to dehydration) and the throat is super dry (likely due to dehydration)

Or at least partially. Drinking isn't helping a ton here, unfortunately. Also it's kinda hard to will yourself to drink even if safety is right around the corner so I'm drinking pretty slow,

Hope they don't kick me out
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like it hurts to swallow or you literally lost the function?
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Lopen plans like a heel
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Proper term for this is dysphagia. Here's a thing.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/dysphagia/symptoms-causes/syc-20372028

feel better soon logan!
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Well based on your description of the symptoms I can guarantee you it's not Ebola, so there's some good news at least
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Lopen posted...

Also I would try to swallow less but I'm over salivating (likely due to dehydration) and the throat is super dry (likely due to dehydration)

Or at least partially. Drinking isn't helping a ton here, unfortunately. Also it's kinda hard to will yourself to drink even if safety is right around the corner so I'm drinking pretty slow,

Hope they don't kick me out

Many years ago I got this sensation where I was working at the time. I've pretty much lived with off and on flare-ups of this since. This has probably been like 5 years ago now. Went through a huge cycle of ENTs to diagnose the problem (and never really did get a good one). I dunno if it's what's bothering you, but for me I am pretty sure I have GERD on a moderate level (most ENTs have given me this diagnosis, the only one that didn't was surprisingly the only place I had a EGD procedure done). I also have a large thyroid which can give you a sensation of something stuck in your throat as well.

It's a weird thing. Hope you find out something more conclusive than I ever have.
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I get this as a reaction a specific kind of food dye and i still dont know which one.
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I ate nothing today I haven't eaten before, and haven't eaten much at all for obvious reasons. Strep throat seems possible though it doesn't hurt much-- though when strep first starts it doesn't hurt a ton either.

I went home. I seem to be able to loiter in the Emergency Reception indefinitely which I could do for peace of mind, but I feel like it's a trap-- first sign of "danger" and I'll go into the ER and be stuck with a bill I can't rightly pay right now so probably better to just stay home
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Where do you live? I only just this year graduated from free health insurance to pay for my own health insurance and it was actually not as bad as i feared it would be to cover myself and my wife.

The peace of mind from knowing i can schedule check ups and got to 24 hour urgent care without bankrupting myself is invaluable.
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On the topic of ate nothing new. Allergies are weird and mysterious and can appear out of nowhere randomly.
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I guess it's possible. Still abusing this ER waiting room. I will probably make it through the night without needing to use it, thankfully
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As for why I don't have health insurance I live a fairly healthy lifestyle and haven't been to the doctor in probably 15 or 20 years. I guess when you need it you need it though. I'll definitely consider it a bit more after this.
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I managed to avoid the ER.

charon gets the square. When I think about it, it does make some sense-- I'd had a (much) lighter episode about a month and a half ago when I had an uncharacteristic few days where I ate a bunch of meat fish and pizza.

I feel way better today just through time's passing-- strange that I only slept like 2 hours last night (spent most of it doing the ER scheme, towards the end I got tired enough that I fell asleep in the lobby) and I woke up feeling much better. It should be noted the one thing I ate yesterday was a fairly spicy sandwich, which doesn't sound good for that at all.

The doc is recommending I get an endoscopy thing and possibly stretch my esophagus out

On the plus side if I need to do that I can get health insurance before getting the procedure. I'm leaning towards not doing it and just being more conservative with what I eat and being aggressive with antacids though. Not having much attachment to meat as a food group helps me a lot in this regard. We'll see how I feel with the recovery after taking these prescribed steroids and antacids for a few days though.
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If you think you're dehydrated get some pedialyte or other powdered electrolytes and add it to your water, especially if youre having trouble consuming significant quantities of it. If you think it's allergen related, try taking some benadryl.
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Drink some vodka.
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Careful with the antacids. If you go that route, stay very, very hydrated. Kidney stones are not fun, and most of them are comprised of calcium and some other compound (oxylate or phosphate).

sounds like rabies
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Yeah I'm not going to long term use it, at least that wasn't my understanding of what the doctor recommended. It's mostly to inhibit any acid so my throat can heal properly. Then I'll just try to be conservative with meats and stuff. It should be noted that I had a pretty severe near choking to death episode on Monday which I'm pretty sure contributed heavily to this problem so I'm hoping I can avoid needing medication long term and just get by with showing some more concern with what I eat. But I do need to take it daily for a while.

It's not those calcium things though it's omeprazole which of course has its own set of side effects which is why I was hoping it wasn't meant as a long term solution.
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You should reeeeally get health insurance if it's at all possible to afford it. Your health might be consistently good but almost everyone has *something* happen to them at some point in their life, whether through illness or accident.
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It's also important to get an annual checkup, if you're not doing that
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A videofluoroscopic evaluation may be necessary to discern whether your pharyngeal motility is affected by viral infection.

Do I sound overly technical to you?

(And yes, get health insurance - there are cheap options that typically stick to limited networks, but those are there in case something happens like this)
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BlueCrystalTear posted...

A videofluoroscopic evaluation may be necessary to discern whether your pharyngeal motility is affected by viral infection.

Do I sound overly technical to you?

Translation: they're gonna run goop down your neck to make sure you don't have a throat bug gumming up the works.

I'm having trouble swallowing today too! but it's just a minor sore throat, not anything I'd even consider going to the ER from. feel better bud.
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Thanks for the well wishes. Feel way better today. Swallowing is close to normal, though I feel a bit of fatigue if I swallow too much stuff at once. Kinda the main issue is it just feels like I have a mild stomach bug at the moment. I'm not sure if that's anxiety from slight eating paranoia or an actual symptom, but yeah.

I'm not a doctor but it really feels like this is less a "I have severe acid reflux issues" and more just a perfect storm of ailments hitting me all at once (I have a slight cold which isn't helpful for breathing, and the stomach bug making it harder to keep stuff down doesn't gel well with that either especially when I have difficulty burping and such due to the narrowed esophagus from the choking damage and mild acid reflux from the spicy sandwich) combined with slight panic attack symptoms having happened so soon after nearly choking to death.

Still going to follow through fully with these treatments for the recommended 2 weeks and play it safer with what I eat from now on-- since as said I had a really minor version of being unable to swallow about a month and a half ago from a sustained overload of food that is rough on digesting-- that I got over after a nap, but I'm less concerned about this being a long term problem for sure.
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