Introduction:
Getting the food stuck in the throat is worrisome. It is the habit of the people sitting around that dining table to advise the victim to do different things.
Do the actions and instructions of these co-eaters, servers, and observers work successfully at this point? I have discussed this common eating problem with a very senior and eminent ENT specialist and an equally reputed psychiatrist besides my studies in this topic as a counseling psychologist and pharmaceutical personnel for five decades.
First Signal:
Coughing can be the first signal by which every other person around the dining table partially of fully stops their eating and interferes with their suggestions for solutions to clear the throat. Here, each person will act as an expert. One person will instruct to drink water. The person who sits next to the victim or the server will come and massage the back; another will come and gently beat on the head. The very fact that the person is coughing shows that there is no problem in the respiratory pathways.
Process of swallowing and how the difficulty is created?
Swallowing is associated with 50 pairs of muscles and many nerves. In short, the process of swallowing is the combined activity of muscles, nerves, secretions and the person’s involvement or attention while swallowing. The upper Esophageal Sphincter (UES) is the area of the upper digestive tract; which forms a barrier between the esophagus which is the portion of the digestive canal between the pharynx and stomach and the pharynx; the upper expanded portion of the digestive tube, between the esophagus below and the mouth and nasal cavities above and in front. Epiglottis is A leaf-shaped plate of elastic cartilage, covered with mucous membrane, at the root of the tongue, which serves as a diverter valve over the superior aperture of the larynx during the act of swallowing; it stands erect when liquids are being swallowed, but is passively bent over the aperture by solid foods being swallowed.
Epiglottis intermittently opens and closes to allow passage of contents during various physiologic events. Cricopharyngeus is the constrictor muscle that occasionally fails to maintain its permanent tonus or to relax during the act of swallowing or deglutition. This leads to difficulty swallowing. During infancy, food stuck in the throat is dangerous. As analyzing the incidents in patients the neurologically impaired patients and for those who have undergone repeated aspirations, the incidents are often.
Everybody with basic knowledge of the digestive system knows that from the mouth, the saliva-mixed food moves forward for the next process and there is our problem of sticking in the throat. The tongue pushes the food to the throat. During this phase, the windpipe closes tightly, and there will not be breathing just for a moment while food goes down. As all of us know, food moving towards the windpipe is the wrong direction, and that deviation creates the problem. The food has to go to the esophagus to reach the stomach. However, without going to the stomach, if it sticks the esophagus, the person coughs to prevent him from talking. Cough is a protective mechanism. Some other typical problems are to restrain by force or authority from freedom of speech which is known as gagging, saliva running down from one’s mouth known as drooling, etc. Persons having a severe illness in the throat must be having so many other symptoms that are not discussed here. Here we discuss only commonly seen food stuck in the throat of an average healthy person. Esophageal soft food bolus obstruction (OSFBO) is a surgical emergency that is also not discussed here.
What are the conditions which are likely to create this problem when otherwise the person is healthy with a normal throat?
- When the person has starved for some time, and not even had a glass of water.
- Taking the food haphazardly which may be habitual or due to hunger.
- Talking too much during the intake of food without having a concentration in the intake.
The opinion of ENT specialist.
According to the expert ENT specialist, the problem is due to the spasm created by sudden intake, and it will get itself normalized, and the interference of others will not help at this point of time. The suffering person should be left alone to have some water patiently. If soda water is available, that will be ideal. No interference is needed here.
Psychiatrist’s opinion:
The same is the opinion of the psychiatrist also. In his own words, ‘There is a definite connection between emotion and gastric function. Negative emotion and aversive noise can adversely affect peristaltic movements’. Peristaltic movement is the wavery movements in the alimentary canal or digestive system by which food is moved downwards i.e. targeting the stomach. While observing the eating style of animals like cats and dogs, the food stuck in the throat is a common problem which we usually observe. This is also due to their fast and voracious eating but at the same time, it usually gets resolved by itself without any interference from outside.
Sometime back, while I was working with a multinational pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline. I had the experience of listening to the medical talks of Dr. Meharban Singh who is a world-renowned pediatrician, author, and neonatologist. He was also the Medical Advisor of the company. Regarding eating habits, he used to tell that let the child eat with full freedom. There should not be any interference. Let him make a mess on the table.
Similarly, in the case of the grown-up person also, while eating he should be given full freedom. Continuous questions to him divert his attention. For example, when the husband comes home for lunch with so many problems of office and on the way, the wife or mother who usually serves food to him should not ask him repeated questions and whatever dishes are there; should be served calmly or give him the freedom to take as per his need and likes. Questions such as “why are you not taking this and that ? do not have any relevance there as he is hungry combined with enough worries. If he is late, that question also can be asked later and not during the intake of food.
Small Remedies:
Apart from drinking water, carbonated beverages like soda water if, available at home or nearby can be of some relief. This is known as the Coca-Cola trick, and a small piece of banana and butter are some of the instant remedies. Bread soaked in water can be the right solution. Bread covered with peanut butter also is useful. Olive oil is another remedy. If it is fish bone, vinegar may help with its acidic pH because the acid will break down the fishbone. Here a dilution of 2 tablespoons of vinegar in a cup of water will be ideal. The best remedy is patience or waiting for some time.
The situation becomes worse when the food goes to the lung. If the lung is healthy, it expels the food, but if the lung is unhealthy, the problem requires a doctors attention.
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