Panicking a bit right now (throat feels full)

 

For whatever reason I am having a particularly bad time of it and have been for the past two weeks. Right now I have a feeling of fullness, right at the base of my tongue. I can swallow but it's not right and it's making me freak out a bit.

I was diagnosed with GERD and have been using all sort of meds and none of them do a darn thing. Waiting for my insurance to approve the 24 hr PH monitor but today I am at work and it's bad. I called the doc and all they tell me is the same stuff over and over again. I'm not eating any offensive foods that I'm aware of so them telling me over and over again to not lie down, skip spicy foods, etc is really wearing on me.

Do any of you GERD sufferers have moments where your throat just feels like it's swelling? If I calm myself down, I can tell it's not my airway. I've been tested for all of the food allergies too and they are all negative. It really feels like an allergy of some sort.

Thanks

I was tested for food allergies via a blood panel. Not by skin prick and the blood work was negative for all of the common allergens. I am going to take a benadryl and see what it does.

So I took some benadryl and that "throat closing" feeling went away after an hour. I can still feel something stuck, but not nearly as bad. It has to be an allergy. So frustrated. I considered the calming effect of Benadryl but I don't get sleepy with Benadryl.

Joy is right. Food allergies, AKA sensitivities don't always show up on testing. Lots of doctors, including some allergists don't know much about them and they can cause life-threatening conditions.

My particular sensitivity causes reflux and tachycardia. It's a known phenomenon called cardio-esophageal reflex. (not reflux) It works both ways. The esophagus (when triggered by various means, which in my case was a food trigger) can cause arrhythmias. The heart can trigger esophageal spasms. So you have to find out if you have an esophagus or a heart problem first.

In my case it was always the esophageal spasms and reflux that came first and triggered the heart.
My allergist had me keeping a food log for a month and then doing challenge testing to find the particular foods within a meal that were the offenders. I came out with a long list of unrelated foods, except for one thing - SULFITE. (not sulfate or sulfa) There is no blood test or skin prick test for sulfite, and the darn preservative/dough conditioner/bleaching agent is in a lot of stuff we eat all the time, particularly fast foods and pre-prepared meals.

I'm not saying everyone has the same sensitivity, but my problem is an example of how to find out if you do have a sensitivity that cannot be tested for in the office. I have posted my list of foods, and they can be searched in the forum, but you can also just google sulfite allergy or sensitivity and find pretty much the same list.

TiBoBi,

In a previous post you mentioned being on acid reflux medication (recently put on it I believe).  Did you check with the pharmacist about the signs of an allergic reaction to the medication?  I mention this because I had the same reaction you are having during the first 2 weeks of taking Nexxium and progressed to a worse reaction by the end of the month.  It turned out the purple dye in Nexxium had an ingredient that I was allergic too (same thing with Pravachol).

Please check out the allergy situation since the benadryl seemed to help.

Hi
I have suffered from the throat fullness and sometimes feeling like I might choke for almost 2 years.....a year ago today I had my nissen fundoplication, I had an esophogus that didn't close and hiatal hernia....I was under the impression that my throat issue would heal with my surgery but unfortunately that hasn't happened so far :(

I am in the process of getting allergy tests done and my family doctor is sending me to get a throat ultrasound, I wish he had sent me 2 years ago! I wonder if I may have thyroid nodules....that is something you may want to get checked for.

Sarah

Thanks. I just got back from my GI appt and now they are saying no reflux, that it must be something else. They are going to do another endoscopy and test for Eosinophilic Esophagitis. I think I spelled that right... they also said I was on too much medication so they cut my Aciphex in half. My appt is not until 3/18 so we'll see how I do on half the meds.