Choking and Food getting stuck

paul61 said:

It normally gets stuck far enough down so it does not interfere

Most of us who have been through surgery have had this event a time or two. Normally the food gets lodged far enough down the esophagus that it does not interfere with breathing. It is just uncomfortable and can be very frightening wondering how long it is going to take to clear. The best thing is to relax, take a few deep breaths, stay upright, and try tucking your chin into your chest and swallowing. Most people thing the best way to open your esophagus when you are swallowing is to tip your head back but actually the best way to open your esophagus is to tip your head forward.

I am now a little over 5 years out from surgery and I have learned some “rules for eating” the hard way. They include:

1. Be very careful with bread and other things that tend to clump together.

2. Chew very thoroughly and put my fork down between bites to slow my eating down.

3. Take sips of liquid between bites (I find Diet Coke tends to work best for me)

4. Don’t talk while eating

5. Take your time

6. When taking large pills take them with a sip of liquid and tip your head down before swallowing.

 

If find if I follow these steps I have far fewer emergencies. If it happens too often it is time to see your gastroenterologist about an endoscopy and possible expansion of the narrowed area.

Best Regards,

Paul Adams

McCormick, South Carolina
DX 10/2009 T2N1M0  Stage IIB - Ivor Lewis Surgery  12/3/2009 - Post Surgery Chemotherapy 2/2009 – 6/2009
Cisplatin, Epirubicin, 5 FU - Four Year Survivor

 

My problem has been two fold:

Find food that does not expand when it get wet (potato, cereals, bread,rice etc).  I can eat a small meal, but if it contains any of those, as soon as you drink, what you thought was a small amount is now 2-3 times more in volume.. which hurts... like its either going to burst your chest, or it is just going to violently come back up.

Keeping hydrated.  On those days when you just don't feel like putting anything down there, it makes it real difficult.

I did have to have 4 dilations in the year or so after my transhiatal esophagectomy (10-16-2012).

Started to have GERD.. no Cardiac sphincter left, no impediments to reflux except gravity. Tums just doesn't do much when it is the back of the mouth burning.

Yeah, sleep in an uncormfotable chesp 30 year old hospital bed with my head at 45 degrees.

Then I start haveing GERD again... but the only place for it to go was down my trachea.  that really hurts..  feels like a red hot poker shoved in you  chest.  No antacids are made to deal with stomach acid in the trachea.  Saw a pulmonoligist.. they have no inhaler or other tools either.  4-12 hours of pain and an awful, even more painful cough until the acid is treated, concenration lowers, and "wet" lungs get better.

Adhesions from Surgery.  Day to day (and more than one day) I go from const to diarh with pain as stuff moves through the adhesed areas.

I never want to go anywhere.  The meds I am on for the abdominal stuff doesn't allow alot of time.  When body says "got to go" it means within the next 5 minutes. At least the GI doc has something he keeps trying to get meds right for me.  Treating the GERD, the mechanical GI issues. But no one is treating me for any of the pain.

I do not know if this is a Reno thing,.  Judging by the way some people present in dr offices, I see pain med seekers, but I have no idea if they are truly in need or not; they are insistent.

Makes me wonder if the only way to get any real pain managment is to start tkaing street drugs and beeing a jerk at the Doc desk about it.  

Don't get me wrong.. I never would, but it is 0430, I haven't slept at all, again, I am tired, hurt and frustrated.

Needless to say, no longer have much of a social life.

So while I am still looking at the green side of the grass, it gets harder and harder to see it as a good thing.

Thanks for letting me rant.

Watch the expancile foods and how much you drink when you have a meal.  

----  get some sugar free life savers and suck on some if you have that overfull sensation that won't go away.  It can help keep stuff moving through.

Boost plus (360 calories) is good sold over the counter at Walmart and if he is loosing to much weight boost very high calorie (530calories) helps a lot not sold in stores you can order through Nestle only comes in vanela but I found it was less expensive on Amazon they help a lot to get through periods of difficult swallowing when food won't pass also flavorless whey protein mix just sprinkle it on the food helps to keep total protein and album an level up needed for the bone marrow to produce blood usually only need one scoop a day and it's flavorless so you can't even tell the difference for supplements like men's/women's one a day they are huge pills but trader joes has the ones that dissolve in the mouth it was a life saver for my wife hope that helps stay away from meat it it is hard to swallow and hard to digest even for people without health issues