Choking on Saliva/ Uncontrollable swallowing and air in esophagus

Force yourself to sleep on your side (not on your back) - surround yourself with big pillows so you cannot roll onto your back - that should help - it helped me.

I do not have this problem often; only when my allergies get bad or I get sick. So I looked into poeple who suffer from this issue chronically. It could be Chronic Sinusitis.

I would say a common thread throughout this discussion is sinus problems / allergy issues. I actually stopped using my presecrip sinus spray (flonase) and started rinsing my sinuses daily with a neti pot/ sinus syringe and I have not had a choking episode in 3 months...but I am always on edge. I also take allegra daily.

I am so happy I found this site. I had an episode of this choking thing last night and I was gasping so badly, my wife came upstairs to find out what was going on. Just like lots of other people on this thread, I woke up in bed from a normal sleep and instantly knew something was wrong. It felt for a split second, like something had gone down the wrong way in my throat and my airway closed almost completely. It has happened before, about 3yrs ago and I realised what was happening. I tried so hard to stay calm and not panic, but it really is very scary. It took about 10 mins to get my breathing into some sort of steady state and I was already sweating and shaking. Although the actual choking only lasted about 10 mins, it took over an hour for me to calm down enough to go back to sleep. I am amazed that no medically trained people know what this strange and very scary problem is. 

I have experienced the same thing as all of you many times. It's beyond horrible. The most recent and worst attack ever was last night. I was drinking a glass of root beer, and a little trickled down the wrong pipe, and bam...everything closed up. The awful sound of air trying to get through my windpipe. The anxiety. I lost control of my bladder, and this terrifying experience went on for 10 minutes. I really thought I would be meeting my maker last night. I think it would be a terrifying way to go, but can totally see a person dying from this. Although I must have been getting some amount of air, it felt as though I was suffocating. Pure torture! Today, all day...I have had terrible acid reflux, and almost had another episode. I would love to get some help for this. I had an endoscopy a few years ago, and there was nothing wrong. All they can tell me is chew my food well, don't talk while eating, etc. The strange thing is...it is always liquids, like all of you...and many times my own saliva!

 is it acid reflux

Yep, same here. but its not always liquid. sometimes just out of the blue! i, too, had an endoscopy and nothin! the worst ive had was last week. i was in bed about asleep and boom!, there it was!i nearly passed out before breathing. went back to bed and, BOOM! agail, only worse and longer! then before i could get back to bed, BOOM!
AGAIN!
Every time it seems as if i'm gonna DIE! i take 1mg Xaxax, and, still this happens!
WHY? WHY? WHY?

After reviewing laryngospasm I think my problem is sleep related laryngospasm. The best way I have found to relax my my vocal chords and therefore start breathing again is to tap just below my Adams apple with my fingers. It immediately allowed me resume breathing.

Do you or anyone else here ever pass-out? I have Many times.

Asfar as patting on the back goes, usually it is more effective to be given the hiemlich maneuver. I know there is nothing in your throat, but, this clears the airway muck quicker. I know this because I have been suffering from this for at least 8 years.

This IS the way I will DIE!, I fear.

Ok so this has been happening to me for 5 years now, but with me it ONLY happens when i am sleeping and is usually within the first half an hour from when i fell asleep. i wake up and it feels like my airway has been closed to the point where i have woken up do to not the fact that i havent taken a breath, i alway wake up in a panic but have learned over the years to try and relax and swallow.. until i swallow i cant breath.. its been getting worst and worst lately to where i finally set up a doctor appointment after 5 years, he told me i had acid reflux but this is NOT what i have because i attempted changing my entire diet and also taking the pills he gave me and the problem is still happening. i have never had heart burn or anything related to acid reflux. ive read all your posts and seen a bunch of people who seem like there having the same problem but ive yet to see a solution.. wondering if one day i wont be able to catch my breath and since my air passage is blocked that once i passout i will never end up breathing again. any solution would help, and also im like 99 percent that this is NOT sleep apnia.

After another very scary episode last night, I have arranged an appointment with the Doctor tomorrow. Last night I was gasping and swallowing air so loudly, my wife thought I was either having a fit or a heart attack and very nearly phoned for an ambulance, but as anyone that suffers from this knows, by the time an ambulance arrived, my breathing would have settled down again and I would just appear to be a silly man. I hardly slept for the rest of the night because I was so scared it would happen again. I know people are trying to help on here, but let me say what is happening to me during these choking episodes is not asthma, it is not acid reflux, it is not sleep apnea (because I had been awake for 5 - 10 mins). Lets hope my Doctor takes some sort of interest and we might finally get some sort of answer to what we are all going through.

Hi everyone. I DO hope we get some answers soon. We have all described what we are going through, so no point in going over that again. We all know that this is terrifying. As far as Acid Reflux goes, you don't have to feel burning in your throat and stomach to have acid reflux. I have it, and have said for years that I don't. An RN just told me to start taking my Omeprazol (like Nexium) again. I was only taking it when I knew I was going to eat something spicy. She told me that it has to be taken every day, to heal the stomach lining. As I said...I have never had any symptoms of Acid Reflux until one day after my last horrible choking episode, which was last week. I ate some Humus on a cracker, and it came back up and burned so bad, that if I hadn't had water in the car, I think I would have choked again. I stopped at the drugstore, and picked up some Rolaids for a quick fix. I have to say, just like some of you, that after my last episode, I was afraid to go to sleep for fear of getting another attack. I, too, fear this will be the way I will die. I am in between health insurances right now, so I cannot go to a doctor until the second week in May, but believe me...I will give you any feedback I get. At one point I did have Sleep Apnea, but then started eating right and exercising and it went away. I will tell you that when I was in shape, and eating properly, I did not get these attacks, so it mush have something to do with over-all physical fitness. The nurse also told me that chocolate, coffee and spaghetti sauce aggravate the situation. Caffeine, obviously bad. I told her that I love my coffee. She asked me how many cups a day I drink. I told her that I drink 2 cups per day. She said that was fine. Everything in moderation. Gee...that's what my Mom used to tell me! I will keep you posted! Everyone...just make sure you let us all know what you find out as well...

hervvirg wrote:

Quote:

I am so happy I found this site. I had an episode of this choking thing last night and I was gasping so badly, my wife came upstairs to find out what was going on. Just like lots of other people on this thread, I woke up in bed from a normal sleep and instantly knew something was wrong. It felt for a split second, like something had gone down the wrong way in my throat and my airway closed almost completely. It has happened before, about 3yrs ago and I realised what was happening. I tried so hard to stay calm and not panic, but it really is very scary. It took about 10 mins to get my breathing into some sort of steady state and I was already sweating and shaking. Although the actual choking only lasted about 10 mins, it took over an hour for me to calm down enough to go back to sleep. I am amazed that no medically trained people know what this strange and very scary problem is. 

Do you or anyone else here ever pass-out? I have Many times.
Asfar as patting on the back goes, usually it is more effective to be given the hiemlich maneuver. I know there is nothing in your throat, but, this clears the airway muck quicker. I know this because I have been suffering from this for at least 8 years.
This IS the way I will DIE!, I fear.

Yes, I've hurt myself pretty bad. Once I fell face first into the dog bowl and once into the tub hitting my head on the spout both leaving some pretty good damage. It never lasts long, seems like it does but when it happened in the tub my sister came in when she heard it and I was already coming out of it. Now, when I feel a fit coming on I immediately go to my knees that way if I do pass out I won't hurt myself.

Thank you, Kakamenha! I will remember that about the tapping just below the adams apple! My husband did the Heimlich Maneuver for my last episode, which helped a little. I am happy to get any suggestions to aid in this terrible disorder. Nobody knows how terrifying it is until they have experienced it!

Hi again folks,

well I've been to see the doctor and he was great. He looked down my throat and listened to my lungs. He has come accross this condition before and asked some questions he could only have asked if he genuinley knew something about what's happening to me during one of these episodes.

Please let me get one thing straight here though..........I am not saying this is what the definitive problem is for every person suffering from similar symptoms, this is simply what my doctor thinks is happening to me.

He asked if when I talk, do I feel the urge to 'clear' my throat a lot, I said yes. He asked me when I have a coughing fit, does my 'gag reflex' activate, but no vomit actually comes up, I said yes. He asked me during the actual choking episode do I find it easy to swallow, I said "I am usually so desparate to get some air into me, thats all I can do". I find myself gulping air down into my stomache, praying that some of it will actually go into my lungs, but it doesn't.

My doctor told me that this unable to breath feeling is an acute Laryngospasm. He gave me a 'preventer' steroid inhaler, but said these symptoms are notoriously difficult to treat as they happen very quickly and as the symptoms themselves are that you cannot inhale into your lungs, there is no way to get a relaxant drug to the tightend muscles in the Larynx quickly enough to counteract the spasm.

There are websites expalaining all about Laryngospasm but I don't think the moderators will let me put the direct link on here. If you look for the website WebMD and type in Laryngospasm some of you reading this will be relieved.

Hope this helps guys.