~heavy thick pressure uncomfortable feeling in neck-throat!~

for all check your blood pressure mine was 142 over 90 120 over 80 is the norm see your doctor i think this may be the answer
god i hope so cause the neck tightness is unbearable

I can relate to what all of you are saying. I started having this tightness (almost choking) sensation around my neck area. At first I thought there is something wrong with my thyroid but the tests showed nothing wrong with it.

This all started when I got the flu and started taking antibiotics (Amoxicillin) for it. The day after I finished taking my antibiotics I started developing this tightness. It's been over a month now and I no longer have the flu but still have this on again, off again tightness around the neck. I notice that this occurs usually when I'm sitting in front of the computer for long periods of time, am feeling anxiety, or stressed.

What I'm beginning to realize is that I may have to live with this for the rest of my life. What do I do to relieve the tightness? Here are some that I have used that seems to work:

1) Place a cold/damp face towel under my chin.
2) Lie down using only one pillow.
3) Take a hot shower. Usually, when I get out it's still swollen but within minutes it goes down.
4) Apply Vicks.
5) Avoid dairy products.
6) Think happy thoughts.
7) Take vitamins, multivitamins.
8) Massage (by someone or by a vibrating massager).
9) Excercise (especially if it is cardio) for 30 minutes.
10) Just avoid thinking about it.

I hope by applying these methods this tightness around the neck will eventually disappear. Goodluck!

All the same as you!!! I have had it come and go for months but I decided to not let it get the better of me. I read somewhere about taking calcium supplements as these help muscles contract, and since the feeling had something to do with my muscles I figured it would be worth a try.

For the past month I have been taking 1 multivitamin tablet and 1 1000mg calcium tablet each day and I have not had that terrible throat feeling back full force. It has definitely made a huge difference; the days that I have had it it has been a very slight feeling nothing like what would come and go before.

Maybe the 'throat thing' is some kind of vitamin/mineral deficiency. I also heard that magnesium is good for muscles to, that is in the multivitamin that I take each day now, so it could be magnesium making a difference to!

Check your diet, see if you are getting all the vitamins and minerals you should be from it, if you are not, then get some advice on what vitamins and minerals you should be taking, go and see the chemist or drug store manager, see what vitamins or minerals are available to you that you can take to help your body live!
I don’t think that any of us eat correctly nowdays, all the convenience foods are near on eating a cardboard box!
I was always taught at school, ‘YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT’ I truly believe there is no lie found in that statement!

EAT WELL, BE WELL!

Thinking of you all!

I have had this since 10/25/99. I went to every specialist possible and had every test imaginable. Until 1 very wise doctor told me that he thought i had a deep seeded problem inside of me and i might not even know what it is. So i went to my medical doctor & he put me on antidepressants and xanax. Which i was on for about 3 years. Along with therapy i helped alot. But it is always there sometimes stronger than others. I have learned that i have a stress disorder, and extreme anxiety. I know this is caused by emotional not physical. I had a very bad childhood & didn't realize it affected me as bad as it did, until my marriage was bad also, that is when this erupted. Please believe me when i say that this is an emotional well being problem. I hold alot of things inside and my therapist told me that it gets worst when i don't say what i need to say and get it out. Like i am stuffing it down my throat. Also another thing with this problem. For 8 years now it looks like i have a very bad sunburn, i am red in my neck and the top of my chest only in the front where the chocking feeling is. I know this is scary & extremely depressing, not to mention uncomfortable. My advice would be to go to a therapist to see what is really bother you and get put on so form of anti-anxiety medication. I hope this helps. Like i said i have been living with this for 8 years now and i guess i am finally learning how to live with it. Good Luck to all & God Bless.

I am so glad to hear I am not alone. I also have been experiencing some of the same symptoms. A tightness below the jaw line, a full feeling(it feels fat). It does't hurt, but I'm aware of it. Someday it's nothing other times all day and night. I figure it could be stress since I stopped yoga after 2 years about 3 mths ago. I'm going back today and for good. I'll let you know if this works for me. Again glad all of you guys wrote in. Even the masturbation post made me smile.

I don't know whether to be horrified or reassured by these stories. Good to know I won't drop dead; but years of this?

To everyone out there suffering with this thing, my heart goes out to you. I've had it for about a week now but luckily I did my research on day two. I've been taking some muscle relaxers (not prescribed for me, I have no insurance) and they have helped. Relaxing also helps as well, try to keep your mind off of all thought. It's hard not to think but it helps a ton. Do some physical stuff if you feel up to it. Ride a bike, take the dog for a walk, pet the dog (this has helped me too, strangely enough). It's very scary, and I haven't completely gotten rid of it. The intensity does come and go but I'm very positive that it will go away in time. Be careful with other peoples medication though, adjust the dosage if you have to or else you'll get some side effects (like dry mouth) that could irritate the spasm. Let me know if anyone else has tried anything that has helped.

I am so sorry to hear what everyone has been going through. I have experienced the same tightness and have had so many emergency room visits, doctors office visits, specialists, etc! It started off with my having bronchitis and ballooned into this throat situation. I have come to the conclusion that it is anxiety and stress related. I refused to take the meds the doctor prescribed (Xanax?). I feel like if my mind got me into this, it can get me out of it. I hope that everyone will find what the cause is for their discomfort. My thoughts are with you.

I have the same thing and it really really bothers me. Like others, I was told it was a side effect of acid reflux, but the medicine did not help one bit. I do get acid reflux from time to time, but this comes on in the middle of the day, when I have not eaten anything that flares up my reflux. Puzzling. %-)

I had an aunt that had throat cancer and cancer is VERY rampant in my family, so it makes me really nervous.

It is a really tight feeling, like someone is choking me..with the most pressure where my adams apple is. It is sooooooooo uncomfortable. :-(

Should I go to a throat specialist? It sounds like many of you have tried and gotten nowhere from it.

I've had this since I had a series of post rabies vaccinations. I figured it was my lymph nodes swollen but I just don't know anymore. Maybe it's my thyroid and my nodes. I feel like I have something heavy attached to the front of my neck, like a weighted belt. Also it feels like I'm choking and it is hard to swallow. I don't have any insurance now and I really don't know what to do though I am trying supplements and detoxing. I'll say a prayer for you all and please do the same for me. God bless.

%-)
I like most of you are very confused about what is going on with my neck area. My all started when I was dianosed with panic disorder over a year ago. They had me on anti-depressants for a year which helped a little but was anything but fun to go through. The hardest part was getting off the anti-depressants without having huge side effects.

Then after I was off the anti-depressants free and clear I suffered from a serious side effect to posion ivy. Found out I was allergic to the oils. It was go bad it got in my blood stream and I was placed on steriods and heavy antibiotics....needless to say that brought out my panics again and that was when my FIRST tight throat feeling began.

At first I thought that the anti biotics (which is heavy on the stomach) have me a bad case of acid reflux because I have had a little bit from time to time. So my doctor placed me on Prilosec OTC (2 tabs) a day (30 mins. before eating food) and that helped a little but not much.

Then I feel like someone was chocking me and that I couldn't breathe. At times the pain go so bad I could even feel a foreign object in my throat that felt like food was stuck. I kept clearing my throat but nothing ever happened. I also noticed my mouth stay dry 24/7. Just a drink of water helps the tightness for two seconds and then back to square one.

Just recently I started getting so much pressure in my throat and that I had severe pressure on my left ear drum too. So I went to go see a doctor again and he gave me Fluticasone Propionate (nose spray), but I can tell you ever since I started using it my ear problem went away but the tight throat go worse. Come to find out this nose spray has steriods in it. It seems like this steriod stuff is what messed me up in the first place.

I've been told its most likely a muscle spasm in the throat and my doctor gave me Hyoscyamine sub 0.125 mg, but to tell you the truth I haven't bothered with it because like most of you on this topic we are told by so many doctors to try something and it doesn't work. If anything he makes it worse at times.

So I've just given up.
I too have been told maybe I need to go see an ENT or to get a scope done, but I have yet to see someone with my symptom profit off of any of that.

Like you all too I have been in and out of the emergency room in the beginning too very scared to what my body was trying to tell me.
My uncle died not to long ago from throat cancer and cancer runs in my family and is very common so that thought ran in my mind too.

But I've done so much research on that topic and it seems like there is no true cure to what any of us have, at least none that the doctors know of yet. They say its due to stress...due to acid reflux, but I've worked on both of those and I still have the issue. True not as severe as it was, but still uncomfortable.

The only thing that I have has noticed what help reduce the pressure feeling in my throat is Massage theropy, excerise and eating right.

I started those 3 things and the pain has increased, but yeah its still there.

By the way I've been told that cancer in the throat is not felt and therefore that's been most the times why people are infected too severe before it is detected...so they say if you have the tight feeling don't assume the worse first.

Much like a charlie horse in the leg muscle we seem to get this same feeling in the neck area.

But it beat me why or what to do to completely stop it.

Sometimes the pain can be so severe that it feels like the muscles around my bottom chip and jaw lock down at times.. its really strange.

But I just thought I would let everyone know what I've been through for the past YEAR so you all are not alone. Keep voical and keep going to the doctor when you feel something new occurring, but RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH. I've learned more about my issue for other suffers than doctors alone.

I just try to stay positive and hope this situation will correct itself it time; doctors seem to think so anyways.

Good Luck all...and share your success if you find a CURE !!! :-D

Does anyone feel overwhelmingly tired alongside the tight neck issue? I feel like there's pressure on my neck- like if you're upside down too long and the pressure starts to go to your neck and head... except minus the head. I notice when I get that neck feeling, I start to become very tired, my eyes just want to close. When it first happened I was actually afraid to go to sleep--- anyone have the tired feeling too? This extra symptoms makes me very curious.

Hi everyone,
like most of you, i googled and found this topic. I m a 35 year old male, working in school most of time sit in front of computer and do exercise 1-2 times a week. I have been having the similar symptoms like many of you, for about one and half months. typically they are

1. tight throat like choking, but no pain inside the throat, no breathing or swallowing problem at all, no fever.
2. when eat and drink, it actually disappears but comes back soon after that.
3. it started on both sides then most of time on my right side later on.
4. it really depends on the orientation of my head/face. when i look up or to the left, it comes
5. feels better in the morning and during sleeping, gets worse during the day.

mine symptoms appeared 10 days after i suffered a very bad shoulder/neck pain which is probably due to long term office sitting and computer using and sudden cold weather. these 2 things combine together give me a hell of feeling for weeks. yet even with this horrible feeling i sometimes need to stay very late for study/work sitting in front of the computer.

after about 3 weeks, i took an advice. I changed the pillow, get more rest, take multi vitamin, rinse my throat more often. well, only after 2 days the neck pain was gone! but the throat problem made no improvement.

i played soccer after 1 week, my neck pain come back due to some collision (bad move), and i felt the throat choking appearing along with that simultaneously. I realized that it's probably related to the neck muscle or muscle around the neck.

my dad actually had similar thing before, he had go through many tests like some of you mention above. nothing. luckily his symptom disappeared with time.

I did check the webpage ****
it seems just the same thing i am having.

about stress and anxiety, who doesnt have nowadays! in general i think it could be some inflammation with or without infection. it's just the immune system getting weak, due to lack of sleep, bad diet,..working condition.. so try all the suggestion in many of the above posts, see which one works for me or maybe for some of you. especially, the one that you should get it off your mind, (after making sure that it's not any of other known diseases) and be positive.

good luck

**edited by moderator**

I am a 42. For years I have had neck spasms on the left side of my neck. They would come on suddenly. All I had to do was lie flat on the floor with my head on a pillow and within seconds I could feel the muscle "pop" and it was fine. It has been annoying, but simple to resolve.

Now I think it has turned into something else. I am also getting the both sides of my neck muscles pulling (almost from the jawline to the collar bone). It is very tight, but not any difficulty in swallowing. I do feel a lot of pressure in my ears, almost like when you are climbing a mountain and need to pop your ears. It does also make me very tired. It feels like someone has their hands around my neck and are slowly squeezing. Just like my head is going to pop off!

I have tried advil along with heat, but it gives little relief. I have tried muscle relaxers and they did work. I just can not function when I am taking them. I do work on the computer and can spend hours a day looking at the monitor. I have also had strernum injury in the past and experience a lot a pain there. Sometimes I wonder if they are related.

I wish someone had an idea of what this is. I don't think that it is anxiety. I feel if anything that it is stress related. Although, when I am feeling it and I am in a stressful situation, it does not get any worse.

Good luck to everyone. I will check back soon.

Hey Folks, i too suffer from the described problems though being 25, i seem to be a fair bit younger than at least a few of the other sufferers out there. I have my theory that the problem is caused by anxiety which is compounded by a number of factors. I too spend alot of time in front of a computer as others have also mentioned - a funny coincidence?
What seems to set me off?
1. Coffee - along with throat pressure, also ends up in a mild prickly sensation on the tongue. Both with milk and no milk added.
2. Diet soft drinks -particulary coke. Could be the caffeine? (makes sense with one of the symptoms of anxiety being elevated heartbeat which caffeine also gives you.
3. Alcohol. Within half an hour, i start repeatedly swallowing and the thoat pressure starts up again.
4. Stressful situations. In particular, before important meetings at work and also when i'm writing documents with a strict and nearing deadline, or when i feel overwhelmed with my workload.
5. Sitting in front of the computer for long periods of time - reading?
6. Talking to people for extended periods of time
7. Not having a good nights sleep (though this makes me more stressed making my throat pressure problem worse thus I have even more trouble getting to sleep)

What have i found to help:
1. Holidays - problem goes away as soon as i'm out of a stressful situation and my mind is occupied with other stuff
2. Avoiding the forementioned drinks, in particular coffee
3. Regular cardiovascular exercise (30mins+ , 4 times/week)
4. A good nights sleep (tiring yourself out so much that you sleep deeply --> ties in with the CV exercise
5. Writing a work structure for my work day (helps take pressure off knowing what to do next). Also, not leaving things to the last minute at work though this ties in with structuring one's workday
6. Not watching the TV for too long - this is a posture thing i think.
7. Correct seating at the computer. I would also suggest to those who sit in front of a computer that they should get their chair height checked by a OT. If this is not an option, ask yourself: is the weight on my forearms as i sit at the computer being largely supported by the desk --> are my shoulders hunched up (being lifted up by the desk) --> if yes, try raising your seat height so that your sholders are 'hanging' more . This helps the muscles in the back, in particuar the traps, adopt a more natural position allowing for better posture.
8. Posture strengthening exercises including abs, lower back, upper back, check and obliques.
9. Making the text a little bigger on the computer screen (reducing strain on the eyes)

Hope this is of help to people out there!
Cheers
Geoff