Anxiety - urge to swollow

No. My psychiatrist and therapist say it's a common symptom of anxiety. It only happens when I have panic attacks otherwise it's all normal.

Hi again

I am concerned because yousaid you swerved when driving. Does your therapist and psychiatrist know about this?

Have they done an EEG or MRI scan ?

I don't lose consciousness. I jerk the car to trigger my body to breathe. I don't do this when there are cars around. It happens in my early morning drive when I'm alone on,the road.it sounds absolutely insane, I know this but I feel like I need some type of jolt when I experience this choking situation. I was just hoping I could find someone that also went through this that could offer advice. I've done everything I could think of.

If someone is having panic attacks they are normally investigated.

Unfortunately pulling over just makes the anxiety worse. When I'm driving my mind is incredibly eager to get where I'm going. Anything that slows the progress increases the anxiousness. Its as if I'm having adrenaline overload. I need to practice my focusing skills. It is incredibly difficult to think of anything else other than the panic attack. I'm sorry you have the same symptom. It's just so odd. Why the swallowing??? Thanks for taking the time to reply. I really do appreciate it.

Hi again Su

Do you have deja vu?

I would definitely tell your dr and psychiatrist as well as neurologist about this problem when driving. Sounds rather dangerous.

 

Anxiety manifests in so many different ways, and a lot of them seem strange but are very real and terrifying to people. I understand what you're saying. Like how stopping won't really help. It's like you need to keep going, to be busy and maybe distract yourself. Panic consumes you when it happens and it's really hard to make it go away or think of anything else. i have the problem with not only swallowing, but breathing and feeling like I can't get air for a brief moment. Anything to do with the throat. Do you also get that? Maybe you should try and practice some grounding exercises, and also maybe talk to your therapist about the driving problem. I hope you are feeling better soon. 

I do sometimes stop breathing so I have to have some type of jolt to force the swallowing and the breathing. I'll sometimes throw myself in the counter or jerk forcibly to make it happen. I look like a freak but at this point I really don't care. I am working with my therapist but apparently I'm very resistant so progress is slow. Its not intentional just really stressful for me. The last driving therapy session we had got me back in my psychiatrists office getting prescribed a benzo. Joy. When you say grounding exercises, what is that? I've heard a few people mention this. Thank you!

Grounding excercises are techniques you can use to kind've ground yourself in reality. For instance, when I am anxious doing something like chores, I do the 5 sense excercise:

Count 5 things you can see

4 things you can touch/feel

3 things you can hear

2 things you can smell or like the smell of

1 thing you like about yourself

There's more excercises, but this is the one I use most. I'm sure there are more you can find with a google search. You have to practice them when you're at a low level of anxiety too, before implementing them at a high level.

In a way, you use your sudden jerk as a grounding technique. A means to snap back to reality a bit. I constantly grab at my neck and head suddenly when it happens myself, or shake my arms/legs. My boss has asked a few times about those things and it's embarrassing, but hey, whatever keeps you sane!

Did you find anything that helped? Its my most concerning symptom. I can handle the racing heart and shakiness but this choking sensation is the worst. Ugh.

Not really anything that helped, except telling myself it was all due to anxiety. When I am relaxed in my life it's not there.

I would ask the dr for a neck scan to rule out a goitre.