Can’t eat food, burping, nausea

Posted , 2 users are following.

Hey everyone.

My symptoms started when I got braces put on earlier this year. I started to have difficulty eating certain foods like spinach, celery, melted cheese, etc. I started avoiding going to restaurants as it would take me forever to chew my food and even then- I feared I would choke on it.

Fast forward to a month ago. I was eating dinner when it started to feel like it was getting stuck in my throat and I thought I was going to choke. I went to emerg where they checked my vitals, did blood work, briefly looked at my mouth & checked my breathing with a stethoscope. They said everyone was normal and sent me home. I’ve since been to the hospital four times now and each time they just send me home and put in a referral to a specialist. Only one of the four doctors said they felt like the skin on the right side of my neck is “thicker”- so she made an appointment for an ultrasound of my neck and thyroid next week. 

I’ve been on a liquid diet for almost a month now as I await to see a specialist for an endoscopy. I recently started to lose weight rapidly, 14lbs in the past month, due to not being able to eat- let alone drink “thicker” drinks like smoothies or milkshakes. The last Dr. suspected esophageal candidiasis but I’ve been taking medication and don’t notice an improvement of symptoms.

My current symptoms are:

-**trouble swallowing**

-tight throat

-intermittent nausea

-belching after drinking

-fatigue & weight loss due to not eating

-cold sensitivity/bluish fingernails

-thick/stringy saliva

-average temperature is 36

I’m a 22 year old female. I have an autoimmune disease and take corticosteroids. I eat a lot of spicy foods. I’ve never had any symptoms of GERD or anything. I’m a fit, active, young adult who has never smoked and I rarely drink alcohol. I have anxiety but food is my comfort lol and Ive never had any issues swallowing. I know there has to be something wrong.

Family history: Graves’ disease/hyperthyroidism, diabetes, heart attack, colon cancer, issues with kidneys, etc. 

I’m so paranoid & terrified as I’ve never had symptoms like this before... I’m scared it could be the C word... Can a regular panel of blood work indicae if I have cancer or something serious like that. 

Has anyone experienced something similar to this? Or can anyone give me advice to help me ease my mind? I feel like I’m going crazy.. I mean if it was something super serious they probably wouldn’t have sent me home right? I’m so stressed and anxious I can’t sleep at night. Please help

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1 Reply

  • Posted

    Hi Ash, I had the exact same symptoms. Started with thick stringy saliva, then having to clear my throat constantly with mucus. I also trouble swallowing. It took forever to chew and every time I swallowed I felt like I was gonna choke, like my swallowing was off. Sometimes things felt like they were getting stuck in the right side of my throat.  Over 3-4 months I lost 24 lb from not eating. I went to an ENT (specialist in ears, nose, throat) and he did a scope right there in the office, goes up one side of your nose and all the way way your throat to the voice box. Said everything looked okay, just a little irritated. He said it was probably irritation from my stomach, such as GERD, though when it comes up that high I believe they call it LPR. I had a hard time taking stomach meds, but finally managed to stay on Prevacid for about 3 weeks, which helped. But really what helped me the most was eating a bland very basic diet and drinking water high in pH.  I was drinking Desani water every day, which I found out was very acidic so I switched to Evian and that made a difference. There are others bottled water brands with an even higher pH. They're kinda pricey but worth it. My diet before was horrible, a lot of junk food, etc. So I cut out chocolate, coffee, tea, caffiene and all spicey stuff. After I got better I added in some chocolate here and there, but decided to not chance it with the others. I hope this helps! 

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