Lump in throat and tightness
Posted , 6 users are following.
For the passed 4 weeks I've had the sensation of a lump in
my throat and a tightness around my Adam's apple.
I have a check up at ENT soon but I am very worried
that it is something worse than globus.
Sometimes when I swallow nothing bad happens but
then the next swallow feels awful. I'm sucking cough
sweets like crazy to try to numb my throat.
My anxiety is through the roof too and I really don't
think that is helping. Anyone had this?
0 likes, 15 replies
carol7212 The_Fall
Edited
Hi, I know exactly what you describe. I am also terrified that what I assume is Globus sensation is actually something far more sinister.
This lump sensation(Globus) I am experiencing far more often than I have in the past which is very concerning to me.
The throat tightness is much worse plus the difficulty in swallowing. I'm scared that I'm going to choke with every bite of food I take.
I'm at my wits end with this acid reflux hell that I'm in. I've always had the lump sensation in my throat since being diagnosed but as I mentioned I've never had it for such a long stretch at a time. It's been about two months now with no relief .
I take Pantoprazole twice daily but it seems to do absolutely nothing.
At this point I'm starting to think it may be something much worse.
I'm going to see an ENT in a few weeks to try to get a proper diagnosis.
Right now I wonder if yourself or anyone has had this lump in throat sensation for almost 2 months straight every minute of the day?
Breathhelp carol7212
Edited
I recommend getting completely off the PPI medication and waiting for it to get out of your system. In the meanwhile, follow a rigid diet of no spicy foods, no citrus, no wine/beer, no dairy, no soda or gasy water, no fried food. Then schedule am endoscopy with a Bravo Test. They will put a chip on your esophogus and it will start there for about a week. For about four days you will wear a monitor. It will detect in detail if you do or do not have acid reflux. The endscopy will check for scary things to make sure that lump feeling is either acid reflux or anxiety. This is why you want to hAve the meds out of your system. I tried pantaprazole and nexium twice a day amd they did nothing for me.
carol7212 Breathhelp
Posted
I definitely do not relish taking the PPI med...and even moreso when 80mg per day do absolutely nothing.
Id never heard of the Bravo Test and I will for sure look into doing as you've suggested.
Thankyou so much for the feedback!
Breathhelp carol7212
Posted
carol, you mentioned having this globus sensation before. What did you do before to treat it that made it go away?
For how long did you have it the first time around?
Christian2021 carol7212
Posted
me i have
Christian2021 carol7212
Posted
me i have
Breathhelp The_Fall
Edited
Yep, my globus started April 2020. it all started with a very stressful situation that got progressively worse and lasted a fee months. Then all of a sudden I felt a lump im mu throat. My general doctor ssid its common and usually is due to either acid reflux or anxiety. Never had it before and its miserable. I went to the ENT a few times to have a camera down my throat and everyrhing seemed normal. I had blood tests and an endoscopy. I tried Nexium twice a day and did a very strict reflux diet for 8 weeks... the doctors didnt see anything wrong and with the nexium not improving anything they also didnt think its acid reflux. of course the 24 hour feeling in my throat made me so paranoid so I was with a flashlight looking to see why it felt so tight and a lump feeling. There wasnt anything there, its the muscles in your throat tightning. On top of the lump feeling, I then got other odd symptoms. Like feeling as if I am breathing through a straw when I inhale. Or sometimes when I drink water or anything, my throat feels like its closing up on me. I used to feel a choking feeling when Id swallow a pill or food, but that went away when I started to calm down some. I then started having shortness of breath. It became a vicious cycle of anxiety and symptoms. I went on an antidepressant called amitriptylne. I started with 10mg and two or three weeks later the throat symptoms all went away. But... my shortness of breath has not improved and evrn though I moved up to 25 mg, the globus has returned. Im now doing biofeedback breathing exercises and have been reading a book recommended to me by someone who struggled through anxiety symptoms and recovered. He told me you have to accept what it is (anxiety) and flow through it and allow time to pass. One recommendation I have is once you get diagnosed, and of they say its all "just" anxiety, accept it and stop running around from dr to dr. It only hightens the level of anxiety. I think thst by accepting there is nothing organically wrong, by making modifications to your daily life so you sre slowing down and relaxing, exercising (very improtant) and trying to eat sensibly as well as get good sleep , is the way to go. For now.... calm down... it will only highten your symptoms.
shelby46540 Breathhelp
Edited
ive also been struggling with this sensation for weeks now. i even went to the er because i thought my throat was closing up. they did labs and a ct and everything was clear. my thyroid and everything was fine. but im not fine. ive called my ob (i should have mentioned i jist had a baby) ive called ent and im tempted to go back to the emergency room. they said it was globuos mixed with gerd and put me on zoloft and xanax and protonix. ive struggled with manifestation of anxiety most of my life and i feel like thats what everyone brushes it off and says but i mean i dont know what to do. i just want this feeling to go away.
carol7212 The_Fall
Edited
Hello again,
I just wanted to add that in addition to the lump in my throat I've had shortness of breath from time to time also. I've also had a lot of mucus buildup in my throat for the past six months. I'm constantly clearing my throat which in my opinion may have done a number on my esophagus. I seemed to be clearing it 24/7 it was that bad.
Dr. gave me an inhaler which she claimed would help with the mucus buildup but of course that didn't happen. In the past I have had chest Xrays which DID show some mild scarring of the lungs so now she's sending me for a pulmonary function test since shortness of breath, lung scarring, and mucus buildup can potentially indicate COPD.
So for me I don't know what the heck is going on. They say everything in the medical world is relative so it seems pointless for me to try and self diagnose. If it's one thing, then chances are it's also the other thing.
As far as anxiety goes mine is through the roof but I know for a fact that anxiety is not the cause. One thing I will say about the many doctors I've seen is that not one of them have chalked it up to anxiety. I always waited for that word to come out of their mouths but surprisingly it did not.
A few of my daughter's doctors had always told her it was her 'anxiety' causing a myriad of medical issues, and it turned out that her issues were the real deal in origin.
Let's just say that anxiety is highly over rated and that many doctors love to pull that card when they're at a loss for anything else.
carol7212
Posted
sorry my latest reply was for Breathhelp
Breathhelp carol7212
Edited
My first symptom was actually a dry cough that lasted many months and when I bent over Id sometimes regurgitate food. Now at this time I was feeling stress for various reasons but not like it was massive stress. Stress and anxiety completely messes with your digestive system. My husband advised me to see our family dr. for the cough. I wasnt so worried about the cough, it just was annoying. The dr said I had acid reflux and gave me pantaprizole and a perscription cough medicine. At first I didnt take the ppi med but did take the cough med. Now remember covid was starting and that added to my stress and then all of a sudden I got the globus. My dr again said its acid reflux and to take the pantsprizole and the globus would go away. I took it but my stress sky rocketed bc I have this lump feeling 24/7. Then my breathing problem happened and I was hyperventilating so bad that I could barely finish a sentence. My nervous system went out of control: pain in my right ear, burning pain in my nose, my scalp I could barely touch it hurt so much, my hair started to fall out, my throat was in constant fire and I was always chocking on food, my heart was racing, just brushing my teeth felt like I ran a marathon. My family dr said I was clearly hyperventilating. They call it anxiety induced hyperventilation syndrome. I went to two different lung drs to do detailed tests, a complete workup and stress test at the heart dr, visited the endocrynologist to check my thyroid, massive blood tests, a barium swallow esophogram, Many visits to the ENT for video exams down my throat, chest xray and ctscan, endoscopy with bravo test. Nothing but dome mild gastrisis. Before the endodcopy I also tried Nexium twice a day and an 8 week rigid diet but no relief. I do know that when your nervous system is out of wack, things in your body shut down and you get very crazy symptoms. I then got off of all medications and did the endoscopy and bravo test to rule out the bad stuff and the bravo test is the gold standard test to rule out acid reflux. Though I had all these crazy symptoms (major shortness of breath and globus being the main ones), the four day 24/7 bravo test report showed zero acid reflux. This is why I think you should get the endoscopy and bravo test first. Im now seeing a functional medicine dr who did all sorts of tests you dont get done at a general dr and he found my sympathetic nervous dystem is dominating my asympathetic nervous system.
Question: you said you had globus before and it came back but worse. Can you tell me how long you had it the first time and how long did it go away before it came back?
Also, can you tell me more about your breathing problem? Did it feel like how you fell after walking up a hill short of breath, or did it feel like you couldnt inhale a deep breath? Did your shortness of breath go away?
After every few breaths I have to breath in deep to get one good breath. Im out of breath just moving around the house but I do feel like its really improved since Ive bern doung the biofeedback with the functional dr. Hes also having me doing gargling and humming to stimulate my vagus nerve to function and I have to do any type of cardio for 30 minutes a day, so Im forcing myself to powerwalk. Thats actually how you cam test hyperventilation syndrome. If you feel better with your breathing when you exercise. Then you know its not am organic problem and can very well be your nervous system.
carol7212 Breathhelp
Posted
Hi again,
It actually began with a dry cough for myself also. At night I would wake up from my sleep choking on acid that came up from my stomach. This went on for months before I went to see my doctor and this was back in 2015.
Was told it was likly reflux whereby he prescribed the PPI and told me to raise the head of my bed to avoid laying in a flat position.
That was the beginning of my journey into hell.
In the years that followed I had every sympton of reflux that a person could possibly have.
Many endoscopies, labs, Xrays and trips to the ER when the globus would kick in and I felt like my throat was closing up. They would do the barium swallows but nothing seemed amiss. They said it was globus due to the reflux, give me a PPI and a valium and send me on my not so merry way lol. So basically my first experience with the lump sensation was in 2016 and since that time it's been recurring 'flare ups' as I call them probably on average at least twice a week.
I didn't know how to ease the feeling so I guess I just put up with it until it subsided maybe in an hour or maybe after 12 hours.
In the last year or so the 'globus' symptom hasn't been as bad and yet I had greater than my share of anxiety during this time. Go figure.
The last two weeks however it has reared it's ugly head but this time accompanied by a slight degree of pain and that has been the difference. As I said..now I'm fearing something far more sinister so am seeing an ENT next week.
I've never had actual pain with the lump in the past . It's been more of an uncomfortable annoyance.
Breathhelp carol7212
Edited
Carol, Ive been with the globus and shortness of breath constantly for 1.5 years..no break at all!
what proof do they have saying its from acid reflux? You can't diagnose acid reflux by using a camera at the ENT and looking down your throat. The only way the can indicate acid reflux is if they do a 24 hour ph study or the Bravo during an endoscopy (out of the two, the Bravo was more comfortable to wear and much more accurate.
Also, when my globus started I had a lot of pain. My throat was constantly burning like crazy. It took a long time for that to stop. From the video scope with my ENT and the endoscopy from my GI doctor, I knew there wasn't anything serious with my throat.
Carol, will you please tell me, other than the lump in your throat feeling, do you habe constant chest tightness? Sometimes a feeling like your breathing through a straw? Any shortness of breath?
My functional medicine doctor tells me all this is from a overactive sympathetic nerves system. Living has become very difficult for me.
carol7212 Breathhelp
Posted
Hi ,
I've never had any kind of pain with Globus in the past so that's what threw me off.
As for chest tightness, no I have not. Some shortness of breath but only after climbing stairs or any activity of that nature.
I know Reflux cannot be proven through a simple upper endoscopy which is all I've ever had. No Bravo or 24 hr PH study.
Doctors just 'assume' I have Reflux because of my presented symptoms throughout plus due to the fact I have a Hiatal Hernia which they tell me is textbook for reflux.
Is there anything that can be done for an overactive sympathetic nerve system?
I'm sorry you have to go through this. Life is surely difficult enough without crap like that tacked on.
AnthonyMG The_Fall
Edited
Hi The_Fall
How are you now? You already had the check-up with the ENT?
You feel it all the time?
Check on crichopharyngeal spasm. I think you can find a good video on youtube about it. I'm not saying you have it, but maybe it can get you a few more clues.
I have something similar, but with other symptoms and circumstances. I have it for almost 9 months now. No diagnosis so far, I'm starting to consider a psychiatric disorder, as a psychosomatic disorder being the origin of my symptoms.
But maybe your case is different and you can find a diagnosis or it simply vanishes one day. One month is still very few time and you can still have that hope. In my case, 9 months, I don't have hope anymore that it will go away someday.
I only wanted to mention that I'm going through this, so that you know that I educated myself on this subject as a full time job for the past 9 months, so if you want to further discuss this with me I will be most pleased to chat with you here.
All the best, stay strong!
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