Odd throat? Slight throat "tightness" that comes and goes, sometimes pain when swallowing
Posted , 2 users are following.
For reference, I am a 20 year old male with no previous health issues that I know of. I'm going on a 4 day vacation next monday, so please if anyone can help that will be great!
So for the last 5-6 days I've been having the weirdest problem with my throat, and because of my health anxiety I'm terrified of what it might be!! It started out with just a very slight tightness in my throat (which went away briefly with eating and drinking). A day or two later, it progressed to me occasionally feeling like there's something stuck in my throat! The feeling doesn't impede my swallowing (except for being dang unpleasant), and doesn't *really* hurt except if I let it go for a while without eating anything/repeatedly swallow saliva. Again, this feeling briefly goes away whenever I eat food or drink anything (more so with liquids). It goes away when I'm resting lying back in a recliner/sleeping, and after sleeping for a while the feeling is essentially gone. It doesn't come back until around mid day. Cancer wouldn't do that right???
My tonsils are decently red and there's a few white/yellow spots, if that means anything. I went to a walk-in clinic on monday and was prescribed amoxicillin because my he said it looked like my throat/tonsils were a bit infected with whatever. Doesn't really seem like that's helping too much, with both the red throat/tonsils and the thing in my throat feeling.
Unsure if this could be related, but the feeling seems to come on after a "cold" feeling moves upwards through my throat after eating/drinking, kinda like I have gas but there's some kind of liquid?
Could this have anything to do with acid reflux/GERD? I'm seriously hoping it does. If it's not gone by the end of my vacation (which it hopefully won't ruin 
) I'm going to see a better doctor about it. Tomorrow I'm going to see if I can get some over-the-counter acid reflux medication to see if that helps at all.
1 like, 11 replies
ONStorm
Posted
Don't see any button to edit my post so I'll put this here - I just found this https://patient.info/forums/discuss/unexplained-nausea-gagging-and-throat-tightness-truly-related-to-gerd--515245
That post is nearly exactly what I'm feeling! The only difference in mine is I'm not sure if "nausea" is the right word to describe it. It's more of me feeling like I have to gag because of the thing in my throat.
God I hate health anxiety. I'm almost 100% convinced this is some kind of tumor in my throat...
david_59051 ONStorm
Posted
I'm having the same issue right now, can you keep us posted on what it was?
ONStorm david_59051
Posted
david_59051 ONStorm
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I believe it came on gradually and has stay for more then a week. Also did they tell you what those spots were?
ONStorm david_59051
Posted
I wasn't told what the white/yellow spots were, but with my basic knowledge I'd assume they're some kind of bacterial or viral tonsillitis, or maybe strep. I've been on amoxicillin since Monday, and it hasn't really affected the spots, so I'm on the assumption that if it's tonsillitis it's viral and amoxicillin won't help it. To see if it's acid reflux/GERD I got myself some acid reflux medication over the counter today and have just started taking that, so I'll post tomorrow or Sunday with an update on that.
I'm also going tomorrow to talk to a different doctor for both a second opinion on the tonsillitis/tight throat/etc. along with my health anxiety. If I get any kind of anxiety medication I'll also be able to see if that could be causing any of this throat tightness. Mark my words I will get to the bottom of what's causing these weird symptoms!
Out of curiosity, do your symptoms get better when you're eating/drinking like mine? For me the tightness mostly goes away and the "lump in the throat" goes away for at least a few minutes after food.
david_59051 ONStorm
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ONStorm david_59051
Posted
Hmm, makes me wonder. I read an article here if you'd like to take a look https://www.painscience.com/articles/lump-in-the-throat.php
In there he states anxiety medication he was on for something else had a side effect of removing the feeling for the rest of the day. Coincidentally, I'm going to get anxiety meds tomorrow so I'll update this post again after I start those to see if they make a difference. No idea how much of this has a real cause, versus how much is just in my head...
david_59051 ONStorm
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ONStorm david_59051
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Did not get any anxiety medication as I couldn't make it to the doctor today (doctor wasn't in), but today the feeling seems to be not as bad as it's been over the last few days. Not sure if it's because of me being distracted (due to thinking about my upcoming vacation?) or if it's actually going away. The feeling is definitely there, but it hasn't bothered me as much. I find it definitely helps a lot if I can keep my mouth from drying up by drinking a lot, and if I feel the feeling is going to get bad, sucking on some hard candies/chewing gum or anything like that.
I'll keep updating this thread every few days, or if anyone makes any further posts. We'll see what happens from here. At least in my case, it isn't getting any worse.
ONStorm
Posted
At least for now, this may be my final update. Just got back from my vacation today, and all of the weird looking tonsils/red throat have gradually disappeared over the last 5-6 days (I happened to finish the last of my amoxicillin prescription yesterday, if that info is useful). Along with it, the "thing in my throat"/globus sensation is completely gone! I also noticed the feeling that my throat was tight is almost entirely related to whether I'm actually thinking about the thing in my throat, so I'm going to talk to my doctor about a possible anxiety problem there. (As a side note, I did definitely have more of a tight throat on my first day of my vacation VS my last day. Might still be medical, but whatever it is it's going away/gone)
ONStorm
Posted
Yay me, it came back. Going to see a doctor tomorrow. The weird "sick" look at the back of my throat appears to have came back too. Good fun! At least it isn't as bad as the first time. Yet...