Swollen outer throat, Difficulty swallowing, numb/no sensation when swallowing

Hi everyone, I'm a 29 year old male that is suffering from a lot of similar symptoms as most. I am ready to give up...

I have had a multitude of tests and seen many different doctors but was also told it was GERD and anxiety/depression.

I am going to see my GP today, and going in for a chiropractic appt later today as well.

I hope everyone here to best of luck and health in the future.

you need a swallowing test done.  Sorry I have achalesia and 2 of the 3 types of dysphagia.  Look it up and I am sure you will see that your symptoms match a lot of dysphagia symptoms.  Problem is it is mainly seen in older patients with parkinsons, or had a stroke or people in the decline of their MS.  I have MS but I am nowhere near the decline in MS.  It was why I was so hard to diagnose.  But I found a great GI, did testing and sent me to GI specialist who deal with these disease.  Good luck.  But that is something I would request, painless, drink barium, eat pudding with barium and have an answer then and there.  No need to wait.  PS it's a pretty cool test to watch because you can see the xrays as your chewing.  I found it fasinating. 

Hello I also have a lot of these symptoms and more. It has went on for a couple of years. It's has absolutely drove me crazy. It has consumed me literally. I feel your pain.

Thank you to everyone who has replyed to my orignal post, I really appreciate it.

It is now about 18 months on from when I orignally made the post about this throat issue and i'm sorry to say but my throat is the same as it was. At least one postive is that it hasn't got worse and I have gotten used to it somewhat but I am still left with the complete lack of sensation when swallowing or a clicking and cracking in the throat when I tilt my head down and swallow. 

I am 99% sure there is some sort of swelling or blockage in there or some sort of damaged ligament that is preventing my swallow mechanism from moving correctly. It feels as though it gets jammed at the top of the upward movement of the swollow. When I tilt my head forward and swallow I feel the cartilage in the thraot click past something which it isnt able to do when my head is in the up right position. 

I have seen 2 ENT's and a speech/swallow therapist and none of them can work out what is going on. Had endoscopy which shows nothing. I had a video fluroscopy/Barium swallow which shows me swolling foods and liquids fine, which I can do thankfully but they said my epiglottitis looks bunched up and that area looks very tight and compressed. That's all I got. They don't know what it is or what to do. 

It certainly is compressed in there, and preventing the cartiliaged and ligaments etc moving in there correctly when I swallow which ends up with me getting half a swallow. Enough to get food down but not enough to give me a sensation of swallowing or normal function. The lack of sensation and the bloacking in there is such a odd feeling it does really get me down at times. I have got used to it but still hope to get this resolved.

I am waiting for another ENT referal at a different hospital to see if they have any ideas. I am hoping I can get an MRI of the throat and hopefully it will show what is causing this blocking and faulty swallow function.

I do not have the swelling but last Summeer I suddenly developed the complete numbness on one side of throat when swallowing and now when inhaling.  I went to a few ENTs and Gastros at UCLA and got no where.  Was told I had Reflux and left vocal chord paresis(but the numbness is on the right side!?)   BUT then went to another ENT and was told I didn't have either.  I also had the swallowing tests but they were inconclusive which is BS.   I can swallow I just can't feel it AND i occasionally do get food stuck there.  Does anyone else have any cervical herniations?   I have a few in C-2 through C7 and wonder if it's related.   

I also have bad pain that comes and goes in lower right abdomen;colon,   although my ultrasound and catscans come back normal.   I can breath but breathing and swallowing  feels completely non-functioning and weak on my right side.  How is it that so many people have this with very few answers!?    Any new answers anybody?!  I hope so! :-) 

This is eerily similar to what I just noticed myself.  I had what felt like a tickle in my throat for roughly 2 days.  Suddely now I do not feel any "motion" when I swallow.  It feels like the food/liquid is going down a blackhole.  I put liquid in my mouth, I swallow, and it just disappears with no feeling of it going down.  Same basic approach with food.  Even when I just swallow spit I don't feel a sense of it going down my throat.  If I eat something like yogurt I can feel it somewhat better since it's thick and probably hanging to both sides.  

Has anyone had any bit of success in finding out what caused it?  How can it be something that doesn't return to feeling normal?  I saw the initial poster say it's been 18 months with a numb throat.  There must be a doctor out there somewhere that has seen this and determined something????

The problem experienced by the original poster and others who responded is not that uncommon it would seem.  I have done some research on it and there are sufferers from the condition, all over the Internet, who share the frustration of having gone to various specialists--to no avail.  Also, I noticed that, while the symptoms felt by the sufferers were generally the same, the things they thought might have brought on the condition varied.  One man thought he had been too vigorous in trying to clear water from inside his ear after showering, another person thought the symptoms had begun after a tonsilectomy--and so on.  But doctors, evidently, are paying attention to this syndrome as some surgeons at the University of California--Davis [UCD] wrote a paper about it that can be found here:

http://ucdvoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Clicking-in-the-throat.pdf