Tight neck and throat

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I'm a 35 year old female who has suffered with GAD since I was 16 years old and had my first panic attack. I hate anxiety so much but let me tell you, the worst symptom that I've experienced thus far in my almost 20 years of GAD is a tight throat. This is a new symptom for me with anxiety. I've had everything else from chest pain, shortness of breath, sweating, pins and needles, lightheadedness, headaches, palpitations, etc. However, this one takes the cake. I've been in almost a constant state of fight or flight for the last 3 months since a failed round of IVF with hormone injections/medications. A week after stopping my medications for IVF, I started having panic attacks again and I hadn't suffered from an attack for the last 8 years if not longer. This tightness I feel in my throat is like somebody has a hand around my throat. It's a heavy pressure feeling most of the time and it makes it hard to functions sometimes because it takes up every ounce of my being to try to ignore it. It subsides at night when I'm laying in bed, watching TV. Again, probably because I'm resting and focused on something else. As soon as I wake up and get out of bed, it's there. I keep seeing things about "Globus" which is like a lump in the throat but this isn't a lump in my throat. This literally feels like pressure on my neck/throat area. Almost like a heaviness. If I touch my neck/throat it helps because it almost distracts my mind from the sensation I feel and to my hand and what it feels, but immediately when I move my hand, the feeling is back. I can still eat and drink just fine but I don't usually want to because of the way my throat feels. It makes eating uncomfortable or foreign with this sensation I feel. I've seen an allergist who ran blood-work and did a skin test. She put me on daily allergy medicine because I do have seasonal allergies but nothing that would cause a reaction with my throat so we ruled that out. The allergy medicine doesn't help it go away either. I had an EKG a few weeks ago and all was good there so no worries with my chest. I have had full blood panels and nothing abnormal. Thyroid is in check. Iron and B12 were a little on the low side so I've been taking supplements and they are better but still no improvement with this sensation I feel so I ruled that out as a cause too. My Dr put me on a daily acid reflux medicine. I took this for 8 weeks and after that 8 weeks, I still had no relief from the pressure/tightness I felt in my neck & throat. We suspected it could be GERD due to a few other symptoms I was having but with no relief at any time in those 2 months of daily meds, we ruled that out as a culprit as well. So essentially, I was told it was anxiety and given 10mg of Lexapro to take daily. I'm just over the 2 week mark so it's too early to notice any improvements and I probably have another 2-3 weeks before I will notice a difference with my anxiety levels (if that is what is causing this). I was just curious if anybody else has experience anything like this at all or is currently experiencing it. I'd love to discuss this with somebody who understands what I'm feeling physically right now 😃

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3 Replies

  • Edited

    Sometimes anxiety will tell you something is wrong that isn't really there. My first attack, ten years ago, I couldn't breathe through my nose when I went to bed. I started to panic because I don't like to sleep breathing through my mouth. I kept thinking I am having a panic attack because I can't breathe while the truth was I can't breath because I am having a panic attack. I could be wrong but as hard as it is right now, try to relax. Make yourself loose. Relax all your muscles and tell yourself everything will be gone soon. The more you think something else is wrong the more anxiety kicks in. You will surely get over this and then if you have a stiff neck and tightness in your throat you can concentrate on that. I wish you well.

  • Posted

    Yes, this can be an effect of anxiety - I've had it. With me, it's not only a tight throat but a tight face, and it's comes from tensing the muscles in the back of the neck. What I've done is to do neck stretching exercises to get my neck/face/shoulders to relax. Also lying on my back helps as well.

  • Posted

    I sometimes (often) experience the same thing, albeit not as bad as you have it by the sounds of it.

    Just an idea - would you try hypnotherapy? It's something I'm considering myself and I hear it can achieve good results in helping the mind overcome psychological issues like this.

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