So, this weekend I nearly killed myself with…a hot dog! Actually, it was a half smoke sausage, but same difference as far as this is concerned. What I’d like to know, from anyone who has done the same stupid thing, or knows someone who has, is…what do I do for the pain? My throat feels totally raw and hurts like hell. It’s hard to swallow and feels like I’ve still got something lodged in there, even though I know I don’t. I figure that, in my panic, pushing the thing down finally I pulled some muscles, abraded the inner lining of the throat and gods know what else (I’m sure the spicy mustard, peppers and other stuff on the half smoke didn’t help any either). I’ve debated going to the emergency room, but as I just seem to be in some discomfort I figured I’d wait until tomorrow, and if I’m still not feeling well I’ll go see my GP instead.
In the mean time, any advice from someone who’s been there? It’s pretty painful and hard to swallow. Would regular sore throat medicine work? Ice cream? Aspirin, Tylenol or Advil? Just man up and leave it be?
Don’t need answer fast, though if someone has been here and has some good advice I’m all ears.
I assume this was stuck in your esophagus not your wind pipe, right? Whenever I hear ‘choke’ I think of something blocking off your breathing, but it doesn’t sound like the case here.
Going to the ER probably won’t do you any good since this isn’t an emergency situation. At best, you could call your GP on Monday or Tuesday who is probably going to refer you to a GI doc who is probably going to want you to come in and either have you to an EGD (endoscopy) which would be scheduled out a week or so, to see if something is going on or have you take some Carafate for a week or two to see if that heals things.
Does this happen regularly?
As for OTC meds, if I took a guess, I’d go with Advil since you might have some inflammation. But it’s hard to tell from here. I’d probably also give it at least another day or two before I call a doctor about it, at least as long as you can still eat without difficulty.
Thanks for the response. No, this doesn’t happen regularly…in fact, it’s the first time I’ve ever had something like this happen and it scared the shit out of me. I totally panicked. I don’t know if it was my wind pipe or my esophagus…it was high up in my throat, and since this happened my voice has been pretty ragged and horse sounding. And, as I said, it hurts like hell. I can drink and eat though, and today it’s slightly better. Feels at this point like a really bad sore throat. I doubt I’ll go to the doctor at this point.
I took Advil last night and took some this morning as well. Doesn’t seem to be doing much for the pain, but I think it’s helped with the swelling.
One time I got a scratch in my throat (not even sure on what, maybe a pretzel) and at times it would make me start to cough to the point where i felt like i was going to choke to death. It was in the “back” of my throat and only two things helped soothe it while i waited out the healing process. 1. drinking water with my head kind of tilted back further than normal. 2. I went to the drug store and picked up the super-strength throat lozenges (they tasted really “alcoholy” but they helped numb the area that was irritated).
I quite often find that what started out as a mild winter cold/sniffle can abruptly turn into a nasty chest/throat infection just as a result of a minor incident such as food going down the wrong way, or accidentally swallowing something with a sharp corner on it.
Alcohol sometimes helps (sloe gin especially), or gargling with a traditional alcohol-based mouthwash.
Slippery elm throat lozenges may help (in the cough drop section). A spoonful of honey may help. If it doesn’t heal itself in a couple of days, or if it gets worse, it’s doctor time, just to check for an actual tear, a piece remaining or an infection set in.
I once got a bruise on the back of my throat from an activity my mother will never find out about, and apparently it broke just enough of the mucus membrane to let a strep infection set in. Yep. Some people get really interesting and exotic sexually transmitted infections…I got strep throat. :smack:
Well, if it was stuck in your esophagus (inability to swallow, as opposed to inability to breathe) it could be an esophageal stricture. That happened to me – suddenly one night I absolutely could not swallow the mouthful of food nor get it back out – it was a painful ball partway down, and no water or fluid could pass it in either direction. Very scary and painful.
Turned out to be an esophageal stricture, a narrowing of the passage food goes down, and it happened again a few times (less seriously) until I had a procedure in which it was dilated (stretched open).
The medical diagnosis involved an interesting tale. My general practitioner immediately said, “it sounds like an esophageal stricture.” He sent me to a cardiologist first, though, to rule out heart problems. I underwent full EKG testing, both resting and on a treadmill. Then I went to a gastroenterologist and filled out questionnaires. After several appointments, somebody finally looked down my throat with a light and immediately SAW the stricture. I have no idea why nobody would look down there on the first visit.
You might actually want to follow up with your doctor. And insist somebody take a peek before find yourself on a treadmill.
I’m assuming it originally got stuck in his pharynx above the point where it splits into the larynx and the esophagus. When he pushed it down it went into the esophagus to his stomach rather than into the larynx to his lungs. (Kids, don’t try this at home. You’re better off heimliching a stuck object back up out of your mouth than playing throat roulette.)
This happened to my friend a couple years ago, except it was a chunk of beef instead of a hot dog. She took too large a bite, didn’t chew enough, and it got lodged in her esophagus. The ER had to sedate her and pull it with forceps. Her voice sounded awful and she said her throat hurt like hell, but it went away after 3-4 days. I’d just wait it out. I’ve had luck with ibuprofen for strep throat pain, you could try that.
Rotisserie chicken skin damn near killed me while my sister and father watched in silent horror. Very, very unpleasant.
My sister almost choke on a hotdog when we were four. It’s one of my earliest memories. One moment she was choking and the next moment my mother’s hand was down her throat.
Hot dogs are up there as the leading choking hazard for young children and institutionalized adults. So you aren’t alone.