She thinks she inhaled a whole entire pill - a vitamin, which is not usually a little bitty thing like aspirin - almost 24 hrs ago, but she’s still also able to breathe well enough to call people on the phone and have conversations.
You’re more patient than me. I’d have stopped answering those calls a while ago.
From UpToDate, the medical standard reference. This is their summary of Foreign Body Aspiration (FBA).
“In adults, FBA presenting as acute asphyxiation due to large obstructing foreign bodies of the upper airway is rare. More commonly, the clinical presentation of FBA is subtle or silent and due to distal wedging of the foreign body in lower lobe bronchi. Cough is the most common symptom followed by symptoms due to complications of FBA (eg, pneumonia, bronchial stenosis, bronchiectasis) including fever, hemoptysis, chest pain, or wheeze. Most foreign bodies are radiolucent on imaging and require direct visualization, usually bronchoscopy”.
Also: "Due to the subtle presentation, a delay in diagnosis is not uncommon for several weeks, or in some cases, for many years. "
So while lack of symptoms is moderately reassuring, it’s still possible to have aspirated the pill. She should contact her doctor to begin the evaluation, or go to the ER if symptoms like fever, chest pain, cough, wheeze, respiratory distress, or coughing up blood occur.
On the other hand, stomach acid is a great deal more caustic than a vitamin pill.
Yes. But i still think that if the pill had been aspirated and was going to cause problems, it would be fairly obvious. I mean, that little traffic cone didn’t cause problems.
SIL is great, but the medical anxiety can be exhausting on those around her. It has been getting more intense over the last 5 years. It extends to the family dog as well, who has been taken to several special trainers, psychologists, and vets over the years.
Is this potentially a psychiatric issue? The fact that is intensifying would make me wonder.
The illness anxiety has had a number of negative effects on the family, including substantial money spent needlessly and people deciding to spend less time with her. That counselling might be useful has been gently suggested, and rejected out of hand. It is a growing concern but there seems to be little people can do. Suggestions welcome!
Aversion therapy? As per QTM’s professional cite, suggest she go to the pulmonologist to jam a scope down her lungs and have a look. But slyly arrange for insufficient analgesia / sedation. Given enough painful procedures, maybe she’ll quit.
Not a serious proposal, given the ethical issues involved, but fun to think about. 
Seems to my humble non-clinician self that an ER visit to determine if imaging or bronchoscopy are appropriate might be in order. Too long a delay to see if significant symptoms develop could result in worse problems down the line.
Hypochondriacs can get sick too.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213007119302904
That’s one of the articles SIL forwarded to us. She has none of the symptoms listed, not even a cough after the initial bit of gagging, no “severe cough” or “bronchspasm,” just a sense that she “might have” aspirated the pill.
LSLGuy, aversion therapy is unlikely to be effective. SIL paid thousands of dollars for a colonoscopy when her doctor said she did not meet the criteria for a free one. The colonoscopy turned out fine and they said come back in 5 years. 18 months after being told that, she was eligible for the free one and went for it.
It needs to be affirmatively painful and miserable and leave her hobbling for a week. I found colonscopies to be downright relaxing: Lotsa pooping and juvenile poop jokes, free drugs, and a day off! What’s not to like?
Had they stuffed that thing up my nether regions using a jackhammer, not sedation I’d be unlikely to want a repeat performance.
The problem of course is no medical professional would participate in such a charade. And rightly so. But it’s fun to imagine.
Sounds like Mutthausen by proxy syndrome.
Counselor, for shame! You are out of order. Sit Down!
Actually, that was brilliant. Thank you. Made the whole evening right there. On that fine note I’m toddling off to bed.
I recommend Dr. Emil Schaffhausen of the Schaffhausen Clinic in Lichtenstein. His fee is significant but his he guarantees results. He also has some real estate ‘situations’ available in Sydney, just in case you were looking to invest some of your spare cash.
Stranger