# Have you ever choked on a piece of food? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 30, 2011, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-choked-on-a-piece-of-food/607825 "2011-12-30T13:18:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2011, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-choked-on-a-piece-of-food/607825/21 "2011-12-31T04:46:02Z")
Not choking, per se, but my roommate got an overly large chunk of beef lodged in her upper esophagus to the point that she couldn’t swallow it down and it wouldn’t come back up. Nothing could get past it. The ER tried to get her to gag it out or throw it back up but that didn’t work so they had to sedate her and go in with a long pair of forceps to dig it out. Last week I was incredibly stupid and almost aspirated some Coke because I was drinking it in a reclining position and couldn’t be arsed to raise my head to a high enough angle to swallow it safely. Carbonated beverage heading into your windpipe is highly unpleasant. I coughed it out pretty quick but for a split second it felt exactly like drowning. ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2011, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-choked-on-a-piece-of-food/607825/22 "2011-12-31T06:43:56Z")
> [@chizzuk](#): > > Not choking, per se, but my roommate got an overly large chunk of beef lodged in her upper esophagus to the point that she couldn’t swallow it down and it wouldn’t come back up. Chunk of potato for me. Because I could breathe wasn’t I overly panicking, but after 10 secs, which seemed like an hour, how I was going to get it out wasn’t becoming any clearer. Then the gag kicked in booted it out from below. ---
**Author:** ![FlyByNight512](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/82dd89/32.png) [@FlyByNight512](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyByNight512)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2011, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-choked-on-a-piece-of-food/607825/23 "2011-12-31T08:22:48Z")
Huh. I’m a bit surprised how many people have had near-fatal choking experiences. I’ve had stuff ‘go down the wrong pipe’ before, and gasped and coughed for a few seconds to get it back out, but I’ve never been in danger, nor have I seen anyone else in danger. I didn’t think it was all that common among healthy adults. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2011, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-choked-on-a-piece-of-food/607825/24 "2011-12-31T08:48:16Z")
> [@FlyByNight512](#): > > Huh. I’m a bit surprised how many people have had near-fatal choking experiences. I’ve had stuff ‘go down the wrong pipe’ before, and gasped and coughed for a few seconds to get it back out, but I’ve never been in danger, nor have I seen anyone else in danger. I didn’t think it was all that common among healthy adults. Mine was fatal. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2011, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-choked-on-a-piece-of-food/607825/25 "2011-12-31T09:17:42Z")
> [@Cugel](#): > > Chunk of potato for me. Because I could breathe wasn’t I overly panicking, but after 10 secs, which seemed like an hour, how I was going to get it out wasn’t becoming any clearer. Then the gag kicked in booted it out from below. She had it lodged in there for 5 hours. The first ER took an x-ray and couldn’t figure out what to do, so they sent her to a different hospital, I guess under the assumption that she needed some fancy ENT or GI doc. The second ER decided that fancy measures were not required and used the forceps. She had a sore throat and a hoarse voice for a week. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2011, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-choked-on-a-piece-of-food/607825/26 "2011-12-31T11:40:01Z")
Yes. It is very unpleasant. It used to happen to me frequently and on relatively small pieces of food. Although it felt like they were stuck in my throat they actually lodged just above the stomach. The first serious time it happened was in the 70’s and I was hospitalised for a few days and could neither eat nor drink. Eventually it was dislodged but that is another story. This happened for several years until specialists diagnosed a hiatus hernia where stomach acid was scarring and eventually constricting the eosophogus. Several operations over many years and it is finally repaired. That choking feeling is something you would not wish on anyone. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-choked-on-a-piece-of-food/607825/27 "2012-01-05T18:28:27Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > It probably fits in either forum, but I’m going to slide this over to CS anyway for you. > [@twickster](#): > > Moved Cafe Society –\> IMHO. Hey, can we swing by the Pit next? 😃 mmm ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-choked-on-a-piece-of-food/607825/28 "2012-01-05T22:11:44Z")
bumping the thread for **eleanor**. calling all emts, paramedics and assorted medical folk: what DO they do today instead of the heimlich? i haven’t done 1st aid/cpr cert in years. > [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > What do they do instead of the Heimlich Maneuver? The last time I took a CPR class, they told us to bend a choking person forward and hit them between the shoulder blades, but then to follow up with the Heimlich if that didn’t work. If a person was unconscious, we were supposed to try chest compressions. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-choked-on-a-piece-of-food/607825/29 "2012-01-05T22:40:21Z")
A Frito Scoop damn near did me in. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-choked-on-a-piece-of-food/607825/30 "2012-01-05T22:55:16Z")
A piece of steak from a sandwich at a Philly Steak and Cheese franchise. I was alone and was sizing up my fellow diners for the biggest strongest looking one to Heimlich me. I then noticed that if I breathed normally I would get zero air but if I resisted the panic and just breathed very shallowly I could get a little. What I remember most was picking up my drink, putting it to my lips and thinking “This is going to either make things better or way, way worse”…then taking a tiny sip which lubed the meat up just enough to gradually work it back up. I’m told I got a piece of hot dog stuck in my throat when I was real little but I don’t remember. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-choked-on-a-piece-of-food/607825/31 "2012-01-05T23:07:06Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > I’m told I got a piece of hot dog stuck in my throat when I was real little but I don’t remember. A couple of years ago, one of my husband’s co-worker’s 3-year-old son died after getting a piece of hot dog stuck in his throat. I will probably be cutting my kids’ hot dogs into quarters lengthwise when they’re old enough to buy a beer to accompany it at the ballpark. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-choked-on-a-piece-of-food/607825/32 "2012-01-06T03:17:24Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Finally someone noticed that he was choking and they dislodged the obstruction (not by the Heimlich Maneuver - they stopped it long ago). > [@Scubaqueen](#): > > bumping the thread for **eleanor**. calling all emts, paramedics and assorted medical folk: what DO they do today instead of the heimlich? i haven’t done 1st aid/cpr cert in years. [First Aid For Choking](http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/first-aid-choking/FA00025) mmm ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-choked-on-a-piece-of-food/607825/33 "2012-01-06T05:37:21Z")
Cornbread crumbs always get me. They are so tiny and light, they fly on the air and lodge in my windpipe. They can’t block my air passage, of course, but are always good for several seconds of upper respiratory convulsions. I love cornbread, but the crumbs get in the way of enjoying it. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-choked-on-a-piece-of-food/607825/34 "2012-01-06T14:30:52Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > [First Aid For Choking](http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/first-aid-choking/FA00025) That guide still calls for the Heimlich maneuver, after back blows or instead of back blows. I could swear that in the first CPR class I took, many years ago, we were told \*not \*to hit a choking person on the back, as this would lodge the obstruction deeper rather than expel it. ---
**Author:** ![fjs1fs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9e8a1a/32.png) [@fjs1fs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fjs1fs)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-choked-on-a-piece-of-food/607825/35 "2012-01-06T15:58:33Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > A couple of years ago, one of my husband’s co-worker’s 3-year-old son died after getting a piece of hot dog stuck in his throat. I will probably be cutting my kids’ hot dogs into quarters lengthwise when they’re old enough to buy a beer to accompany it at the ballpark. ☹ Hot Dogs are probably the biggest culprit. I have had two instances. Once, I missed about 5 innings of a Yankee game while a piece of hot dog was caught in my throat. Obviously it was not in my windpipe, but just blocking my esophagus. But there were a few instances where it did get into my windpipe, which is the scariest feeling I’ve ever experienced–bar none! It happened once at a junkyard with a hot dog, and a worker there violently punched me in the back of the neck to save my life. Another time it happened while eating ribs, when I somehow was luckily able to swallow the meat. Getting food caught in my esophagus happened to me quite often when I was a kid/teenager. My siblings always laughed at me, calling me retarded, and saying I didn’t know how to chew. But when I was in my 20s I had an upper endoscopy for heartburn and the GI Dr. told me my esophagus was about 1/3 the width of a normal esophagus, as a result of inflammation (I always told those idiot siblings of mine that I had a small throat). They dilated my esophagus with a balloon, and that helped tremendously. I am much better now, but I still have some fear that this will happen and kill me. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-choked-on-a-piece-of-food/607825/36 "2012-01-06T22:09:58Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Mine was fatal. But you got better, it would seem. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2012, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-choked-on-a-piece-of-food/607825/37 "2012-01-07T01:30:22Z")
I have choked several times because I am a mouth-breather. Not all the time, mostly when my sinuses give me grief, but I’ll forget and breathe in while I’m eating. Once I choked so bad I pissed myself. I suppose that’s somewhat TMI. I thought I was going to die though, so pissing myself wasn’t really that big a deal at the time. ---
**Author:** ![AnotherKari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7feea3/32.png) [@AnotherKari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnotherKari)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-choked-on-a-piece-of-food/607825/38 "2015-12-16T19:16:17Z")
Today I choked on an iboprofen gel capsule at work in front of three colleagues. It was frightening. They all didn’t react for a while - one knew what was happening and another thought I had swallowed water the wrong way. Eventually one tried the H maneuver but as my last first aid course advised this was no longer common practice I mimed that they should hit me in the back. Whatever they did it didn’t work. Saliva was pouring out of my mouth. I was embarrassed but knew I was in trouble so was wondering when they might call a first aid person at least. One of them suggested I put my fingers down my throat to try to throw it up - but that wasn’t an option. I couldn’t get it up or down. Then someone suggested they leave me alone for privacy. Remembering that many people who choke in restaurants die in bathrooms because of embarrassment I gestured wildly that they stay with me. After what seemed like an eternity I somehow swallowed it and burst into sobs. Horrendous. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-choked-on-a-piece-of-food/607825/39 "2015-12-16T19:26:46Z")
Zombies have no problems with choking while eating brains. ETA: AnotherKari, you resurrected a 4 year old thread. Welcome to the dope. Hope you stay around. ---
**Author:** ![OffByOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OffByOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OffByOne)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-choked-on-a-piece-of-food/607825/40 "2015-12-16T20:35:28Z")
As a teenager about 50 years ago, I was eating out with my family. I was having steak, and, while chewing, I decided to swallow a piece that was separate from the rest of the glob in my mouth. Only it wasn’t separate, it was attached to the rest of the glob in my mouth. I do not recall panicking, and I don’t remember if I could or could not breathe. I could not finish swallowing the big chunk; I ended up un-swallowing what had already gone down. Not too long after that, I did the exact same thing! Now, I chew every bite for a ridiculous amount of time, to make sure that there are no large pieces. Or fish bones. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-choked-on-a-piece-of-food/607825.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-choked-on-a-piece-of-food/607825.md?page=3)