What happens to food that goes down the wrong pipe?

[Love_Rhombus]

We’ve all had a morsel go down the breather instead of the eater, but what happens to those cough-making bits?

[fshdude]

pretty sure cilia on the tissue or some crap like that bring it back up…

[horsetech]

Well, coughing itself helps expel some of it.

Macrophages in your lungs phagocytose foreign material, presumably including last night’s dinner.

In a worst-case scenario, it makes some bacteria very happy and they sit down there in your lungs munching on your taco salad and getting bacterial heartburn (OK, I made that last part up), resulting in aspiration pneumonia.

[Springtime_for_Spacers]

Only yesterday I was reading this story (with a happy ending) about a baby who aspirated a peanut.

Eventually, doctors located the peanut in George’s lungs.
Dave said: "The nut hadn’t decomposed because there is no acid, like in the stomach, to get rid of it. It became a breeding bed for bacteria. It wasn’t a very graceful surgery, and they had to wait until he was stable enough to put a metal device down his already inflamed throat. Once it was out, they still had to deal with the infection.

So, ouch, the worst case scenario is bad.

[pan1]

Either you cough it back up or it stays there. If it stays there it can get ugly - as mentioned.

[Harmonious_Discord]

It can trigger an autoimmune response such as this case of pig brain mist being inhaled by processing workers.

[madrabbitwoman]

My personal story (some ickyness involved)

Last year ( few days after Christmas) I inhaled something - couldn’t cough it up and I was REALLY trying I was even vomiting.
Fast forward to new years eve - I have been coughing steadily since the inhalation. I’m out with friend on a house boat and we are going down the river and I’m coughing my heart out - suddenly cough cough sploooork: a big gob of greeen goo containting a one winged fly :eek:
An hour later I coughed up the other wing.

I am now P.A.R.A.N.O.I.D about inhaling stuff

[Musicat]

@madrabbitwoman

My personal story… and I’m coughing my heart out - suddenly cough cough sploooork: a big gob of greeen goo containting a one winged fly :eek:
An hour later I coughed up the other wing.

That’ll teach you to eat fast food. No more lunches on the fly, eh?

[T.Slothrop]

The other half of the story, or perhaps the story from the other half of the family:

In Korea I had this one young Sergeant who got a call from his wife that his son was choking and she was taking him to the hospital. He gets no more word from her and **no more sleep **for the next three days. There were no cell phones in those days so she could’t call him from the hospital. It turned out that the boy had inhaled a peanut and they got it out somehow.