Sometimes with my crazy schedule I find meals being eaten way after the usual time, so once it comes time to chow down, I find myself scarfing it down like a starving beast.
What I may experience is a tightness in the throat after the first bites, not choking, but almost like a “clogged drain” effect. The food neither wants to go down nor come back up. Added to the stress is a dizziness and lightheadedness, almost to the point of fainting (although I never have actually fainted I suspect this is what it feels like). After a minute or so, it goes away, and the food goes where it should.
Today’s episode was particularly bothersome as I felt like I may fall off the chair, and had a simultaneous buzzing in the ears for a few seconds.
Apart from that I am in good shape, and am able to pass a stringent medical exam every six months in order to keep my job.
I am not sure, from your description, if it is the same, but you could have a Schatzki ring developing. For many years I had a problem that if I ate too quickly and did not chew enough, food would get stuck before it reached my stomach. Sometimes it would clear in a few minutes, but other times it could take an hour or more, and if I swallowed too much saliva or (as one was tempted to do, trying to clear it) water, it would briefly become quite painful and the saliva and water, which coul dnot get down my blocked aesophagus, maybe accompanied by bits of undigested food (not vomit) would come up again. Eventually the blockage would clear downwards though.
After a particularly bad episode (actually caused by a fish-oil capsule) a couple of years ago I went to the doctor and he scheduled me for Schatzki ring dilation, a simple operation under local anesthetic. It has been better, though not perfect, since then. I understand that the problem can recur, requiring further dilation.
If this is what you have, it is probably in its early stages, and it may be too soon to be worth dilating yet.
I am not a medical doctor, so don’t take this as gospel, or as a diagnosis.
Just to second njtt - sounds like an esophageal spasm (which can lead to or be caused by a Schatzki ring). The wiki article also notes that Schatzki rings can be linked to swallowing syncope, possibly explaining the dizzyness/lightheadedness (or this could just be panic).
See a suitable doctor, they will probably want to do an endoscopy.
In the meantime, my last gastroenterologist recommended always having a drink on hand when eating (he said a light fizzy beer like Kingfisher to go with the curries that were problematic) - I have fruit juice and lemonade, coke zero or water. If dysphagia occurs, I grab and force a swallow - hard, but I have practice. Apparently the carbonated drinks can help break up the bolus - anyhow, it works for me.
Really? My experience with this is that the effects are at their most unpleasant if carbonated drinks are involved. I would recommend plain water (but even that may be uncomfortable, and may come up) or nothing at all. Walking around a bit, and blowing the nose or coughing may help shift stuff if it is stuck (though it does not sound as though the OP is experiencing anything quite that bad yet).
The emphasis was on lightly carbonated - Kingfisher is apparently not too gassy, and I usually have 50/50 lemonade/fruit juice. I have certainly has the experience of closing up with a swallow of cold coke and having it foam up in my esophagus - which is very unpleasant.
As in all things, YMMV. But for me, I have to shift it fast or I will be choking on mucus/saliva within a couple of minutes which is even less pleasant. So I don’t muck about.
Si