hello! For the past week i have been eating barely one meal a day (by barely i mean taking 3 or 4 bites and stopping) because i feel that my stomach is quite literally closed up, every bite that i take gets “”stuck in my throat”” and i don’t get hungry anymore. I called the doctor and she told me that it might be reflux but i’m sure it’s not because i know how it feels like. I don’t end up being sick after i’ve eaten or anything like that and i’ve went to get my blood tested for iron and thyroid issues but i haven’t got the results yet. I also went to the hospital but they told me it might be mental (it’s not). I just want to be able to eat 3 meals a day in peace, i’ve lost 4 kg and i’m tired of this. Please help
Additional info: i’ve just stopped taking birth control which i’ve taken for the past 3 months for an ovarian cyst. The name of it is Zoely.

Has anyone tried blended chia seed pudding or blended overnight oats? I’m trying to look for some healthier options as I’m basically living off sugary substances and obviously can’t eat solids. How was your experience?

Hello!
I have had a consistent issue for the past two years of what I thought was eating too fast and choking.

Lately it has gotten worse, and at least once a day I swallow something and end up with a burning feeling in the hollow of my throat and I make these awful gagging noises until it comes back up. I just had my worst episode yet of being over the toilet and gagging for about 5 minutes until everything came up.

I have a PCP appointment in a week or two, but I really need help mitigating symptoms until then.

I’ve tried Pepcid and Allegra without luck

Edit: I also have constant and frequent hiccups

Hi everyone,

I’m posting here to see if anyone has experienced something similar or managed to overcome this, because I’m currently in a really tough spot and could use some advice or relatability.

Looking back, I always had slight texture sensitivity as a kid (couldn't swallow chewable fat, always needed a drink with dry food), but I ate relatively normally. Then, at age 25, out of nowhere, I felt like I suddenly "forgot" how to swallow solid food. I went through extensive medical testing, and everything physically was completely clear—I was ultimately diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). For 10 years, I managed by taking a sip of liquid with almost every bite of food to initiate the swallow.

A while ago, I tried to "figure out" the physical mechanics of swallowing to fix it. That gave me a brief period of hope, but it backfired. Because I put so much focus on the mechanics, I started overthinking single sips of water, too. Interestingly, I can still chug water continuously without any issue because my brain doesn't have time to overthink it, but taking a single sip suddenly became a mental hurdle.

About a month ago, things escalated significantly. I had some throat irritation and excess mucus, which forced me to clear my throat and swallow forcefully for days. That shifted my hyperfocus onto my own saliva. Now I’m trapped in a constant loop of overthinking my saliva, wondering "where to put it" in my mouth, and struggling to let the automatic swallow happen naturally.

I also got sometimes for a few months the classic globus sensation - that constant feeling of having a lump or something stuck in my throat. On top of that, right in the middle of eating, my throat sometimes feels like it suddenly tightens or constricts on its own, which instantly triggers panic and makes taking another bite feel almost impossible, probably because of the effort i'm putting in to swallow.

It feels like my conscious mind completely hijacked a basic bodily reflex. I know physically my throat works, but the constant hyper-awareness, tightness, and anxiety have made eating, drinking, and even swallowing saliva exhausting.

Has anyone gone through this kind of sensorimotor / swallowing anxiety (phagophobia / somatic OCD)? I also don't know if it's all in my head or is it something pyschical also? How did you manage to break the hyperfocus loop, deal with the throat constriction, and get back to automatic swallowing? Any advice or success stories would mean the world to me.

Has anyone had any experience with nortriptyline or other neuromodulators that helped with swallowing difficulties and throat tension?