and other foods at times. It goes down and just sits there. Hurts like hell to. Trying to flush it down with water makes it worse to the point of choking. Some close calls to. I end up having to stick my finger down my throat and force it back out. If i get it to pass its not so bad after that.

Bad breath all the time by chance? I agree with cool, you need to see the doc, and GI will probably be your best one stop shop.

Kool said:

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You need to get to your friendly local GI doctor and get an upper endoscopy STAT. If it's time, ask for a side order of a colonoscopy. Ye Olde Double Dip. There is some pathology you could discover by just getting a Barium swallow, or a modified Barium swallow, but it would still likely necessity the care of a GI doctor. Best of luck

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This. And if you start with a barium swallow and it shows a blockage, do immediately follow up with an upper endoscopy.

My guess is acid reflux. Thats what happened to me even though I didn't have the usual burning sensation you typically hear about.

Do you also constantly clear your throat? Bad breathe?

I got to the point where usually one time at the beginning of a meal i would have to step away from the table and take 2-3 minutes for that first bite to get down. It was brutal.

Went to dr and first thing she tried was prescribe me to an acid reducer. It has definitely helped.

It sounds like you may have a constricted esophagus caused by acid reflux. I fought this problem for years and besides being scary, it's also embarrassing when it happens at a restaurant. It happened with me when I ate meat like steaks and roast, or with dinner rolls. A time or two I had to go to the ER, become sedated, and have it pushed down with a scope. My doctor at the time never seemed interested in working the problem.

A few years, I was fed up with living like that and changed doctors. I visited a GI doc and had an endoscopy (along with a colonoscopy) and began taking Dexilant along with changes in my diet, such as no food two hours before bed. I of course fudge on that a bit from time to time, but generally follow those guidelines. Since then, I've had zero issues with swallowing; it really changed my life. I also avoid tough steaks or chicken which is generally healthier for me anyway.

I had the same experience in college. Mine was caused by an eso****eal ring. Basically scar tissue around the esophagus. They shoved a bunch of tubes down my throat until they broke through the tissue. Problem solved.

For me, it may be making a return, rice is starting to give me trouble again.

Get this checked ASAP. Acid reflux is serious business. My BIL kept going to the Dr & that was the diagnosis. Dr just kept prescribing RX. Turns out it was eso****eal cancer. Another BIL (not related to BIL #1) also just died after a very hard faught 4 month battle. He was 50. I tell everybody......if you have acid reflux &/or swallowing issues get to a GOOD Dr ASAP. Best of luck to you!

Texas Ag Mom said:

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Get this checked ASAP. Acid reflux is serious business. My BIL kept going to the Dr & that was the diagnosis. Dr just kept prescribing RX. Turns out it was eso****eal cancer. Another BIL (not related to BIL #1) also just died after a very hard faught 4 month battle. He was 50. I tell everybody......if you have acid reflux &/or swallowing issues get to a GOOD Dr ASAP. Best of luck to you!

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Wow, I am sorry that this has happened to people in your family. Your post brings up a good point related to this discussion. Long-term use of Proton Pump Inhibitors (Nexium, Prevacid, Prilosec, etc.) will often control symptoms of gastroeso****eal reflux but allow a precancerous condition called Barret's Eso****itis to progress without causing symptoms. Without a Bravo capsule or an endoscopy being performed, Barret's can progress to eso****eal cancer undetected. Not to mention the fact that the data on side effects of long-term PPI usage keeps getting worse, I would strongly encourage anyone who needs to take these medications daily for more than a month or so to see a GI doctor. Better safe than sorry.

Hard to believe there are so many with similar experiences. I've had issues since I was in my teens when I had to visit the ER while home alone with some food stuck in my throat. I had an eso****eal procedure at the time because I have a narrow esophagus, where the enlarged a balloon in my throat to stretch it out. That solved my issue for a long time, but it's crept back up to where I still have this problem occasionally, and most often with sticky foods like rice and dry chicken. Presumably my esophagus has contracted over the years and I've just tried to be careful for the last ~15 or so and live with it.

No symptoms of acid reflux here, but I haven't visited with a specialist since I was young.

Username definitely does NOT check out.

From New England Journal of Medicine, a case report.

Quote:

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A 32-year-old man presented to the emergency department with difficulty swallowing oral secretions and the feeling that food was stuck in his throat after he ate a pizza roll. The patient reported that similar episodes had occurred previously, but in each instance the feeling resolved spontaneously, and he did not seek medical care. At the time of presentation, the patient was drooling. Upper endoscopy revealed impacted food material (Panel A) and prominent mucosal rings extending 20 cm from the incisors to the level of the gastroeso****eal junction, with two discrete areas of narrowing and associated linear furrows (Panel B). Biopsy specimens were obtained, and eso****itis was observed, with more than 40 eosinophils per high-power field (Fig. S1 in the Supplementary Appendix). An endoscopic finding of fixed eso****eal rings, or "trachealization," is suggestive of eosinophilic eso****itis, although a definitive diagnosis is made on the basis of clinical presentation, histologic findings, and the exclusion of other causes of eso****eal eosinophilia, such as proton-pump inhibitorresponsive eso****eal eosinophilia. The patient was treated with an 8-week course of omeprazole, but there was no symptom resolution or histologic improvement on repeat endoscopic biopsies, which confirmed the diagnosis of eosinophilic eso****itis. He was started on an 8-week course of both swallowed fluticasone and a six-food elimination diet (elimination of the six most commonly identified types of allergenic food wheat, milk, soy, nuts, eggs, and seafood). No additional endoscopies were performed after completion of treatment with fluticasone and the elimination diet. At a 1-year follow-up visit, the patient reported no further symptoms of food impaction.

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https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMicm1807124

Had the same issues - got to the point I couldn't swallow water one day and ended up in the ER. Went to the GI the next day, scope a week later (upper only), found eso****eal rings and a hiatal hernia, coupled with acid reflux.

Dad and brother have the same issues.

I had a bad GI, overcharged and never issued refunds, scheduling issues, etc... and haven't been back. He'd prescribed 80mg of omeprazole daily, I've only been taking 40mg, but I need to find a new doc and get off of that stuff.

Any update on this? OP, did you go to the doc? Still having the issue?

Happens to me frequently. I've had issues for close to 10 years now. 2 different GI docs, 2 uppers done. Visit to Dr. #1 took biopsy and came back as eosiniphilic esoph.agitis. Years later with Dr. #2 said GERD.

Sorrell Booke said:

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Any update on this? OP, did you go to the doc? Still having the issue?

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Nobody ever gives follow-up here. It's like a medical mystery show with no ending.

I had this with rice (usually under cooked), eggs, leftover salmon, raw kale, bacon and sometimes if I drank water too fast. I would make myself toss it up. That was the only way to stop the excruciating pain

My research showed me that it was not actually stuck, but the esophagus was spasming. This makes sense because how does water get stuck?

It was acid reflux because it would go away after about 4 days of treatment. I quit dipping and drinking and don't even need the medicine.