Anxiety/Panic About Choking on Food/Pills?

Question

I am a 29 year old male. Recently I felt as if I was having trouble swallowing. I felt like there was a lump in my throat.. I went to a ton of doctors for it and they did lots of tests and nothing was wrong with my swallow I was convinced that I had cancer with all the trouble I had. The lump went away and I am feeling better, but I am still scared about eating alone. I will eat soft foods ore even puree stuff.. The month and a half where it felt like stuff was getting stuck did a number on my psyche.. I won't eat anything that might get stuck by myself. I am now afraid to swallow pills/vitamins (something I never had trouble with before..I was a Gold Card Member at GNC and got tons of stuff). I am not sure what to do. I feel trapped. I had a crying spell last night...I want to beat this so I can go back onto my normal ways, but I am not sure what to do.

Answer 1

Therapy. Yours is the type of case that therapists typically love, because therapy for specific anxieties (if it's done right) is typically very successful for both children and adults.

A good therapist will know how to use CBT (Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy), psychoeducation, and exposure therapy techniques to gradually relieve this phobia.

The exposure therapy is something you will probably find particularly useful. It is basically made of very gradually intensifying exposure to the anxiety-provoking stimulus. It happens over the course of weeks or months, depending on how bad it is, and it's all planned and performed collaboratively between you and the therapist.

Call your health insurance provider and find out where you would be covered for mental health concerns. You would then need to contact these resources and ask specifically for someone who is trained in CBT and exposure therapy for anxiety disorders.

Answer 2

This may be a weird answer but my friend was terrifed of spiders as most people are and now she isnt scared of them at all. When we ever saw a spider i told her to name them and laugh about them and imagine them doing something weird or saying he was a spy for MI 5..stupid things like that. I dont know how it worked but now she isnt scared of them because she associates them with happiness and fun instead of fear. Perhaps doing this in a different way with your fear of choking might help decrease the intensity of the fear itself.

Hope that didnt sound too weird. Give it a try! good luck!