Why do I have a lump in my throat?!
Question: I've had this lump for the past two weeks. I only have the lump at night (along with nausea) and I am extremely uncomfortable and on the verge of throwing up for hours. I never do throw up, but maybe because I focus so hard on preventing it. It feels like I'm choking or like something is on my gag reflex. It's horrible!!
Swallowing, drinking water... none of that helps. I get a second of relief if I take a deep breath, but I can't keep doing that all night.
I do have a lot of stress in my life. Could stress cause the lump? I am on Nexium for excess stomach acid. Maybe it's acid reflux? Or GERD? Or a side effect to the medication? If anyone has this problem or knows what to do, some advice would be greatly appreciated!!
Answers: I've had this lump for the past two weeks. I only have the lump at night (along with nausea) and I am extremely uncomfortable and on the verge of throwing up for hours. I never do throw up, but maybe because I focus so hard on preventing it. It feels like I'm choking or like something is on my gag reflex. It's horrible!!
Swallowing, drinking water... none of that helps. I get a second of relief if I take a deep breath, but I can't keep doing that all night.
I do have a lot of stress in my life. Could stress cause the lump? I am on Nexium for excess stomach acid. Maybe it's acid reflux? Or GERD? Or a side effect to the medication? If anyone has this problem or knows what to do, some advice would be greatly appreciated!!
You have all the classic symptoms of GERD. The lump in your throat is the tightening of the valve at the top of the esophagus. Your body is trying to protect your airway from the regurgitated stomach acid. The nausea is also a reaction to the acid in your stomach.
Recommendations:
Try eating a small meal in the evening, and don't eat ANYTHING for 3-4 hours before you go to bed.
Stay away from alcohol, spicy, acidic, and/or fatty foods.
Caffeine is also a trigger, as are carbonated beverages.
Take a proton-pump inhibitor, such as Prilosec, before you eat.
Sleep propped on 2 pillows, or invest in a 30 degree-angle foam wedge (found at some pharmacies, or at a medical supply).
If it doesn't get better, consult a gastroenterologist.
i would go see a doctor if you really dont know what it is.
i had something once when i was about 8. i forgot what it was called and i had all of the same symptoms and i also had white spots all over my body, it was very hard to swallow or even talk.it was not good i had it for about one week and then after taking my medication it went away and it was one of those things where you can only get it once. but if you really are not that sure on what it is then maybe you should really go see a doctor.
Honeslty, it sounds like you have swollen tonsils. The same thing happened to me, and I found out I had tonsilitis! Go to the doctor, I bet that is what that is!
I'm not sure what it could be but I think that you should definitely see a doctor because it might get worse.
If the lump in your throat is accompanied by a soreness, it could be a swollen lymph node. Ususally mucus draining in the back of the throat, from allergies, runny nose, ect.. can cause a slight infection and cause the lymph nodes to swell. Lymph nodes are sac-like structures throughout the body in which white blood cells are formed to destroy infections and other foriegn materials in the body. Several happen to be in the throat and neck area.
If lymph nodes on both sides of the throat are swollen, it can sometimes feel like choking, or difficulty breathing or swallowing.
In this case, I would try to get a medication such as MUCINEX (an expectorant) to dry up the drainage. This won't necessarily fix the problem, because swollen lymph nodes take a while to dissapte since it is making new white blood cells and will continue to do so until the foriegn bodies are exterminated.
It might actually be phlem. I know a few years ago, I had a lump in my throat and I couldn't get it out but it was incredibly bothersome. I know exactly how you feel! Anyways, within the month or so, I became extremely ill and literally slept for 3 days straight (my throat was ssoo sore I couldn't talk, so I took some tylenol with codine to ease the pain, which in Canada you can get over the counter - I also drank gingerale and orange juice in order to try and get the phlem up). After about 24 hrs or so, I started coughing up little phlem balls (and yes, they literally are phlem balls - it's gross) and I all of a sudden started feeling better. Try drinking something high in acid and see if this will help. Try and rid your system of anything phlem-like by blowing your nose (instead of sniffling back snot), and spitting out the phlem whenever possible.
However, I think the only true way to get your body to get rid of it, is get sick. I dunno, worked wonders for me :)
I have the same issue...kind of feels like something is stuck in my throat. My doctor seems to think it's inflammation from GERD. I went for a barium swallow (disgusting) to make sure that there wasn't an actual blockage. There wasn't.
I know this sounds gross, but I actually go ahead and throw up and most of the time the feeling goes away. I've noticed it's worse after a big meal or one with bread and crackers...I've just been careful about eating those.
I also started using a nasal spray (to help with post nasal drip) because he thought that might be irritating my throat too...I can't tell if it's working or not, but the choking feeling is less frequent now with those changes. Hope you find relief...I know how frustrating and annoying it can be.