Choking up blood

[Friendproblems]

Feel a bit scared, and lack of sympathy from OH, so posting to keep calm.

I've had this problem for 24 years or so. Hasn't happened for at least 5 years, so was scary all over again.

I get this feeling of something in my throat (like a seed or something), and I know I must try not to cough. I grab something from the freezer and put on the front of my throat, and drink some milk.

Sometimes this keeps it at bay. But other times (like today), it grows and goes 'over' the front, then I start gagging on it. I choke and then feel a 'rip', then blood comes out. I then spend a short time choking on the blood, which pepper sprays everything. Then when I stop coughing I swallow the blood.

I'm now left with a soreness, along with a tickle, but if I cough again, it bleeds.

I've been to A&E several times in the past. Once the Dr (whose English was not good), kept looking at my legs and sent me for a chest x-ray? It was not a DVT!

Then they refused to even see me, as I used to suffer from bulimia, so it was classed as self-harm.

I haven't made myself sick since the late 90s, so I see no correlation.

I've had a oesophagoscopy, which showed a vein that was friable and easy to 'pop'.

I've not had the bleeding for ages, so why it's scared me I'm not sure, it's not the blood, it's the sensation of choking.

I did think it was tonsil stones, but I looked in my throat after choking, and blood was coming from further down than I could see. I'm not sure it's from the oesophagus, as it's around where the adam's apple is (not male but that the bit that goes up and down in women when you swallow).

Not sure why I've written this, except it's tickling and I don't want to cough and start it up again.

Not sure what it is that you have but the doctor who sent you for a chest X-ray would want to rule out a PE. One of the symptoms of that is coughing up blood and as that can easily be fatal he would want to rule that out first.

Thanks Blobby I guessed that, I was frustrated with him at the time, as I was trying to point to my throat, and he kept stroking my legs! Pretty sure that PE's don't choke you, or make you feel like you're throat is being slit from the inside!

I meant thanks , it came across wrong

I have absolutely no medical knowledge, so am just commenting on what you said. (Hopefully someone will comment who actually knows what they are talking about. ). But it sounds to a layperson like maybe the friable vein is sometimes swelling a tiny bit, causing the discomfort, and then popping under the stress of the coughing.

One would think it can't be too big, otherwise it would be much more of a problem when it went. But if it's small, then I wonder if they could do some laser surgery to close it, like they do with people who have persistent nosebleeds.

Whatever is causing it, it sounds INCREDIBLY uncomfortable and scary. I would hate it and I have nothing but sympathy. Big Hugs

That does sound frightening have you gone to your gp about it?

Thanks pie and Bumbley

Yes I've been to the GP, they just repeat about the vein. It happened a lot for a few years following bulimia, and I was told it would stop if I stopped vomiting. It's less frequent, certainly.

I have nasal polyps, and have upped the frequency of my steroid inhaler for asthma due to a cold, so maybe the steroids have weakened it further?

Veins plus anxiety probably make things worse. Maybe ask your GP about the possibility of beta blockers or something else for your anxiety.

Are you suffering from reflux? I wonder if it could be the trigger.

Abitlost the scope showed hiatus hernia along with the vein, and I was prescribed omeprazole, but stopped taking it when I got pregnant. I've been waking with heartburn though.

Funnily enough the choking/blood did use to occur within minutes of self-induced vomiting. I 'know' logically that the hernia/reflux are what's causing it, but as I've not vomited and these incidents are so rare, it was easy for me to discard the obvious, and try to reach for other explanations.

Thanks all, I feel more confident now you've helped me reason it out logically, especially @Abitlost2015.

Had some yoghurt (was looking forward to bread but not going to eat that now), and it's helped soothed it.

I wonder whether if you go to the Docs you need to explain that you recognise that it may not be doing you any harm but you Still need to prevent it happening because it's reducing your quality of life and not helping you to maintain sensible, healthy eating patterns, or some such thing? That way they know you know it's not killing you, but that you still want it fixing.

The past history of vomiting and the fact milk helps pointed towards reflux as a cause. If it happens regularly I would suggest going back to taking reflux medication regularly for a while, once the larynx becomes irritated by reflux it takes 3 to 4 months free of irritation for the tissues to heal, so don’t stop using it too soon. You may then stop the medication, we tend to cope well with small amounts of reflux.