Help. Please help me stay calm and decide what to do.

[Psychicpineapple]

I am at home with two teens, no other adult. When I ate my dinner yesterday evening i thought I felt something go down awkwardly, probably a small oven chip.
I could feel something on and off but it seemed OK and I went to bed.
I've woken up now to the sensation of it trapped between my nose and throat.
I can't shift it. I'm worried it will move and block my airway.
I can breathe fine right now pbut I don't know what to do.
It caused me to cough a lot and now I am panicking a bit.

Hi hopefully you managed to get to sleep. It’s extremely unlikely anything is going to block your airway. If you still have the sensation of something being stuck in the morning then you may need to go to A&E. But I suspect what you can actually feel is a scratch inside your throat from where the chip went down awkwardly.

Have you tried blowing your nose? It sounds like you have a bit of food in your airways.

Thanks for the replies.
I was asleep for a few hours and woke up feeling it had moved.
I don't think it's a scratch. It feels like something lodged between my nose and throat.

I've coughed and it's moved again.
I'm panicking again.

I've been under huge stress lately and I think it's not helping. I can't seem to calm down.

Have you tried gulping some water to try and help push it down

Call 101. They will help you decide and if it is an emergency will treat it as a 999 call for you. They’re trained and will be more helpful than mimsnet.

Thanks. I'm not in UK so it's a different system here.
I don't know if I should call someone. I'm breathing fine right now although I can feel something there.
I think the sense of panic is making it feel worse than it is.
Focusing on typing is helping me calm down a bit.

Don't stress, op, you're ok.

Your breathing isn't compromised so I think you're ok to wait until morning. You might well find that when you're up and about if anythings caught it dislodges naturally.

Prop yourself up on pillows in the meantime to try to sleep, if nothing else it'll probably feel more comfortable.

It's horrible when you get something stuck, or feel like something is stuck, I know. And difficult to distract yourself from.

But please don't panic. It happens sometimes. When it's morning see if you can see a nurse or doctor (or even a dentist, if it feels lodged above your palate) so they can take a look.

Thank you for the kind words Basil. My life has been very tough for the last few months.
I've been coping with a lot and feel like I'm just about at the end of my tether.
I'm going to try to doze sitting up for a while and see how it goes.

Drinking coke helps break down any unchewed food as does cider vinegar. I have a narrow oesophagus and feel things getting stuck at times which used to panic me . Now either of those helps. Maybe it's just me relaxing as l feel l can do something to help. It's a horrible feeling.

I second Coke to free it . I was given the tip by a nurse in our surgery

OP doesn't think its in her oesophagus she thinks it's in her nasopharynx. I've done this with a noodle before, ended up sneezing it out! You could either try forcefully blowing your nose, or snorting some water up it? You naturally close off your airway to sniff so smorting water would only force anything into your mouth. Its probably not half as big as it feels

Try eating some dry bread, sip water before you swallow, I do this if I feel tablets get stuck.

I slept a little more and feel calmer.
I was afraid of choking but don't feel that's a risk for now anyway.
I think @OhRiRi is right. I think it's in the nasopharynx.

Have you one of those nasal irrigation pots? You have to put a solution in the water to stop it stinging, but I think it’s just salt? Maybe Google it, they’re called Neti pots sometimes.

Yeah I've had a couple of things go up rather than down. Feels uncomfortable.
What fixed it for me was lying down flat on my back. After a while it dropped back into my mouth. You will not choke, don't worry!

Eat some bread, if food is stuck it will push it down, i think you'd struggle to inhale something as big as a chip. Morethan likely a scratch. Gargle?

This has happened to me many times, always with something small like a grain of rice or a piece of noodle. It is not pleasant, and the trapped piece of food feels much larger than it is. It's a physical irritation because your body knows there is something in the wrong place. IME my body always deals with it, so I try to ignore the discomfort and not let my mind ruminate over the 'wrongness'. The way my body deals with it is to sneeze. Usually within an hour or so, though it has taken up to 24h. If you feel a sneeze coming on, try to keep your mouth closed so that air is expelled out of your nose with the maximum force.

Sneezing a piece of food out of your nose is such a weird and surprising sensation!

This sometimes happens if you vomit. It's gross, blowing vomit out of your nose!
Don't panic, the body does deal with these things. It'll probably produce excessive amounts of mucous to ease it out. Yum!

Bad typo! Meant to say:

If you feel a sneeze coming on, try NOT to keep your mouth closed so that air is expelled out of your nose with the maximum force.

If you keep your mouth closed you're more likely to muffle the sneeze. Don't do that. Let it all go with a a a a whoosh!

Op are you certain it’s not Globus?

It's still there. I'd say it's a piece of chip. I can faintly taste/smell it.

It's not in my throat. Definitely higher than that.

I'm just going to wait and see now. I don't feel like it's going to choke me now.

I was a mess last night. Very anxious at the moment and when I woke up I felt very distressed.

I feel better after some sleep.

Thanks everyone.

I think it's possible that the sensation you have in your throat is being caused by your anxiety, not a piece of food. Globus pharyngis is very, very common with anxiety. I'm also wondering if peri-menopause might be a factor here. Peri can cause horrible anxiety or make your existing anxiety much, much worse. Waking up extremely anxious is also very common with Peri.