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Original poster

I’ve accidentally breathed in a pea… somehow!

96 replies

strawberryjeans · 16/11/2023 21:17

Not a joke post, though I know it sounds like one.

God knows how but I think I’ve managed to breathe in a pea, ie aspirate rather than it going down my oesophagus it’s gone down my windpipe! It was in my mouth and I gasped, and felt it go down the wrong way. It hasn’t made me cough, at all. It’ll sound so silly but is it something I should worry about or can the body dissolve things like that.

Thank you

OP posts:
catin8oots · 17/11/2023 08:59

Now I'm scared of peas

ShirleyPhallus · 17/11/2023 09:28

WoollyBat · 17/11/2023 08:51

You need to tell gp and get it checked. I’ve read horror stories about this - one person who inhaled a nut and another who inhaled a sewing pin. In both cases they didn’t feel anything or cough but it caused horrendous complications.

it could be there and get coughed out but if it gets stuck it’s bad and needs to be removed.

If you inhale a sewing pin and dont seek help then frankly you’re an idiot

Greybeardy · 17/11/2023 09:57

perhaps worth factoring into the equation that if it is in your respiratory tract and does need rescuing it's a lot easier to do a bronchoscopy in someone who doesn't have pneumonia than in someone who's waited long enough to develop symptoms.

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General health
Greybeardy · 17/11/2023 09:58

ShirleyPhallus · 16/11/2023 22:47

You might need a broncosco-pea

👏😂

WoollyBat · 17/11/2023 10:32

If you inhale a sewing pin and dont seek help then frankly you’re an idiot

The woman didn't realise she had! She was holding a pin in her mouth (as lots of people do - not right inside but between lips) then it had vanished and she couldn't find it so thought she must have dropped it. Loads of scary health issues later it was found in her lung! It was one of those Guardian "Experience" articles I think.

Icantthinkof12024 · 17/11/2023 10:38

Peas, sewing needles, peanuts, gummy bears?!
Can someone more intelligent than me please explain how you would be able to breathe after inhaling these and not have discomfort
like if I inhale dust I’m spluttering for 20mins

WoollyBat · 17/11/2023 10:39

I think as a PP said it's just a particular situation where something can get quickly sucked down past the throat parts that make you cough, so you don't feel it.

tiredandolderthanithought · 17/11/2023 10:40

I never knew that this was a thing!

expatricia · 17/11/2023 10:59

To this day I'm pretty sure my son inhaled a small plastic bead from a pea shooter when he was five (he sucked through it rather than blowing). The GP wasn't worried, but I'm not sure he believed my son had really inhaled it. Anyway he didn't show any ill effects afterwards and is now a teenager, but I've always wondered if that little plastic bead could still be somewhere in his lungs and cause problems one day😕

soleroonic · 17/11/2023 21:23

@Tilllly I'm a speech and language therapist - were the profession that deal with swallowing difficulties aka dysphagia (all the same bits involved as talking 🤣) and I'm a specialist in this particular field.

FloweryPumpkin1 · 17/11/2023 22:10

Someone made me laugh while I was eating a couple of weeks ago and I inhaled a mouthful of couscous. I was coughing up little bits of couscous for a day or so, but no ill effects- although a pea is substantially larger. I'd probably phone 111/ call the GP for advice for that.

Galectable · 17/11/2023 22:54

I'd be listening to soleroonic 💐

Spottywombat · 17/11/2023 23:00

My relative did this, was talking and eating at the same time so aspirated a pea.

He went into hospital and had it surgically removed. It wasn't giving him problems but they said he'd end up with pnumonia.

Shittenshite · 27/11/2023 00:06

Have you grown shoots yet OP? Or is that 'oh pea'?

shoeawsome · 27/11/2023 00:19

There has reminded me of this lovely story of a man who thought he had lung cancer & it turned out to be a play mobile traffic cone!

Imagine the relief!

www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/cancer-patients-lump-is-revealed-as-toy-traffic-cone-he-inhaled-40-years-ago-a3644676.html

Melroses · 28/11/2023 00:34

40 years!!!!! 😱

Josette77 · 28/11/2023 00:47

OP? You still ok?

My niece inhaled a piece of carrot into her lungs when she was young, and was hospitalized to be have it removed.

Original poster
strawberryjeans · 28/11/2023 07:05

I’m fine all!

OP posts:
CormorantStrikesBack · 28/11/2023 07:12

I know this thread is a bit old and OP has updated to say she’s ok but I was in a&e last week. Got to know the other waitees during a lengthy stay. One man was there because he’d inhaled a peanut. He seemed fine, was happy, chatting, walking about. Had been waiting two days for a bed. Then they found him a bed and took him off to the ward, no idea if they were planning surgery on him.

a friend of mine regularly aspirates on food and normally ends up with a chest infection.

MacHS · 17/04/2024 14:55

I've just read through this whole thread!!

I read bits of it a month ago when I inhaled a pea and worried. I told myself I was probably fine - I'd coughed a lot, so I'd probably coughed it up and not noticed.

One month on and I've had 'flu symptoms which have developed into a chest infection and have antibiotics and steroids as I'm asthmatic...

Then I rang the GP back today, having a lightbulb moment remembering the pea. Off for an x-ray on Friday!😱

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