Worried for Dh who is in a & e

[55larry]

I went out for breakfast with Dh this morning and while he was eating some bacon he got some stuck in his throat. He was able to breathe ok but can’t swallow anything. I rang 111 who told him to go to our local minor injuries unit but I can’t drive at the moment having had a cataract operation this week. Fortunately my dd lives 5 minutes away so she took Dh and her baby with her and left my older gs with me.

Dh had to go to a & e as the minor injury unit was closed and he arrived about 11 15. He has been triaged and has seen an ent specialist but, is now waiting for a muscle relaxant to hopefully make the food go down.

I hate not being able to be with him but I know I am very lucky to have my dd living near to help me.

Warning to all - make sure you chew your food well particularly meat.

I really hope everything's OK, OP.

Does that really work, @negus?

Second the fizzy drink, I got a bit of chicken stuck once and chugged a can of Fanta, dunno why it works but it did!

Hope he's ok OP!

I’ve never heard of the fizzy drink trick but thanks @Negus
@55larry Im sure your DH will be fine but it’s horrible waiting for news. Hopefully he’ll be home soon.

If he is being given a muscle relaxant it's because his oesophagus has gone into spasm.

The exact same thing happened to me years ago.

You can't burp your oesophagus out of spasming.

He'll be fine. Mine was due to ignoring heartburn for years; I got Lansaprazole and lost a lot of weight and it doesn't happen any more.

A fizzy drink is often effective but only if you can swallow saliva and it’s not a complete obstruction. It is not 100% fool proof though and if it doesn’t work and you have to go for a scope it can mean a slightly higher risk anaesthetic potentially (mainly if you can’t tolerate your own saliva)

Before we rang 111 he had tried all the suggested tricks to dislodge the food but none of them worked which is why after nearly an hour of trying everything he could I felt he needed more help. When he has recovered I will be having serious words with him to slow down when he is eating.

We are going on holiday in a couple of weeks so I am very pleased this hasn’t happened in France as my French is not that good.

A fizzy drink saved my life. Piece of meat lodged in my throat and I couldn’t swallow it down, luckily I had a can of coke next to me. Instinct told me to guzzle it down as quickly as possible and the meat dislodged. I was quite traumatised by the whole thing and never ever eat now without drinks close by (not always fizzy but always something). And I chew very very carefully now as well.

Agree, the fizzy drink doesn't work if you can't swallow anything and the esophagus is in spasm.

I had the same thing after some food going down the wrong way and choking. I was fine apart from after it happened I could swallow but the drink wouldn't make it to my stomach and I had to spit it out. Very scary.

Was sent home from A and E and had to go back hours later as I could feel myself getting severely hydrated as I hadn't managed to keep water down (not being sick, it physically comes back up the esophagus) for over 24 hours.

He will be fine even if it is this.

It's not treatable by drinking fizzy pop though.

When it happened to me the food actually wasn't lodged; it had gone down but the muscle was spasming, and I couldn't tell the difference. They did an xray to check.

Dh is now home with a very sore throat and on a diet of soft food for the next week. My dgd of six months kept lots of people amused in the waiting room as she was smiling at everyone so she brightened up the place. I am so grateful to my Dd but I have suffered four hours of non stop talk about dinosaurs from my seven year old grandson!

@55larry How did they get it out?

Oesophageal spasms are so painful, I get them sometimes. I usually feel them coming on when I’m eating and if I stop eating it passes. If it goes into proper spasm, there’s no swallowing of a can of Fanta or water

This happened to my husband a few years ago - eating pork crackling. He was admitted and stayed one night at hospital. They were prepping him for a GA when all of a sudden it went down of it's own accord - but it had been stuck for about 18 hours. He couldn't even keep water down and had to have a drip. We were so relieved when it moved down.
I now watch him like a hawk when he eats that type of thing and remind him to chew well.
Glad to hear your husband is ok now.

They gave him a muscle relaxant through a drip so his throat relaxed and he was able to swallow. He is on a soft food diet for a week.