This sounds so very severe. I've not had anything that bad in the swallowing department. Of all the suggestions offered, these are the ones I've used to avoid these situations. Eat slowly. Tilt head forward while eating. Most importantly, focus on your eating, which is a challenge in a social situation where you are expected to be conversing with others or at least listening. Since your boyfriend knows about the difficulty, you can talk less when eating with him.
Erika mentions slow emptying of food from gastric tract. I have not had trouble with that since I have been on magnesium for spasms. Magnesium does cause more mobility, sometimes too much, but too much is better than too little.
Waking up with the secretions choking you is the one I would not know how to handle, and it seems the neuro should be consulted as soon as possible. I would not hesitate to go to the ER even between bouts until insurance covers your doctor visits better. I do not think they would consider this superfluous. I know my ER here would not, would recognize it as a major problem. i don't know what they would do for it, as I have not had that serious a choking episode. Had one recently and it was from eating too fast, from being in a hurry.