I have had all these same problems at one point or another. They were bad when my TOS was the worst.

One problem I had that hasn't been directly mentioned, is that when I swallowed, food would often get stuck in my esophagus at about heart level which was very painful and uncomfortable. WTH? Thankfully I don't get that anymore. Used to drive me nuts and make it difficult to eat.

Often there was a collision between the food and a large burp and neither would budge. I've read that people can swallow incorrectly and take down large amounts of air with each swallow. Maybe I was doing that... I don't really know.

Anyway, as I have improved my TOS, the throat problems have gone away or greatly diminished. Things that have helped:

- "muscle relaxation meditation" (described elsewhere on the forums)
- inversion
- chiro
- self adjustment of rib
- posture improvements
- quitting upper body exercise
- quieting reflex by charles stroebel
- stretches, but not of the neck

HTH. I think all that lumpiness and swallowing difficulty is muscle tension and/or nerve compression.

Good luck.