Eating and choking
 

I've had problems for years with eating. Sometimes it just seems like the food goes down the wrong way and I start choking and coughing to the point of my family getting worried. I just always put it down to eating too fast, talking when eating, or something like that.

Lately, it seems to be getting worse or maybe just more noticeable. Is that something anyone else has problems with? Does what I am describing make sense?

Thanks,
Shannon
:)

Hi Shannon,

It makes perfect sense. When my MG was really bad on a daily basis, I would would choke & cough just like you described, all the time. Now I just have it maybe once or twice a week. It use to scare my husband so much...me too! I do notice I do it more if I'm talking while I'm eating. I don't recall reading any posts about this, but I'm sure if others experience it they will reply too. Take care.;)

Hugs,
Pat

Sometimes you guys are so silly! ;)

It takes muscles to swallow food! And when those muscles get weak, you can't swallow. Have you ever been having a shower, with the water running downward and wonder why you all of a sudden have water "up" your nose or throat? Or the same when you are eating? If the muscles don't work, you can't get water or food down the GI tract. Same goes for the GI tract in general. If you don't have enough acetylcholine, you can have decreased peristalsis (the contraction of muscles to get food down the GI tract).

And eating is a very repetitive activity. The more you chew, the more you can't.

Shannon, you need to be really careful when you start not to be able to swallow. Next to not being able to breathe well, it is the second reason for someone with MG to contact their neuro or go to the ER. Try a cold washcloth on your neck or sip cold water in between bites of food. Not too cold because that can cause problems too. And the additional danger when you choke is aspirating food or water into your lungs. You can get "aspirational pneumonia" from that.

So the reason for it isn't complicated but the fact that it is happening is. If you guys have a worsening of swallowing, you need to call you neuro. AND stop talking. Seriously. Talking makes those muscles worse. You both take it easy, okay?

Annie

Annie:

Thanks for the explanation. I just always thought I needed to slow down. This has been happening for years. It's good to at least know why.

You mentioned "decreased peristalsis." Does that include digestion? Sometimes I feel like I have a brick sitting on my stomach after I eat. I don't even have to eat very much to have it.

I see my MG neuro on August 4th and will get more information and a confirmed diagnosis then.

Thanks,
Shannon
:D

Thanks Annie. You cracked me up and when you called us 'silly'. I really needed the laugh, thanks. I was going to tell Shannan to be careful she doesn't...and I drew a complete blank and could not think of the work aspirate. Writing be careful you don't suck the food into lungs just didn't sound right! I'm doing much better with it than I was, but I will call my neuro in a heartbeat if it starts getting worse. Thanks again & take care.;)

Hugs,
Pat

I get this as well.

I just went through the testing (but I have not received ther results yet). But the doc was telling me that getting full fast was also a symptom of the swallowing issue - I has not heard this before! He asked me if I finished my food and I told him, well, let's just say the fridge is full of my leftovers but my husband finishes what is on his plate. I never thought about it before.

For saying that, I got to eat radioactive eggs - YUM O! not.

I sometimes just choke on my own saliva - which is really annoying. I am sometimes ok - and other times, I choke all the time. Unpredictable.

Radioactive eggs -- that would just about kill me since my throat pretty much wants to close up when I try to eat eggs. I can't eat scrambled eggs at all. Yuck!

I choke on my own saliva too....annoying and gross sometimes. :eek:

"I sometimes just choke on my own saliva - which is really annoying. I am sometimes ok - and other times, I choke all the time. Unpredictable."

So true, I think this happens to all of us with MG, but the "full" and "brick" feeling I thought was just me, glad to know it isn't ;)

Shannon, Peristalsis is basically how the GI tract moves the food through our body/GI tract. It is the contracting of muscles to push it through. Digestion involves lots of steps, starting with the food in our mouths which causes an increase in saliva!

It takes three things (basically) to make stomach acid, which also helps digest food: histamine, gastrin and acetylcholine. That is why Mestinon can cause such stomach upset for some people. It increases acetylcholine and, therefore, stomach acid. I don't have stomach acid so that's why I have no GI symptoms from Mestinon.

I can be just sitting around, not even eating, and choke on saliva. It's so much fun.

Annie

Wow! So much makes sense now. Stuff that I have been dealing with for several years and getting frustrated with.

Thanks everyone for the help and answers. :)

Shannon