AlphaSandwich
Member
- Joined
- May 15, 2019
- Messages
- 24
I have been struggling with throat tightness for about 3 months now, since March 9th. It all started the day after eating some Kitfo, injera and shiro-wot at an Ethiopian restaurant in my city. Of course, Ethiopian cuisine has lots of spices and is generally spicy food, but because this place only had municipal city tap water, I declined to have any water with my meal and as a result had no beverage with it. This was definitely a mistake (as was eating there in the first place) because the food was not high quality at all and it was spicy, not spicy enough to burn my tongue but spicy enough to the point that the heat in my mouth made me very uncomfortable without something to wash it down. I had been extremely strict with my diet before this and I never had Ethiopian food prior to this point. Everything I eat is generally very high quality and organic. Since the very next day, I have been having throat tightness, hypersensitive gag reflex and extreme depression and anxiety. At first I was thinking this could possibly be GERD/acid reflux/silent reflux or esophagitis or hiatal hernia because for about a whole month or so after eating there I had burning pain in my chest when breathing deeply, especially when waking up first thing in the morning, although that seems to have gotten a lot better. I don’t have any heartburn or silent reflux symptoms at the moment other than this issue with my throat. I saw an ENT a couple of months ago and he had a small endoscopy camera he put somewhat down my throat but I choked and told him to take it out, although he said could see some inflammation at the back of my throat. That might just be because I smoked cannabis right beforehand. I am not a regular cannabis smoker and had actually taken a break from it prior to this but I have been so down in the dumps lately that at the time I really wanted something to get my mind off of things. I have been left wondering what it was that my body reacted to, whether it was all the spices, some sort of crappy vegetable oil in the food, and/or both in addition to something that I’m not aware of. I still am not sure what is going on with me, as to whether it’s something with my esophagus, my thyroid or even just the throat itself. It feels like there is constantly a tight band around my neck, sometimes it loosens and sometimes it tightens but it’s seemingly always there, and often times when I turn my head to look all the way up it feels like it’s tugging on something in my throat. It feels very uncomfortable now if something is touching the front of my neck, and it often makes me feel like I’m going to gag when something does touch my neck. Especially when I put my finger on my suprasternal notch (the indent at the bottom of the neck), that usually makes my throat feel like it’s going to close. There is also a sort of anxious tension in the center of my chest, almost like a heaviness but not quite, that feeling has gone down a lot but is still there. I almost feel like I was poisoned, but I did not have any stomach ache or vomiting or diarrhea after eating that meal. I am still continually perplexed as to why this is happening. This is by far the hardest thing I have ever been through in my life, I have been extremely depressed and anxious, more-so than I ever have been in my life before this, and it seems like I am in a tunnel with no light at the end of it. This has greatly effected my confidence and my ability to be social and talk with others. I don’t feel like myself anymore and I lack the jubilation that I used to have. I miss how I was and how I felt before all of this. If anyone has any insight or advice, it would be tremendously appreciated. Thank you all so much.
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