I don't know if this is ARFID, anxiety, GERD, or something completely different, but I'm desperate to know if anyone else has gone through this.
Back in February, I was going through one of the hardest times of my life and I was under more stress than I've ever experienced. One night while eating dinner, something just... changed.
I suddenly became hyper-focused on my breathing and swallowing. Instead of just eating without thinking, I started taking tiny bites, chewing forever, and trying to coordinate every swallow with my breathing through my nose. It was like my brain forgot how to eat normally.
Since that day, eating has never been the same.
Every meal feels exhausting. I don't really get hungry anymore, and I don't enjoy food like I used to. I constantly feel like food is getting stuck in my throat, my throat feels dry, I clear my throat all the time, and I'm always worried I'm going to choke or that food is going to go down the wrong pipe. Sometimes I can swallow just fine, but my brain keeps telling me something is wrong, so I overthink every single bite.
I've wondered if it's GERD because antacids seem to help a little, but this all started so suddenly after an incredibly stressful period that I'm starting to think my brain somehow got stuck in "manual mode" when it comes to swallowing.
It's been five months now, and I honestly miss being able to just sit down and enjoy a meal without thinking about every chew and every swallow. I never imagined something as simple as eating could become so mentally draining.
Has anyone here had something similar? Did it end up being ARFID, anxiety, functional dysphagia, GERD, or something else? Were you able to get back to eating normally? I'd really appreciate hearing your experiences because this has been one of the hardest things I've ever dealt with.

Hi this is my first time experiencing (what I put in the title) and I’m a bit worried. Every time I eat a few bites of food, I can’t seem to swallow it because I start to think I’m choking. Even when I have a drink next to me and sip some while I feel like I’m choking. It feels like I have a lump in my throat afterwards and I can’t calm my nerves. My parents think it’s because I have an ed (which I don’t) I want to eat but my body won’t let me. I also get shortness of breath when I’m about to go to bed and when I’m trying to relax. I can’t seem to stay warm either , and it’s the middle of a heat wave.

Symptoms all together-> lump feeling in throat, coldness, shortness of breath, and when I do actually swallow I start to panic and try and spit it out.. what can I do??

Please someone help me before I spiral ..

tl:dr: I took a drug a few weeks ago and now take it regularly because almost all symptoms are gone. Most doctors are useless, Im trying to rewire my brain to not need a drug to fucking swallow but it is what it is

I did all the tests - NOTHING showed any signs of anything. 'Everything was good', was what EVERY the doctor said. After years of evaluation and 'therapy', I was told to go to a clinic- insurance pays for it so Im good, eight?

NO CLINIC WOULD TAKE ME! I DIDNT HAVE AN EATING DISORDER. NEVER HAD ONE! Which is why Im still angry that my 'therapist/psychiatrist/neurologist (shes a doctor in all of them) said I have an eating disorder.

I HAD A DISORDER TRYING TO EAT/SWALLOW NOT AN EATING DISORDER - WHICH IS WHY NO CLINIC TOOK ME IN

Anyway, I became addicted to all sorts of drugs and I realised - when I took too much of a drug for neuropathic pain (I dont say the drug because if it doesn't work for you, and nobody ever talked about that drug in this context, I don't want anyone to get addicted)

And noticed I can swallow again .. Like wtf? The difference was day and night. I genuinely didn't have a concept of eating - I have literally lost to the concept of swallowing after 6 YEARS OF DRINKING MY FOOD WITH TROUBLE! There were WEEKS - SOMETIMES MONTHS - WHERE I COULDNT SWALLOW MY SPIT FOR FUCKS SAKE

and this weird drug does it. I wasn't an addict before the swallow issues. Issues started early 2020, became an addict late 2022, and just now trying new drugs did I realise how none of my problems are apparent when that drug is there.

From 6months , I have been feeling like there is something stuck in my throat. Feels like phlegm. But it doesn't come out or go away.

I feel the "stuck" feeling more in the morning as soon as I wake up.

There is very slight trouble of swallowing. When I swallow , I feel "that something" more.

But it isn't super hindering. There is no pain or anything.

I tired gargling and try to cough it out but no success.

Idk if it helps but ,

I am 30yrs with history of hormonal imbalance, hyperthyroidism, insulin resistance. Recently , my cholesterol(LDL) is higher side. I'm also obese.

Can someone please help identify this ?

Hello, I'm 21 years and I have had symptoms for 1.5 years. At the moment I am taking Gaviscon in the evening, I don't know if it helps me even though I don't have heartburn or regurgitation. I only eat smooth textures and I can drink liquids.

Symptoms:

• I get a sensation of food stuck in my throat after swallowing (not with smooth textures).
• When I drink a soda like coke zero, I get saliva in my mouth right after a sip; it’s the same with chocolate cake, for example. It leaves me with thick saliva after swallowing.
• I no longer know how to form a food bolus and swallow automatically.
• Sometimes, for example with mashed potatoes, when I bring them to the back of my throat, I have a blockage preventing me from swallowing for 1-2 seconds.
• I often have mucus and sometimes phlegm, but more often in winter.
• When I wake up, I have a bit of mucus in my throat.
• I sometimes have gurgling sounds in my throat.
• I can't swallow pills; I'm afraid to swallow them.

Test results:

• Normal upper endoscopy and normal biopsies.
• Normal FEES (I ate applesauce and soft cake).
• Normal barium swallow.
• Normal brain MRI.

High-resolution esophageal manometry:

Esophagogastric Junction

• Proximal LES position (from the nostril): 44.3 cm
• LES length: 2.6 cm (Normal: 2.7–4.8 cm)
• Esophageal length (UES-LES): 25.7 cm
• Intra‑abdominal LES length: 0.0 cm
• Hiatal hernia: Yes, 1.1 cm

Pressures LES

• Basal pressure (mean, respiratory): –7.7 mmHg Normal: 13–43 mmHg
• Residual pressure (mean): –2.2 mmHg Normal: <15 mmHg

Pressures UES

• Basal pressure (mmHg): 136.9 Normal: 34–104 mmHg
• Residual pressure (mmHg): 3.0 Normal: <12 mmHg

Pharyngeal / UES Motility

• Number of swallows evaluated: 10
• Levels evaluated: 2.0 cm and 3.0 cm above the UES
• Average peak pressure: 7.0 mmHg

Esophageal Motility

• % failed: 10
• % weak: 10
• % ineffective: 20
• % pan‑esophageal pressurization: 0
• % premature contractions: 0
• % fragmented: 0
• % intact: 80
• Number of hypercontractile swallows: 0
• Distal latency: 8.0
• Distal Contractile Integral (mean): 703.4 (mmHg·cm·s) (Normal: 500–5000 mmHg·cm·s)
• Distal Contractile Integral (max): 1385.2 (mmHg·cm·s)
• Contraction front velocity: 4.0 (cm/s) (Normal: <9.0)

Intensity of Esophageal Contractions

• Normal peristalsis (DCI 450–8000 mmHg·cm·s): 80%
• Weak peristalsis (DCI 100–450): 10%
• Absent peristalsis (DCI < 100): 10%
• Hypercontractile contractions (DCI > 8000): 0%

Morphology of Esophageal Contractions

• Normal contractions: 90%
• Premature contractions: 0%
• Fragmented contractions (defects ≥ 5 cm with DCI > 450): 0%
• Pan‑esophageal pressurization: 0%

This isn’t about me, but my dad. He is 72, turning 73 this August. He had me when he was 50, so i’m only 22. I don’t know his hight or weight but he’s a very average built guy, tall, never over 170 im guessing, and retired from the army. He drinks and smokes occasionally now, he used to be a chronic smoker. He has had a problem where his food gets stuck in his throat bcs of something wrong with his esophagus. He’s had it stretched twice now. Yesterday, out of nowhere, his food wouldn’t stay down and would start making its way back up, and he had to throw it up twice. This kept happening for a couple more hours and then he went to the ER. He stayed overnight and had an endoscopy this morning. He said that he had polyps in his stomach and something on his esophagus. He didn’t clarify what it was, and at that point I was asking too many questions and he was getting irritated lol, but i’m assuming it could be more polyps? If anyone knows anything about this and what it could be please let me know!! They couldn’t biopsy yet because he hasn’t been off of his blood thinners long enough so they’re rescheduling one. TYSM

It all started about six years ago. I was recovering from a bad cold and had a very raspy voice. One day, I noticed that whenever I tried to speak in a higher pitch, it felt like I had a wound in my throat. I went to an ENT, and after performing a laryngoscopy, they diagnosed me with a contact granuloma—a benign inflammatory lesion on the back of the vocal cords, typically caused by vocal strain or acid reflux (GERD/LPR).

The doctor told me to take over-the-counter acid reflux medication, such as Pepcid AC and Prilosec, and said that the granuloma should disappear within a few weeks.

Over the next several months, I returned for multiple follow-up scopes. Eventually, the contact granuloma was completely gone.

The problem was that my voice never returned to normal.

I constantly found myself clearing my throat, and speaking became increasingly difficult. At the time, I worked as a salesman, so I relied on my voice all day long. After struggling for a few more weeks, I decided to quit my job and rest my voice completely for a few days.

Ironically, after those few days of silence, my voice became even worse. The hoarseness was extreme—I could barely make a sound. I went back to the ENT, but aside from some mild redness on my vocal cords, they couldn't find anything abnormal.

Despite that, every time I talked for more than five minutes, I would develop pain in my vocal cords, throat, and neck muscles. It became unbearable.

One of the doctors suggested that I might have Muscle Tension Dysphonia (MTD).

Based on that diagnosis, my insurance referred me to voice therapy. I was given vocal exercises, which I practiced every day. The severe hoarseness improved somewhat, but my voice never returned to what it was before.

Before all of this happened, I could sing. Today, I can only reach about half of my previous vocal range, and after just a couple of minutes of singing, the pain comes back.

That was five years ago.

Since then, my voice has never fully recovered. I have good days and bad days, but if I spend time in a loud environment where I have to raise my voice, I know I'll pay for it the next day with significant hoarseness and pain.

Over the past five years, I've seen countless specialists. I've tried acupuncture, homeopathic medicine, seen gastroenterologists, had chest imaging, neck MRIs, and more than 20 laryngoscopies. Every single time, I hear the same thing:

"We don't really see anything. There's just a little redness."

Thinking reflux might still be the cause, I completely changed my lifestyle. I eat healthy, don't drink alcohol, don't smoke, and exercise regularly. I've spent hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on supplements that claim to help with acid reflux or silent reflux.

Nothing has made a meaningful difference.

I honestly can't even remember what my normal voice felt like anymore. Depending on how much talking I do at work, by around 5 p.m., almost every day my voice becomes hoarse.

I want to clarify that this isn't the kind of hoarseness you get with laryngitis after a cold.

It's a raspy, strained voice that gets progressively worse the more I talk, accompanied by pain around my neck, throat, and what feels like my vocal cords.

At this point, I feel hopeless.

I'm wondering if anyone here has gone through something similar, or if someone has managed to recover from this. After six years of searching for answers, I'm running out of ideas.

I don't even care about singing anymore.

I just want to be able to have a one- or two-hour conversation without paying for it with pain and a barely functional voice the next day.

Thank you.

I cannot swallow normal food, even soup I struggle with. But I can swallow nutrient drinks from the pharmacy with relative ease.

Can I make my own mixture of meat and vegetables that have the same consistency as these nutrient drinks?

If anyone knows any links or recipes for this, I'm eager to learn

I feel like I would be healthier eating this kind of mixture, perhaps.

I’m a 48F. I had a stroke in April 2026, and it completely flipped my life upside down.

I spent about 2 months in the hospital. At my worst, I couldn’t walk or talk. I had to write everything down to communicate. I also dealt with constant blood draws and IV attempts because my veins were difficult, including being woken up in the middle of the night for labs.

On top of the stroke, I got shingles across my back and chest, which made recovery even harder once sensation started coming back. Between that and everything else, most of my time in the hospital was just trying to get through the day.

Since being discharged, I have made progress. I can walk again with a walker, and I can speak without needing to write everything down. That part still feels unreal sometimes, but I’m grateful for it.

My biggest issue right now is swallowing. I can’t safely eat or drink, so I have a PEG feeding tube.

I’ve been working with home health PT/OT/SLP, and I’ve been doing swallowing exercises consistently. I’m trying really hard to stay on top of it.

A few weeks ago I had a modified barium swallow study at the hospital to check progress. I was actually hopeful going into it because I’ve been working at it.

The test itself felt very rushed. I was given a few different food textures to try under fluoroscopy. After I couldn’t swallow the second round (no aspiration), the test was basically stopped immediately.

Afterward, when I asked what they thought, the response I got was very blunt and discouraging—something along the lines of there being “no meaningful recovery” expected with my type of stroke, and I was sent out pretty quickly.

That experience really messed with me mentally, especially because I’ve still been actively working with therapists at home who are seeing progress and encouraging me to keep going.

They’ve reassured me that recovery is still possible and that they wouldn’t keep working with me if they didn’t think there was room for improvement.

I’m trying not to let one really bad experience derail everything, but swallowing is still my biggest hurdle and it’s honestly scary.

I’d really like to hear from anyone who’s had a brainstem stroke or serious dysphagia after a stroke:

• Did your swallowing improve over time?
• How long did it take?
• Anything that actually helped?

When this started, I wasn’t even aware it was happening. I had just been discharged from the hospital for something unrelated, and the next day I started noticing I couldn’t speak clearly, swallow properly, or walk without holding onto things.

I’m staying as positive as I can and I have a solid support system, but I won’t pretend I’m not scared about what recovery looks like from here.

Thanks for reading. Any experiences or advice are appreciated.

I noticed an issue with my swallowing back a few months ago in april when i was house sitting at my friends house alone where it seemed like i was unable to eat like i used to. it seemed like it took effort to swallow and i would get full very quickly and the last bites of food i had to force myself to swallow it and it would take a long time to finish it and a lot of times i couldn’t even finish my meals. i thought maybe it was just anxiety about being alone and that i was afraid of choking alone with nobody to help me, but then when i got home i noticed i still had this issue. i wasn’t eating much at the time, i was only eating maybe 1-2 meals a day and i had been like this for a while and the lack of eating initially began when my cat got sick and i diverted all my attention to her and stopped caring about my own health. she then passed away which caused extreme depression so i just didn’t want to eat in general, and this was in december so after about 4 months of barely eating i had began to notice issues with me eating. i used to be able to eat those 1-2 meals a day perfectly fine but then it got to where we are at in april, with those meals becoming an issue too. i tried to just ignore the swallowing issue and passed it off as anxiety still and just began eating my leftovers later so id still get two meals in instead of throwing it away. in the middle of may, i decided to check the scale and i realized i had lost about 25 pounds, and i only weighed 104 lbs despite being 5’9. i then began to stress about being severely underweight so i tried to start eating more and just phsyically couldn’t so i switched to drinking smoothies very often to force calories in until i could get my appetite back up, because at this point it was a combination of not having an appetite along with the swallowing issue. after a couple weeks of drinking 1-2 smoothies a day my appetite was up to where i could eat food, but i had to either chew it up forever until it was just a paste of saliva, or drink water to initiate the swallow. i then thought maybe it was just i needed more time and i needed to increase my appetite further to get my body used to eating food again, so i kept forcing more and more food and started eating small meals with water 5-6 times a day, along with a smoothie in the morning which was my breakfast. i then got to where i could eat 3000 calories a day, but i still had the issue where i needed water to swallow. i can even finish the full meals in 1 sitting now’ so i only need to eat 3 times a day like normal, but every bite requires water to initiate the swallow. i used to be able to eat a wawa burger without any water because i didn’t wanna look crazy in front of my dad drinking water with every bite, but i was taking forever to eat (like an hour) so i started just using the water trick there too bc i felt like i was inconveniencing him by spending so much time eating as he would finish in like 15 minutes like normal and id take an hour. and now that i dont eat any of my meals without water, if i even try to swallow something without water that isnt super watery or juicy, like a burrito filled with salsa and sour cream, or something like hot cheetos that kinda turn into a mush in your mouth, im just unable to swallow it. its like i chew it up and it gets to the part where normally you’d swallow, and theres just nothing. i dont get the feeling to swallow and it has to turn into a bunch of saliva-y liquid stuff in my mouth before i can swallow or i can take a couple drinks of water and that initiates the reflex and i can force swallow the food with the water. i dont have any troubles swallowing when i do so, it goes down normal i dont feel any pain and it doesnt get stuck or anything its just like my mouth physically wont let me swallow until its super liquified or i use the water to activate it. i dont feel anxiety about choking bc as soon as i get the water in my mouth i can just swallow it without second thoughts its just the feeling doesnt come up without it, so i dont think its anxiety like i used to. does anybody know what this is or how to fix it bc it makes me not want to eat out with my friends and stuff bc ill look crazy drinking water with every bite , especially at a nice place where you should just enjoy the food. if anybody has any tips or suggestions please let me know i really dont wanna see a doctor or go to anybody, i just wanna be able to eat like a normal person again. i am 16 years old by the way

I have taken a gastroscopy and xray (while swallowing this white liquid). They found nothing wrong on either.

The next step is I'm prescribed some stomach acid inhibitors now, for a month

The doctor basically said that there's nothing left to try after that.

Now this is how I experience the difficulty swallowing:

* Nutrient drinks works well enough to swallow, I can get enough calories through them.

* With normal food, I can take a couple bites but then after a few bites it feels like I'm going to get it stuck in my throat if I continue eating. It's like there's a mechanism that makes my body reject the food after a few bites, making it harder and harder for each bite, and then impossible.

* Feels like food is going down slowly sometimes, I notice this with the nutrient drinks sometimes. And that slow feeling was apparent before the swallowing difficulty became extreme. The problem started off more mild a few months ago, and suddenly it was near impossible to swallow food.

Medications I'm on is Zyprexa, an antipsychotic. The doctor doubted this could be a cause.

I was also on metoprolol, which I tapered off a while ago to see if it caused it, the situation haven't improved after quitting it, so I'm about to rule it out.

Hello everyone,
I apologize in advance for the long post, but I’m feeling really lost and depressed. I’m 27 years old, and this all started about two years ago. I was just bathing my dog, and all of a sudden, when I stood up, I felt like my throat was so tight I couldn't breathe. I panicked and started sweating profusely. I tried my inhaler (Symbicort) six times, but it didn’t help because I felt like I didn't even have the lung capacity to take the medicine in.
The feeling has been there ever since. It’s like my throat is locked. It gets so tight that it seriously affects my breathing—I get short of breath easily and often run out of breath just from talking. Certain positions, like lying down or bending over, make it feel like my throat is on the verge of collapsing.
I’ve been down this rabbit hole for two years now, and I’m hitting a wall. To give you an idea of what I’ve been through, here is what I’ve done:
2 ENTs: Ruled out VCD, though they mentioned MTD (Muscle Tension Dysphonia).
Imaging/Scopes: Endoscopy and Barium swallow study.
Respiratory tests: Nitric oxide test (showed mild inflammation, but the doctor didn’t think it would cause this level of tightness), PFT (normal), Chest X-ray, CT scan of lungs, and Echocardiogram.
Everything keeps leading back to square one. I’m lost for words as I type this. I feel incredibly lonely, and this has truly ruined my life; I just want to feel normal again. I have been seeing an SLP, but honestly, I don't feel like it’s doing me justice.
To explain the sensation a bit more: I can't take a deep breath without my throat feeling tight afterward, or like I have to cough. It even makes it hard to laugh because it triggers the tightness.
I have struggled with health anxiety in the past, and I know that hasn't helped the situation, but at this point, I am just so fed up. I’ve reached the limit of my patience with not having answers.
I just wanted to reach out and see if anyone can relate to this or has been through something similar. I sympathize with anyone else dealing with this kind of struggle. Thank you for listening.

Issues begin around april first week, symptoms were just hiccups occasionally when eating. Around last week of april multiple hiccups occurred every single time while eating. began experiencing difficulty swallowing, while eating the area slightly below Adam's Apple feel enlarged. June first week i had my tonsils removed becaused they were enlarged (as suggested by ENT ) because of the wounds on the opereted area i was unable to eat solids for around 15-20 days after around 25 days wound was healed completely still around first week of june food would feel 'stuck' in throat but would eventually pass. Second week of june food would still be 'stuck' but now occasionally would regurgitate. Mid june regurgitation becomes very frequent - food regurgitated coated in mucus, swallowing very difficult. , swallowing becomes impossible, each meal regurgitated and coated is significantly thicker mucus
almost looks glue like, swallowing liquid has become a serious issue also as even water gets regurgitated.
Last week of june began randomly spitting up extremely foamy spit very often throughout the day. Also burping a ton, almost nonstop while awake. My ENT suggested to visit a gastro so i did , he is telling to perform a endoscopy and i dont know what to do and why is all this happening 😓😓😓

I've been struggling with swallowing for about a year and a half now. I have also been a frequent gummy user for about the same amount of time. I have always had a swallowing issue, but it would be sporadic and happen randomly every few months or so. But now it's every single day, every single swallow. I had a barium swallow test that was inconclusive and have not done any more testing since. I am virtually unable to swallow food at all when I'm high. I put 2 and 2 together and did some research and found some studies that linked cannabis use to swallowing issues. I am going to see what happens after a few months of not using. But curious if anyone else has had the same issue or been in the same boat.

I have a three month old and I’m struggling with giving her liquid Tylenol. I idk know they make Tylenol suppositories but she isn’t old enough yet. We have done the route of put it in her bottle but sometimes she needs it before a feed or after.(especially with teething) Can you thicken liquid medicine? We currently use gelmix. I have asked the pediatrician, GI doctor, pharmacists. No one really has an answer besides put it in the bottle or have I tried putting gelmix in it. Please help with suggestions for me to look into. Thank you

Throat severely swollen for 8 months and barely able to breath or sleep at all , been getting multiple scans ,two biopsy’s and seen every ENT possible since January and nothing At all but I seriously cannot breath ever and it gets worse with heat or even swolling !!! In the base of my esophagus And in the middle of my throat .And the left side where my only remaining thyroid is is super swollen and feels like someone’s choking my throat halfway down at ALL TIMES it gets worse when I lay down flat or even just sitting up I’m choked out . I also have severe mucus in my throat making it slimey and sore I’m just in severe pain and being dismissed so fucking much and I’m sick of it .(edit since people genuinely don’t understand what I mean when I say I can’t breath OBVIOUSLY IM AWARE I CAN BREATH THAT IM ALIVE fuck off with stupid replies please . I’m already stressed out enough. If you read my comment, I clearly stated that the doctors are aware that my pulse oxygen has been extremely low, so yes, I actually am not breathing properly !)