Clicking in throat, dysphagia

This has been a thing for years now.

One evening after dinner, I realized food was getting stuck in my throat and it felt like there was something stuck in my throat.

Over the weeks, I discovered 3 main symptoms:

- feeling of something stuck in my throat that would get worse if I ate pasta, peanuts, or eggs. When I say "get worse" I mean the following day. For example, if I eat peanuts one day, it would be worse the next day.

- food getting caught in the top part of my throat. Double swallow. This happens ALL THE TIME.

- a "click" feeling in the upper right part of my throat sometimes when I swallow, or sometimes when I turn my head. This is worse in the morning and gets better during the day

I first went to a doctor who gave me a thyroid scan. Normal.

Saw a swallowing specialist who put a tube down my nose. Couldn't find anything.

He ordered a barium swallow and barium xray. One showed a little reflux.

Saw an ENT who repeated the camera down the nose. Said he saw a little acid reflux.

I haven't had reflux symptoms. I know there is something called LPR but I don't think it's that.

I tried many non-prescription reflux treatments (d-Limonene, betaine HCL, etc.) which did nothing.

I supremely believe I do not have reflux.

Yes, "dysphagia" is a symptom of TMS. I get it.

But.

Mine doesn't really go away. There is no distraction when it's not bothering me. It doesn't go away when another problem pops up.

I believe the clicking is a physical defect. Sometimes it happens when I turn my head, like a ligament is popping over something.

During the swallow study, nothing got caught in my throat because it was covered in barium solution. So they didn't see anything.

The feeling of something caught in my throat has lessened slightly over the years although I have m odified my diet (no eggs, no peanuts, no pasta). The clicking and having to double swallow is annoying as fuck.

It's more like a ...thunk... than a click.

I had HORRIBLE posture preceding the initiation of this. I would lay in my bed with my neck cranked forward for hours using my phone.

I believe I stretched a ligament in my neck. I believe I am having cranio-cervical dysphagia. Ligaments do not un-stretch on their own. I have seen a NUCCA practitioner which hasn't done much TBH. I'm not really sure it's real (despite being "out of alignment").

My symptoms somehwat appear like clicking hyoid, but I don't think I have that. Clicking hyoid is when the hyoid clicks when you swallow because it has grown excessively. I do not think mine has, I think tension or something is pulling out of place. The click is at the place of the hyoid.

I definitely have TMS personality.

Has anyone had anything like this?

Convince me this is TMS.

What else should I study?

 

Start with any structured programs offered by Alan Gordon. They are free. You can also buy his book The Way Out, available on Amazon. From someone who had a variety of odd symptoms, including muscle spasms, and recovered, the weirder your symptoms are, the more likely they are TMS. Muscle tension of any kind is TMS. You can read my success story, too.

 

Have you had any success in overcoming this issue?

I have developed a similar problem that started with solid foods but progressed to liquids. Structural tests show findings but not to the extent of the symptoms experienced.

I am also a TMS personality and have struggled with associated symptoms for many years that have been well controlled with the process.

 

This is one of the OLDEST documented 'TMS' conversion symptoms on record... The chinese call it 'Plum Stone Throat' ...Google it . It has never been figured out since the Han Dynasty....Obviously anxiety related

 

Our stories are similar: My discomfort's in my mouth and throat as well, and one sensation's present and the same every waking moment (regardless of my anxiety level and other distractions).

Briefly, I'll say this: dysphagia's a wide net of a term — a symptom (different symptoms actually), not a diagnosis in and of itself. The cause can be TMS OR a medical/mechanical problem. And what YOU mean by "dysphagia" — the specific symptom you're having — can suggest either an emotional or medical cause.

You're already doing due diligence on the medical side of things, with tests that let the doctors see what's literally going on in there. Actually seeing those images, having them explained to you, should help in theory.