Question about my 9 yr old

[carrie0504]

My son (9 yrs old)  insists that food becomes "stuck" or goes down slowly in his esophagus.  He becomes very, very distressed when this happens.  He says he feels as though he can't breath and is going to choke.  This has become so problematic that he no longer will eat solid foods at all, his weight has dropped and he has panic attacks when pushed to eat or if the 'choking' sensation comes to him while away from my husband and I. (ie...at school)  In all other areas of his life he is a normal 9 yr old boy.  He has friends....stays over night with friends...has a good sense of humor and gets great grades at school.  The GI doctors seemed to have written him off as having anxiety disorder and that results in the sensation in his throat.  My question is...can anxiety center on just eating?  Has anxiety caused his choking phobia or is there something that the doctors have missed causing him this much anxiety?

[RockRose]

I think his food is actually getting stuck.   I think your son is telling it exactly as it is happening.

My father in law has this problem.  His throat seizes up around a piece of food,  OFTEN,  when he is stressed or eating with a group in a restaurant,  or with a large family gathering.  

I think you need to allow him to eat liquid food if he wants when he is in this situation,  (milkshakes,  ENSURE,  soups,  etc.) until he can get through this.  

This is so sad that your son's doctors have written him off,  where my father in law was totally believed when he said the exact same thing,  with the exact same symptoms.  

Best wishes.  It must be a horribly panicky feeling to have food stuck in your throat.

[hatgal]

Oh, I could write a book on the escapades of my 10 year old daughter!  She has several anxiety habits - chomping her teeth, chewing her hair, clicking her throat, etc., etc.  We had her on zoloft last year for while for depression and anxiety, but it didn't work.  Took her off of it and she has slowly improved, I think just on her own in maturing. It's a tough age. We are still figuring out issues with her and realized a quite large issue a few months ago (won't go into detail, but our realization has helped her alot). I think at this age, they sometimes don't even know why they are behaving in certain manners of anxiety until someone says "is this......" and a lightbuilb goes off.

She still definitely has issues, but I feel better working through them with her as I'm well-versed in anxiety/panic/depression myself unless, of course, it get would get completely out of control.

It may be something bothering your son that you don't think is so important but to him it is the root of this anxiety (which sounds like what he has to me).  And, as I said, he may not even realize it until someone else realizes it.  I hope this makes sense.  I sat down one night for four hours with my daughter just picking her brain and chatting and the lightbulb went off - thank God!  But, alas, there are subissues.  Parenting is never-ending, but I woulnd't trade it for anything!  Keep him precious and let him know that you're totally into what he is doing and that you don't miss a "trick."

Good luck........

[carrie0504]

We've been letting him eat liquids.  He lives off of Ensure.  It's been almost 2 yrs now and it's only gotten worse.  He's not grown an inch in two years....nor has he gained any weight.  He's way below average on the growth chart and the Endocrinologist said it's due to nutritional issues.  I'm scared...this isn't something that is going to go away by itself.  Doctors are a pain in the butt...sometimes I think if it's something that's not easily fixed...they don't want to deal with it.

Maybe it is all anxiety.  God...if only kids came with instructions.  Thanks for all the insight.

carrie

[suzi-q]

I would first get a second opinion to make sure it is not a medical problem. May times pediatricians write things off because a child is "too young" to have a problem.

If everything is physically fine you need to get your child into therapy.  It definitely can be an anxiety disorder and you want to get it under control before it spirals out of control and "latches on" to other things.   best to you.

[carrie0504]

We are begining therapy tonight and seeing a new psychologist on Monday.  There are only a few tests left to do in checking the physical well being of his esophagus but they need to be done by a bigger childrens hospital and getting our pediatrician to act on it is like pulling teeth.  It seems to me that he wants to pass it all off on anxiety.  The thing of it is...the kid was never anxious before all this began.  He ate normally....sometimes overstuffing his mouth with cookies.  How can all this change so dramatically in a two yr time span?

carrie

[suzi-q]

I wish I had the answers....it is so confusing.......I truly wish you the best and hope your son is back to stuffing his mouth very soon!!!  God bless.