Undiagnosed throat swelling sensation

[Hopeful33]

Has anyone experienced this that could help? I had an unexpected allergic reaction to Ampicillan 2 months ago. Vomiting, rash, slight throat swelling. Hospital gave my Benydryl and Prednisone - went away. One week later I thought I had a sore throat, feelings of severe throat swelling. Dr. said it was tonsillitis, Biaxin didn't work, put me on Levaquin and Prednisone.  ENT said it was my lymph nodes and to stop the antibiotics. Test show swollen lymph nodes (no tumors/abnormalities) and elevated white cell count indicating infection. 2nd ENT scoped my nasal passages into throat - found nothing. Suggested chronic tonsilitis but looked okay.  Waiting for allergy tests but experience daily throat swelling sensation and shortness of breath, sore throat, swollen uvula.  Trip to emergency room suggested it is psychosomatic as breathing and throat were fine - want to believe this but I am in dispair due to constant feelings of choking due to sensation of swelling.  Lymph nodes are swollen and painful, pain radiating into ears and feelings of sore throat exist.  I am on Prednisone and Singulair.  Singulair makes me feel worse. I can't help but wonder if they are overlooking something.  My blood pressure has been higher in the past few months and I am slightly anemic.  
Has anyone found relief from the constant sensation of a swelling throat.  Right now, I feel totally helpless.

[National Jewish]

This is probably an issue to discuss more with someone who looks directly into your throat when you are feeling this sensation.  It is certainly possible to have an inflammation there with significant obstruction, which is making you feel that there is swelling present.  However, this is not likely, if there was no response to prednisone.  Working with an allergist and/or the ENT is still the best chance of getting some relief.

[Inanga]

i occasioanlly get a similar sensation in my throat - in my case it's excess sticky mucus that's triggering the sensation - it feels like there's stuck food. I can cough and suck out the mucus and it goes away. I get the mucus from eating corn products and in hayfever season. do you have a 'frog in you throat'  - crackly voice, cough etc that might indicate excess mucus? I also get it when i have a nasal infection, so that seems to fit with the white bllod cell count and swollen glands indicating an infection. Hopefully it will resolve naturally.

[Hopeful33]

I don't think it has to do with mucus.  My blood tests indicate infection.  I still think it is my tonsils - although my ENT claims they aren't infected, they throb and I feel sore throat pain in that area.  They also feel swollen. I'm on my third course of antibiotics - Ketek - which is creating pains in my stomach and prednisone, which is creating leg pains and anxiety.

Has anyone had tonsillitis experience like this?

[throatmonster]

Hopeful 33,  well I can't tell you enough that when I was reading ur blog it was almost a relief, because I know EXACTLY how you feel.  I have been having chronic throat problems now for about a year.  Started last year, with strep throat.  Long story short, kept getting strep, turned into chronic tonsillitis, which inevitably led to me having my tonsils taken out.  Cut to the last six months.  I have been having episodes where my the back of my throat starts to swell, i have trouble swallowing, I feel like I can't breath, and the glands under my chin are huge!  I've been on everything, from the Z-pac to leviquin, and also Ketek, which is new and by the way was the only antibiotic that did anything, so if you can stomach it I'd say give it a shot.  But taking my tonsils out has not made this "feeling of choking" go away!  Yes, I have fewer infections, BUT the tightness is worse.  I feel like I never fully recovered from my tonsillectomy, so here I am still a year later now into this.  Had my nasal cavities cleared!  We thought maybe it was Candida so I took medication for that,  tried Zeyrtec for allergies, maybe its the ears, or dryness of the throat.  Have you tried getting a humidifier? I have not, but am thinking that may help both of us.  There is also something i found today online called Quincy (perintonsiller abcess (abscess)) which could possibly be in the back of your throat and swells when its irritated.. I am going back to the doctors tomorrow, a different one and am going to ask about it.  It comes and it goes.  I haven't been able to really pinpoint what triggers it, sometimes horrible, where i too have been rushed to the hospital, and given a shot of pretnezone.   And although I do know how very real it is, I think sometimes it is stress related.  I am noticing everytime I really start to get over worked about anything my throat flares up.  But it is more than uncomfortable, it is scary and painful, and starting to seriously take a toll on me.  I find myself not talking a lot in fear of having an epsiode that will last sometimes a week.  I can't figure out if this has just been the result of some really bad infections, going on and off of antibiotics, and just not ever healing properly, or what.  My ears click all the time as well now.  I'm on a mission to get everything back to normal as soon as possible.  So please keep me informed on anything you find, or learn.  I will do the same.  I feel your pain.  u

[Hopeful33]

I went to an internist yesterday.  He suggested we look into GERD or LPR - acid reflux.  He gave me prevacid (chewable) to take half hour before I eat.  Today is the first day I feel like I am not choking.  I looked into the symptoms of acid reflux - throat irritation and constriction, pain in ears, lump in throat (Globus hysteria) are all symptoms.  Every antibiotic they gave me, especially the Ketek, made it worse.  I had to chew them and I was having chest pains...which was the acid reflux.  Apparently the acid splashes up on your throat creating all those symptoms.  I don't know if this is the final diagnosis, but I am truly HOPEFUL today.  Please consider this as a source of your problem.  I have been eating creamy soups and yogurt or cereal with milk for seven weeks - because that's all I could handle.  All those things make acid reflux worse as do antibiotics.  I called my ENT today to ask if I could stop the Ketek.  She said that they deal with GERD all the time in matters of the throat.  My brother has GERD - his symptoms were different, more in his chest.  Please look into it.  I hope you feel better soon. I also felt my life was dependent on my throat swelling.  It is a truly horrible experience.  Good luck.  I will let you know if this is the final diagnosis as soon as I know.

[Hopeful33]

Throatmonster - Try looking into LPR, which is Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Disease.  Apparently, the Larynx can allow acid into the throat, causing great distress.  The esophagus can handle the acid, but the throat cannot.  Therefore, it creates sore throat, earache, swelling or feelings of constriction.  It's worth a try.  I believe it may be my problem and I am, for once, optimistic that this can be resolved.  Good luck, throatmonster.  I hope you look into it.  I originally dismissed the idea of acid reflux as I had no symptoms.  Anything is worth a try.

[susiq77]

HI
Please Please Please can somebody hep me as I am desperate.  I have a constant feeling of 'lump in throat', throat feels swollen sometimes more to the one side, feels like something stuck in my throat,it never goes away and nothing seems to help. I have had a camera down my throat all is well except I was told my thryroid gland was slightly swollen had blood tests taken again thryroid levels are fine. For the past 5 mths I have had a sore throat worse in middle of the night and in morning, when I get an infection in my throat symptoms are worse. I really do not know what to do next - it is beginning to really depress me. I was told to a once of Vallium to see i fthe symptoms went away, have not done this yet. Also had throat x rayed - all was fine. It feels like my throat is constantly infected - could it be??

[Hopeful33]

Please look into GERD or LPR.  The difference seems to be that people with LPR do not always have symptoms of GERD or acid reflux.  I am with you and feel your pain.  THis has brought my life to a standstill and the doctors kept giving me more antibiotics - which made it worse (and increased the acid).  Do some internet searches and read up on it.  You may find relief by reducing the acid via diet and lifestyle modifications.  Go to an ENT and take the information you find.  Apparently, the throat and larynx can take months to heal.  You would just be making it worse by not making changes to your lifestyle now.  I've read some encouraging posts by people who say that is has gone away or they can manage it. My doctor put me on prevacid twice a day (more aggressive for LPR than for GERD) and I am adapting to a low acid, mushy diet - so that everything can heal.  Supposedly, LPR can be brought on by an event - virus, cold, for me it was an allergic reaction.  LPR acid reflux usually occurs during the day - GERD can be worse at night.  Do you feel best in the morning?  Don't give up.  Look into it. I am on my third day of prevacid and I don't feel better yet - just more hopeful.

[Canyon711]

Acid reflux causes many throat problems and it does make you throat feel like it is closing up and you can't breathe right but in reality you can as I have checked when I had it with an oximeter and I was getting plenty of Oxygen. I find that Maalox Max helps rather quickly. I do take Prevacid or Nexium but I still get it once in a while. The other thing I find is that I get it when I have too much gas in the stomach because belching seems to relieve it for a minute and then it is back. There often times is mucous in the throat. Dairy is very bad for reflux, also for stomach problems as it creates a lot of acid. Also, chocolate, anything mint and alcohol but for different reasons. they relax the valve that then allows the stomach acid to come back up. You will not always feel heartburn. Alcohol creates acid. It is really a terrible sensation so I sympathize as I have had it a long time until recently it has gone away. I use Gas-x and Maalax Max (not plus) to get rid of it.

[Duchess47]

Are you having an actual problem swallowing?  It could be a problem with larynx or pharynx or even esophagus.  An ent. can look down your throat with a special instrument and check your vocal chords and your epiglottis.  A gatroenterologist can do a gastroscopy where he looks down your throat all the way to your upper intestines and can tell if you have any problems with acid reflux, gerd, swallowing problems, etc.  He can also order a barrium swallow test to see exactly what is happening when you swallow.  The recurrent infections may have had some type of impact on the nerves/muscles in your throat.

[lvigil55]

Hi, I had something similar. Had strep throat in November and was on 4 different antibiotics.  Clindamycin was the last one that made my stomach feel like it was on fire.  Went to 2 different ENT's and the first one said it was acid reflux.  Tried Protonix for 8 weeks and it only helped the effects on my stomach from the clindamycin.  It didn't help the feeling in my throat. Went back to the medical doctor and he said I had Haemophillus Influenza which was thought to be viral but was actually bacterial.  He put me on Bactrim.  There probably was some kind of infection still lingering in there, but it still felt like something was there, and I know I'm not crazy!! I also had a scope down my throat and they saw nothing abnormal.  I finally went to my chiropractor who uses the NAET program.  All I could think of after trying so hard to research what this could possibly be was an allergy. He tested me and said it was a viral infection that was stuck in my throat just lingering there, and after a couple of treatments I feel soooo much better, I think I will need one or two more treatments, but for the most part the lumpy dry feeling is almost gone. Sometimes alternative methods are great!!

[AussieComet]

Last year in May I woke up one morning with this lump in the throat sensation. After doing a google search I thought I may have cricopharyngeal spasm possibly caused by stress after the death of my father, plus I do have a bit of a reflux problem. After a few months of suffering with this problem I tried the following, and it worked.

1. I took an over the counter medication for reflux. One in the morning and one at night without fail, whether I felt like I needed it, or not.

2. I took 2 vitamin B tablets at lunch everyday without fail. It has to be a good quality vitamin B tablet. The one I took was called B Complex Forte.

3. I stopped drinking tea, and coffee. I found a great substitute called Caro (also known as ecco).

4. Ate my food in a relaxing environment, and took my time to eat, at least 20 minutes.

Within 3 to 4 weeks the lump was gone. Hope this helps others.

Thanks.

[susiq77]

Thank you all of you for your comments. I am still trying so hard to find out what this (lump sensation in my throat) I sometimes feel like I am going crazy however I know the symptoms are real and I do not believe they are stress related. My throat symptoms are there ALL the time if I get a throat infection they get worse, I have a very dry mouth and nothing gets rid of the symptoms can any of you tell me more about
Haemophillus Influenza & a chiropractor who uses the NAET program and also cricopharyngeal spasm.

[wif_a_tude]

Thank you to everyone who posted their comments on tightening in the throat.  For the last 2-3 weeks my father was having this.  He used to smoke and it worried me a great deal.  He has already won a battle of prostate cancer, 2 blocked carotid arteries, a hernia, and a serious infection in his eye after cataract surgery.  I thought his 9 lives have got to be running out soon here.  Because of the fact that he smoked, it worried me that it might be some sort of throat cancer. But when he said that he had severe acid reflux with this, I thought something has to give.  I read everyone's comments and now the weight has been lifted off my shoulders as well as his.  I called him and told him what it could be.  He went to his doctor who put him on Prilosec.  Just for precaution, he is going to see and ENT physician and is having a cardiolite stress test.  I just wanted to say Thank You to everyone!!!

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