Small Food particles stuck in back of Throat

[DennisO]

I have had a problem for years.. I get mall particles of food that gets stuck in the back of my throat somewhere around the nasal passage area.  These are small particle of hard food like a part of a peanut shards after being chewed up.. or really small pills like 10mg lipitor (I don't know how many of the liptors have literally dissolved back there instead of my stomach)  Almost every night I have something stuck there it causes my sinus to swell in the during sleep and can sometimes get painful if it does not get dislodge.

Sometimes I can dislodge it by rattle my sinus on that side. (“snuffing in” which  drive my wife crazy)

I have seen a ENT and they find nothing. They did a Barium Swallow and gave be a "horse" pill.  It showed nothing…. But the problem is the small stuff.

This seems to be out of the ordinary and the Doctors don't have a clue. I even asked a pharmacist and he said he had never heard of people having problems with little pills only big pills..

Help.. if you have a similar problem and found someone that could help you I would appreciate the details..

[ChemicalEngineer]

While it seems that we all have the same symptoms, it seems that there afe different causes for it.  From reading the discussion, I believe this annoying issue is caused either by tonsil stones or mucous ( maybe frm post nasal drip).   I have been dealing with this issue for about a year now, and I thought I just wasn't chewing thouroughly.  However, when I was in the army, I couldn't really chew at all and never had a problem.  So in my case, I have a NeilMed Sinus Rinse so I decided to give it a shot as discusses previously.  Its really annoying and feel weird, but I have to say, I just ate a small bag of peanuts, and did not get ANYTHING stuck.  I feel so relieved.  I think that if there is a problem with mucous, or post nasal drip, that could be the cause of the issue.  Try a sinus rinse and see if it works.  They are a little pricey, but it would be work it if it works.  If it doesn't, maybe the cause is something else.  

[rocketinheaven]

Wow,  I have been throught the gauntlette for almost 2 years.  2 CT scans, two scopes, every type of doctor imaginable, every perscription under the sun, every concoction for the neti pot. NOTHING.  I don't know for sure that this is what I have because it doesn't go away but the symptoms sound the same., just continually gets worse and I don't have tonsils.  Next they want me to do ANOTHER round of allergy tests and a sleep apnea test.  I am loosing my mind with constant head aches teeth aches blurry vision and the doctors literally asking me if I thought in the beginning I had a tumor or sumething and now I just can't get rid of the idea so it is manifesting the symtoms in my mind.  Yes I am simply nuts, like I really want to spend all this money on co-pays and traveling (1 hour to a doctor for me).  It is a blessing to know that there are other's out there with no answers.  I will DEFINATELY try some of the remedies mentioned on here and check back from time to time.

[zonlyone]

It's a late response, but I have just developed this annoying problem in the last few days. One of the problems is that it's getting stuck  behind my tonsils. One of the things that has helped dislodge it from the side (although it tends to just move, rather than go down) is gurgling for a longer period of time. Be careful not to choke on the liquid you're gurgling of course..haha. There's no need for a lot of liquid. Anyway, this actually dislodges the particle of whatever it is from behind the tonsil area, and can make it go down eventually. Otherwise, it may just stay there which will cause inflammation, and then the problem is ongoing.

I do believe that this is related to sinusitis or an inflammation. The problem is that when these particles become lodged, it's making the problem persistent because of swelling. I'd say take some ibuprofen, this should help with inflammation initially, and maybe allow the problem to go away on its own. The ibuprofen may get lodged too, but that's okay. Just make sure that whatever pill you take is coated so that it will be less irritating. The more you irritate the throat and tonsils, the longer this problem will last..just remember that. So, basically the more we try to dislodge the particle(s), the worse it will get.

Good luck. I know it's rather infuriating. But, hopefully this helps.

[hava]

Clear your throat, then clear your throat in reverse for. Do this 5 times. The particles will gradually dislodge from the throat.

[Aether23]

So I can help you guys just a little with my story.

In my case I had spent years searching for issues with my head and sinus's, wondering why I had sinusitis or the like.  I had been to neurologists, ENTs, GPs.  I had MRIs, all to no avail.  Went on for years, no one could figure it out.

Then I had a totally unrelated problem.  Broke my jaw years ago, had bone issues as well and ended up having surgery.  Well when the dentist did the x-rays, he noticed that one of my teeth had been pushed up into my nasal passage (I was in martial arts and was at times wild in my youth.).  

This tooth pushing up had created a direct line from my mouth to my nose.  Turns out, some of the food I was eating would travel back and forth.  Stuff in my nose would try to fall the whole as well.  

However, I think there is an in-between case where the stuff gets lodge in the tissue of my soft palate and irritates me for a time.  I normally just have to find a way to pull it through.  It's irritating and can cause headaches from time to time but I think the little there is just dissolves over time and/or I get it dislodged.  

That might help some of you out.  I'd recommend suggesting this to a dentist or a doctor that can check on this for you as well.

Good luck all and thanks to everyone who took the time to write in this.  It was helpful for me to know I wasn't alone.

[jennifer10467]

.I have suffered from the same thing for 12 years now too. I think that these are tonsiliths or tonsil stones. My concern is that these are coming from bacteria, and to get rid of them obviously we need to get rid of the bacteria. It's one thing to do a tonsilectomy, but we have tonsils the whole way down our throats and I've heard that if you have a tonsilectomy you can still get these further down your throat. The solution is to get rid of the bacteria. Does anyone know why they have the bacteria in their throats in the first place? There are some very harmful bacterias out there ... we should really be trying to find a solution to that! I sometimes sleep and wake up with something stuck in my throat or it simply drops into my mouth. It's terrible. There is thick mucous in my throat too. The job of the muscous membranes is to secrete mucous to traps particlies so that they don't end up in our airways ... my mucous membranes are working overtime and I find this situation pretty depressing as I've not found a solution for it yet!
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