tightness in throat, nausea, chronic feeling as though i need to gag, miserable, please help

[will3477]

Hi, my name is will. i am eighteen years old and in very good physical shape an otherwise very healthy, but for a long time or at least its seems like an eternity, i have had this recurrent feeling of tightness in my throat just below my jaw bones on either side of my face. It is like i have this constant need to gag, and eventually i finally do but afterwards the feeling just comes right back with no relief.

Some times if i take a sip of a drink of some sort the feeling will go away for a second, but then comes right back and i have to sip on it continuously until it eventually goes away, sometimes not for hours. Another thing that helps a little is chewing peppermint gum. But neither of these completely relieve the feeling.

I have been to many doctors. Until just recently i have referred to this feeling as nausea because it always makes me feel like i need to gag an sometimes almost vomit. Due to this i have had many GI tests done with all clean negative results. I also seemed to notice that this feeling gets worse if i lay in an inclined position such as a dentists chair. This feeling seems to be completely unrelated to anything i do. i am unsure but sometimes it seems to come a little while after i eat, and many times after i eat i will burp for hours, long deep burps.
I have seen a neurologist who diagnosed me with abdominal migraines, and i have since tried several medicines to treat this, all with no results. I have recently several days ago been diagnosed by a different doctor with gastroesophagal reflux disease.
This seemed very strange to me as the main symptom is heartburn and i very rarely get heartburn.  the day before yesterday i was prescribed prevacid solutabs that dissolve in my mouth and gas x for the burping. so far i can tell no difference whatsoever, but it has only been two days and i am going to see if they work after a couple weeks.

I have always referred to this as nausea because it makes me feel like i need to gag and vomit, so i always believed it was some sort of digestive problem as did the doctors. and recently the idea hit me that this could possibly be something wrong with my throat?

This is so miserable, it is practically ruining my life. If anyone has any suggestions as  to what is causing this, or anyone out there with the same symptoms, please comment i would greatly greatly appreciate it and thank you for taking the time to read this

[The_Doc_Is_Here]

Researchbefortrusting, I neither had any surgery prior to gastroparesis nor felt pain during the whole incident. To reiterate, it was principally nausea and the accompanying vomiting. Check with your and your son's certified physician to see whether or not undoing the surgical procedure, which is not doing its job, is a viable option. In my opinion, I would have your son experiment with strengthening the gastrointestinal muscles (as mentioned in my original post) for a few weeks to see if your son's condition improves. It takes patience, as muscles can take weeks or months to return to their normal state. Best of luck.

[researchbefortrusting]

Thank you for your information. Did you have surgery prior to gastroparesis?  My son age 16 had Nissan fundoplication, gastric emptying study normal prior to surgey (severe reflux x years), and now he has gastric paresis and sow motility of intestines causing a lot of trouble , and from what I am reading, an unwrap (undo of the Nissan) is serious but he wants it undone, he can't even make it to school/work some days due to the pain if he tries to eat. It sits in his stomach for a day, moves slowly down,meds don't help.  Do you know of any testing to check for the vagal nerve being intact enough to have the surgery undone and then he may get his stomach contractions back? thank you

[The_Doc_Is_Here]

Solution found! Hello. My name is Pablo, and I was going through hell due to the problem, spoken about on this thread. Thanks to the doctors’ help and your posts, I finally found out what was causing the symptoms and derived a solution. I will inform you about my symptoms to make sure you are suffering from the same. If you are, implement the solution below.
Symptoms: Nausea throughout the day (comes and goes); vomiting if nausea was bad enough; excess gas coming up and out of my throat (mini, inaudible belches). Pertaining to food, I was still very hungry but could not eat due to fear of vomiting; when I did eat, I felt nauseous throughout the process. Note that nausea occurred whether or not I ate. When checked up medically, all results were negative on all tests.
Problem: Since results were negative (on my and several of your tests), I deduced it had to be something not picked up via medical exams: a neuro-muscular problem. Indigestion, the inability to properly digest food, is associated with nausea, vomiting, and minor belching. Weak gastrointestinal muscles are linked with gastroparesis, their lack of proper functioning, which causes indigestion. Similar to what is seen in chemotherapy patients, weakened stomach muscular fibers/cells cause nausea and vomiting. Hence, the problem was an overall weakened gastrointestinal system.*
Solution: Like any other muscle in your body, weakened muscles are strengthened by contraction. Specifically, just as you would contact a bicep, I focused on contracting the esophagus, esophageal sphincter, and stomach throughout the day. Prolonged contraction of these muscles strengthened them back to prior state.** Now, I am, as they say, ‘good as new’.
*This medical problem is officially known as dyspepsia; however, 6 out of 10 cases have unknown causes and, therefore, no treatment. I believe that the unknown causes are now known thanks to you, the doctors, and myself, and treatment therefor is simple.
**Note that the solution’s duration will be contingent upon the degree of gastrointestinal weakness: weaker muscles could take several weeks to months to rehabilitate fully.
If you have any individual questions, please reply to this comment, and I will contact you shortly thereafter.

[Faceinaspoon]

Hi, great info! How exactly do you contract the muscles of your esophagus?

[naturalhomeremgirl]

It could be a food sensitivity that you are not aware you are allergic to. Best thing is to see a clinical dietitian  or nutritionist and get tested. Your body  can develop food sensitives over time and your intestines will develop antibodies cause you to feel sick.

[Diablos72]

I am 47 years old and I sometimes have the feeling of gag , especially in the morning. I went to see a few specialist and the only one who came close to it was The ENT . There is something called silent reflux (LPR), you don't have to have heart burn to have reflux. What is happening is the acid goes up the throat and damages the lining of the structure , the esophagus is equipped to handle the acid and you may not feel any heart burn during the episode. As time goes by your throat becomes very sensitive to the damage from the acid content, you will feel there is always something in the throat and you want to gag to get rid of it. The way to treat the condition is the same as GERD, don't expect it is a week of treatment, it can take more than 6 months. I find it better if I choose a gum every time when I have the feeling.

[Quick1984]

Hey I have the same issue. Do you have swollen glands are lymph nodes under your chin are by your throat at all?