Thinking of you today! I'm still in the throes of this - some good times, some bad - today was bad, and I get so and angry with myself for this idiocy. Then I stop and wonder if maybe, just maybe, I actually do have some kind of swallowing dysphagia, I mean something actually physically wrong with me....

Let us know how your day went and how you coped .. because cope you will!! Don't we all, somehow? We get by, even if we end up later with a splitting headache and miserable and HUNGRY!!

blackthorn Wrote:Bad day my sister has planed a shopping day to liverpool on monday,its sparked off a bad panic attack ,i'm finding myself imagining eating out in public,i just know i won't cope.I should be looking forward to the day but instead i'm dreading it.I've spent all day struggling to swallow almost anything,all the positive thinking in the world is'nt hitting the mark at all : :cry: i'm so sad right now,i really am.

hello everyone..

i am new to the board. and i am glad to know that i am not the only one.
i have had a fear of choking for a while now and its coming back.
last week i had a panic attack while me and my boyfriend were out eating and ever since then its been hard for me to eat. there are times i can eat and im fine and there are times i just feel like i cant swallow..it's not easy for me to go out and eat and when i do i eat very slow.
i know counseling would help..but do you have any tips on how to ease this.

Yes, i think fear of choking can be a result of low self esteem.

Explain what you mean, please?

matt1985 Wrote:Yes, i think fear of choking can be a result of low self esteem.

Quote:Hello there tooafaid,i'd like to tell you i know what your going through and it is really scarey.Drinking isn't the answer,i'm sure we both know that but i must admit i've resorted to the same on a few very bad times,when in company manly.I've also stared to notice myself becomeing more and more depressed must be quite normal for the two to go hand in hand.I just want to be the old me again,start to enjoy life again and feel comfortable around people once more.It dos'nt seem like so much to ask :roll: All the same we mustn't give up on our-selfs,.there is surely a way out somewhere and we just need to find it,distraction is good if not enough,i panic before i even need to swallow because i've already told myself whats going to happen,i'm sure it's in our heads,so mind over matter,think positvely and give it yet more time.I wish i could be of more help to you,i'm sure my words have'nt offered you much in the my of help,but hopefully knowing some-one else is going through the same as you might just offer some support and comfort,god knows we need it.Hope you keep chating,chin-up.Sending you love and hugs,we need these too. :wave:Blackthorn.

Hi, Blackthorn.

I know I haven't posted in a long, long time! However, I wanted to let you know that I did gain a lot from your response.

As I mentioned in my post, I relied heavily on alcohol to eat. Well, I went to my doctor on Monday ~ explained in more detail about the predicament I'm in. She changed up my medicine some and will call me this evening to follow up. She will add a new med on Thursday and then call me Friday to follow up.

I am cautiously optimistic at this point. Nothing has worked so far! I'll let you know how everything goes!

E

Hello everyone, I'm back almost a year later, my phobia seems to be coming back and I'm doing everything I can to avoid it, any tips/help to make it subside? I'm starting school next week and I really can't let this mess up another semester at college.

I just want to let anyone out there know that a combo of anti-anxiety/SSRI anti-depressants may help with this phobia. It may take the edge off the knee-jerk panic reaction we have to swallowing. Obviously there's a "fear loop cycle" that we cannot stop on our own, meds may help get to that chemical reaction better than even our own rational thoughts (which help too). Since we HAVE to eat and swallow everyday all day long, our phobia reaction is very much ingrained and STRONGER dare I say than others. It is not something we can avoid as opposed to snakes. We need to eat and swallow for our survival. So facing it all day long with panic only works to strengthen the "power" of this phobia. Some may use alcohol to self medicate but that could bring about alcoholism. I urge anyone to please see a psychiatrist who can prescribe the right med/meds to help your brain do what you cannot. And please don't keep it a secret from loved ones, it only strengthens the power of this monster. I had this phobia briefly at age 11, months long and it did its damage, then went away on its on. It returned at age 30 and has made my life a living hell for nearly 5 years. I kept it a secret save a couple of friends but I KNOW if I had seen a psychiatrist at the beginnings of its return I would not have ended up where I am today- lost a good nursing job, my beloved boyfriend, my plans for my life. I am barely able to get up out of bed everyday due to the devastation this has wreaked in my life. I tried meds after this started up again at age 30 and Celexa helped somewhat but I can't remember why I stopped it. My MD prescribed it and I never told her my "secret". I had been on/off meds for a few years prior. NOW I know I SHOULD have seen a psychiatrist and told him my "secret" and been given the proper treatment. Now I'll try meds again, but I am sooo sorrowful at the loses caused by this monster I find it hard to get excited about getting better from this. What do I have left? I pray to God He can restore to me one day all this phobia has taken from me. :cry:

wannarace118 Wrote:Hello everyone, I'm back almost a year later, my phobia seems to be coming back and I'm doing everything I can to avoid it, any tips/help to make it subside? I'm starting school next week and I really can't let this mess up another semester at college.

Starting school - worried it'll mess up another semester.... are you not driving yourself into a little anxiety over being anxious?
Catch-22 stuff.....

Might not be the whole cause and effect - but will contribute i'm sure.
Ease off on yourself a little perhaps?

(Hope that doesn't sound too much like "get over it" - I don't mean it at all that way)

Hello. I am new here and just wanted to know if anyone was still looking at this thread....

I have a phobia of choking and it's going on eight years. I first choked on a cough drop years ago, and made it trigger this. All this time I had no idea anyone else in the world could possibly share this phobia with me, and when I found out some of you here do, I started to cry. I feel like I am reading something I would have typed, it's the exact same thoughts/feelings I have.

I have been trying to find help for a few months now, and came across this site:

changethatsrightnow.com (live link removed by Admin)

I can't find any reviews or testimonials that aren't from the site itself though.
I guess I am just asking if anyone has tried this site and if it's really legit or not.

Any response would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

Honestly I would say that sight looks like BS. I mean its possible that it MAY help but the fact that they want your credit card number kinda shows they are not interested in your best interest.

I personally don't have a choking phobia. (I am scared of choking on pills-they have gotten stuck in my throat before and now I get so nervous taking pills I have to take many with yogurt or something to coat them and get them down. But I realize none of this will be able to help you for your specific situation.)

I did want to say welcome to the site and even though some people may not have the same phobia, many still have the same type of struggles.

*checks website*
I have to agree with Slaka on this one. I wouldn't trust the products that website has to offer, not even a little.
And, they're expensive aren't they? $147 for the non-VIP program, and that's with a $99 discount. If you're willing to pay that much you'd probably be better off going to a licensed professional.

If you want some self-help material, I would simply go to amazon and see what's out there. Self-help material should not have to cost an arm and a leg. Also, since I'm not a great believer in self-help books myself, you could probably do as well without them. The key is to take baby-steps. What can you swallow at the moment? Are you more or less okay swallowing liquids? If you're okay with liquids, then start off there. Drink liquids. Then swallow something small but solid. Then move on to something a little bit bigger, then even bigger. Don't move to the next step until you feel relatively okay with the previous one. And take your time.
I think that's basically the technique most self-help books will give you too. The difference is that they'll fill the pages with "inspirational words" that don't really mean anything, and make you pay for it. Yay.
...sorry, I'm a grump.
Self-help books don't have to be that bad. But do stay away from websites like that one. Those are up to no good.

Welcome to Ofear!

Thanks for the welcome!
When this all started way back in 2003, I couldn't even swallow liquids or anything like that, but I seemed to finally be more in control of it around 2008. That lasted for about a year, and something happened....I just fell back again. Now, I can swallow liquids but I have a really hard time with meats, and pretty much any food (besided pudding or mashed potatoes) will make me nervous, especially if I am alone or with a big crowd of people. I have trouble eating at work on my breaks in front of my coworkers because they make me nervous and I don't trust them, in case anything was to happen to me.

I appreciate both of your replies about this website. I just feel disappointed because I was seriously about to call them and start planning this with them...or see what it would involve first. I did feel a little iffy though, with the expensiveness of it all. They even have a spot on their site that shows where they have been mentioned in the media, and they have been featured on Women's Entertainment on the show "The Secret Lives of Women: Phobias." That's what made me feel a little better about them. I actually contacted this site over a year ago, but I've been stalling/skeptical about it. They have been emailing me ever since and a few emails have told me that the VIP program (this is for serious cases and they claim it works and you can come back anytime you have a setback) will at least be two thousand dollars, but they say they'll arrange payments around what I can do. I've been watching a ton of videos of Seymour Segnit (the man behind CTRN) on Youtube and he at least seemed to know what he was doing. But, I still don't know about all this. When you say take baby steps and stuff, it just....I know I can do it, and I know my phobia is silly, but when I get put in the situation, unbelievable stress and anxiety hits me and I can't focus on anything else. My whole body becomes weak. I just can't seem to fight this on my own, I've been trying to since I was in 7th grade, and I am now 19. I'm sick of it ruining my life. I was hoping I could finally beat this with some serious professional help before I enter college this fall.

First, I'm sorry if I made it sound like a simple thing to cure a phobia through "baby-steps". I know that isn't the case. Phobias might seem simple, but they certainly aren't. A lot of times those baby-steps are the key to overcoming a phobia, but to actually take them requires a lot of effort. So yeah, I didn't mean it to sound so easy.

Secondly, all that I can say is that I personally don't trust that web page. There's just something fishy about it. And their prices are crazy. It's just not worth the risk if you ask me. I mean, who is to say they even know what they're doing? They say so ...but can you take their word for it? Are they licensed? Do they have any form of actual training?
If you're willing to pay them that amount of money, why can't you try to find a real professional? With a licensed psychologist/therapist you'll know what you're paying for. And I can't imagine them being more expensive than that web page. $2000 for a "VIP program" is just an insane amount of money if you ask me.

Sorry to hear that you're struggling so much with your phobia by the way. Hopefully you'll find a way to fight it, with or without help.

Hello Traci, i cant help with your issues im afraid but i did have a comment about the programme.

What i can tell you is that it is heavily advertised by what you call afiliate marketing. This means that the oFear site for example can place an ad, or banner on here and we get $45 or more of the $147 sale, for every buyer that clicks through our ad, landing on their site. You are also paid commissions for the more expensive programmes, how much, i dont know.

If you visit the site you mentioned, look down the bottom of the page, on the left and see the client referral programme. Click on that and you will see the offers being made to advertisors.

This in no way impacts on the validity of the programme, it may well have useful content and information....i dont know.....but i did want you to see this and remember the power of advertising and how claims can be made, statistics twisted and things that should be mentioned, not always are.

Just think......we dont want to see anyone paying huge amounts of money if it cant achieve the goal. Like i said, i dont know if its good or bad, im just bringing this to your attention.

I wish you well and thank you for dropping by, hopefully talking to people may benefit you

hello fellow sufferers. i have lived with this horrible disease for about 12 years now. it has dramatically altered my quality of life. i dont go to restaurants, i cannot enjoy fine foods, i can only eat once a day (as soon as i wake up). i am taking Xanax XR coupled with Klonopin and it helps just enough to where i dont go on a fear of choking on my own saliva, take me to the ER frenzy.
i have heard about CBT but am skeptical. i have a history of depression and anxiety obviously. if anyone can inform me as to where to begin or exactly the type of specialist to see, i would really like to get my life back on track. its sad that i have lived this long suffering but if i could free myself from this demon then i could be happy.