Im starting to clear my throat a lot. But when I want to swallow afterwards, its a real effort; it feels like I have just put that anaesthetic spray down my throat and so it doesn't work properly. It feels like the muscles are too big or something!
I can happily drink hot and cold drinks and eat ok, its just the normal swallowing that's a problem.
Do others have this sensation?
Does this get a bit better, or is this now a step on the staircase downwards?
Thank you all.
swallowing is 1 of the symptoms of ataxia. so far i dont have that problem. i havent been diagnosed with it yet but the symptoms are there
I don't have that swallowing issue with anything but chicken and/or pancakes. I do cough a lot more after eating now at 33 yrs old than I did at 20 yrs though.
i woder if its something other than ataxia
I've had some issues with that. My doctor recommended that if they get any worse I contact him to schedule a swallowing study, where they basically watch you swallow through some sort of x ray. They can give you tips on how to improve your swallowing. I suggest you contact your doctor and ask about it. They may be able to help give you some tactics to improve this ataxia symptom
Maybe it is...
refinisher said:
i woder if its something other than ataxia
Good Idea.
runner said:
I've had some issues with that. My doctor recommended that if they get any worse I contact him to schedule a swallowing study, where they basically watch you swallow through some sort of x ray. They can give you tips on how to improve your swallowing. I suggest you contact your doctor and ask about it. They may be able to help give you some tactics to improve this ataxia symptom
I have swallowing issues but I don't know the real cause. I had cancer of the throat 10 yrs ago and had trouble ever since. I go every so often to the GI doctor and have my throat stretched. I eat some things OK but others are like glue and I have to keep coughing it back up, chew some more and try again. I did have the X-ray of the throat while I swallow food, some times it is easier to swallow with the head turned right or left, I used to have major problems and when we went out to eat I had to leave the restaurant and try to puke because the food was stuck. Its been OK for a couple of years now but I don't eat the variety of food anymore. Jerry
Hi,
I posted this on another forum, but due to replies, will post it again here.
You need to get this checked out by a Doctor, but it sounds like it's probably "Globus Sensation", which is caused by a harmless mild tightening of a muscle in the throat area called "Crico-Pharyngeal Spasm". It's harmless, but can be very worrying if you don't know what it is, and it can feel uncomfortable or even a little scary because it "feels like" you're gagging or going to choke on something which you can't seem to dislodge. But there's nothing actually present in your throat to cause this.....
The most significant other symptoms to check for are:
(1) a hoarse or weak voice which has lasted more than two weeks, with or without pain
(2) actual choking when swallowing
(3) noisy breathing (stridor), like a Star Wars "Darth Vader" sound when you breathe in and out, suggesting the actual airway is being restricted
You don't describe these, but you did say that the symptoms are relieved by or not present when you eat and drink, which is why this is probably Crico-Pharyngeal Spasm.
A Doctor can examine you properly and investigate it, to rule out other possible causes first. This would normally include a referral to your local Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic (ENT) for vocal cord imaging (little fibre optic camera goes up the nose and down the back of the throat just enough to be able to see your throat working when you speak and swallow). As I say, this check is especially important if you have had a hoarse or weak voice for more than two weeks or are choking when you eat (the list of other disordes includes a range of things from Vocal Cord Paralysis due to a virus or other conditions such as Thyroid Gland problems, to Laryngeal Dystonia related to Ataxia etc). To compare it with other disorders and see what "it isn't": in Peanut Allergy sufferers, rapid onset of swollen tongue and throat can occur if they eat Peanuts, or in rare cases of throat infections which get out of control, Epiglottitis can cause an extremely swollen throat in hours. But all these conditions would show symptoms 1-3 above.
The following link to a specialist site for speech and swallowing disorders (by Laryngologist Dr Robert Bastion), should explain everything you've just described:
http://bastianmedicalmedia.com/cricopharyngeal-spasm/
Hope this helps.
I've had sensations like this for years. Stress doesn't worsen mine, but it gets worse later in the day, and with tiredness. Some find Coffee worsens it, so maybe try cutting out Caffeine. Others might have GERD which is where you get a little stomach acid in the back your throat (Gastro-Esophogeal Reflux Disease or GERD), often with indigestion or an overly acid stomach, so if this is an issue, getting this treated or just using an antacid might also help.
Yours,
Abs
I note from your profile that your mother had ataxia, but before that, she had a cough.....
There is a type of ataxia, so far discovered in Anglo-Celtic and Portuguese families, which has a cough long before the ataxia starts. The cough tends to fade after the ataxia sets in. There's no specific gene test yet, but the theory is it's related to SCA20, as there's a link to genes on Chromosome 11 (where SCA5 and 20 are found), and on MRI they can also show certain changes in the core of the cerebellum (calcification in dentate nucleus). Scroll down to see the description of the cough:
http://archneur.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=791134
It seems fairly mild, as in one family, only one family member ended up in a wheelchair after 40 years of ataxia, the other were still fairly mobile:
http://www.omim.org/entry/608687
Of course, she might just have had swallowing and coughing problems as an early symptom of ataxia, and it just wasn't picked up as being that, but misdiagnosed as something else.
To compare other conditions, they seem unlikely. Other links between coughs and ataxia would include the lung disease which can occur in Ataxia Telangiectasia. However, it's recessively passed on, so unlikely you and your mother would both have symptoms - your mother would usually have been an unaffected carrier:
http://www.atsociety.org.uk/lung-problems-in-a-t
A-T above overlaps with Cystic Fibrosis, which can affects the lungs, liver and gut. But it's also recessive, so unlikely both you and your mother would have had symptoms. CF can stop absorption of Vitamin E in the gut, and the Vitamin E deficiency can cause ataxia. Treatment is by providing supplements of Vitamin E:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25489958
Various other lung diseases might be coincidental. But Lung cancer can obviously cause coughing, and in some cases can lead to PCD (Paraneoplastic Cerebellar Degeneration), where anti-cancer antibodies cross-react with the cerebellum. If so, this might possibly mean you and your mother's ataxia were unconnected (red herring?).
http://www.dizziness-and-balance.com/disorders/central/cerebellar/pcd.htm
So, of these, if none of the others seem to apply, that SCA20 link sounds the most interesting one, in which case, maybe you could make a copy the article and ask your Neurologist about it. :-)
Yours,
Abs
Thank you for taking so much time and effort in replying! Yes, I thought my mum's ataxia was probably the relation/link to SCA 20, with a history of 20 years cough with 'no cause' found despite full ENT exploration, biopsies etc before the wobbly walking kicked in. She wasn't Portuguese but certainly was an Anglo-Celt!
Thank you everyone for your comments, and I shall be seeing my GP next week about my throat, just to check.
Quite right - just because one might have one problem, it doesn't exclude the risk of (heaven forbid) getting anything else.
Good health to all.
Abby_UnknownCA said:
I note from your profile that your mother had ataxia, but before that, she had a cough.....
There is a type of ataxia, so far discovered in Anglo-Celtic and Portuguese families, which has a cough long before the ataxia starts. The cough tends to fade after the ataxia sets in. There's no specific gene test yet, but the theory is it's related to SCA20, as there's a link to genes on Chromosome 11 (where SCA5 and 20 are found), and on MRI they can also show certain changes in the core of the cerebellum (calcification in dentate nucleus). Scroll down to see the description of the cough:
http://archneur.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=791134
It seems fairly mild, as in one family, only one family member ended up in a wheelchair after 40 years of ataxia, the other were still fairly mobile:
http://www.omim.org/entry/608687
Of course, she might just have had swallowing and coughing problems as an early symptom of ataxia, and it just wasn't picked up as being that, but misdiagnosed as something else.
To compare other conditions, they seem unlikely. Other links between coughs and ataxia would include the lung disease which can occur in Ataxia Telangiectasia. However, it's recessively passed on, so unlikely you and your mother would both have symptoms - your mother would usually have been an unaffected carrier:
http://www.atsociety.org.uk/lung-problems-in-a-t
A-T above overlaps with Cystic Fibrosis, which can affects the lungs, liver and gut. But it's also recessive, so unlikely both you and your mother would have had symptoms. CF can stop absorption of Vitamin E in the gut, and the Vitamin E deficiency can cause ataxia. Treatment is by providing supplements of Vitamin E:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25489958
Various other lung diseases might be coincidental. But Lung cancer can obviously cause coughing, and in some cases can lead to PCD (Paraneoplastic Cerebellar Degeneration), where anti-cancer antibodies cross-react with the cerebellum. If so, this might possibly mean you and your mother's ataxia were unconnected (red herring?).
http://www.dizziness-and-balance.com/disorders/central/cerebellar/pcd.htm
So, of these, if none of the others seem to apply, that SCA20 link sounds the most interesting one, in which case, maybe you could make a copy the article and ask your Neurologist about it. :-)
Yours,
Abs
Hi again.
You're welcome, Caz.
Your mother certainly sounds like a good candidate for that SCA20 Ataxia-with-spasmodic-cough, and if so, it holds the hope that your ataxia will be milder than some of the other conditions you might have had.
Hope it goes well with the Doc, and do keep us posted.
Yours,
Abs