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Hello, dear readers of the site! Phagophobia is a panic fear of swallowing food, pills, as fantasies arise that they will get stuck in the throat, and a painful death from suffocation will occur.
And today we will try to figure out why this phobia occurs, as well as how to find peace and calmly enjoy food without fear of choking.
What is it like?
Phagophobia usually goes hand in hand with pnigophobia, the fear of suffocation in general. It manifests itself mainly in people when they become ill, have a nicotine addiction or their profession is risky and damaging to health.
That is, at the time of eating, the pnigophobe rarely visits the fear that he will now choke and die.
Almost every person at least once in his life choked on food or a pill. Remember this state, when literally in a second from horror a stream of thoughts that this is the end manages to rush through your head?
This is how a phagophobe usually spends his days. Moreover, he is not always afraid only for himself, in some cases he also worries about loved ones.
Or he just worries so as not to get into a situation where he will be a witness to someone else’s suffocation. For example, during a feast, when one of the guests accidentally gets a piece stuck in his throat.
Anxious mothers make up the largest percentage of phobes. They are really on the verge of a breakdown due to constant tension and worries about nothing happening to their beloved baby.
Symptoms
Behavioral
Phagophobe usually refuses to treat absolutely any disease, if it is necessary to swallow pills. No amount of pain or discomfort will make him take the medicine.
The only option to recover is to drink syrups, receive a portion of medications intravenously, or directly crush the pills into powder.
Difficulties are also observed with the process of eating. Such a person eats mainly liquid broths, cereals and other products, carefully ground beforehand.
He is categorically opposed to fish, because you never know how many bones can be found even in mushy, sorted meat.
Naturally, such an approach to treatment and nutrition excludes the possibility of visiting restaurants, cafes, and staying in a hospital if the state of health requires it.
The fear of choking is so strong that a person with this disorder will even chew porridge for a long time and thoroughly.
Often keeping score, since along with phagophobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder may well manifest itself. That is, the need to perform certain obsessive actions, due to which anxiety is reduced.
For example, if you chew food 33 times, then the probability of choking is zero. But it’s worth going astray and counting incorrectly — it increases many times, so you have to start over.
By the way, such a person pays a lot of attention to the choice of products. Indeed, by purchasing drinking yogurt with an expiration date coming to an end, he risks choking on a lump. Which was formed due to the fact that stale on the shelf.
Somatic
The most striking symptom of phagophobia is a lump in the throat, which is called hysterical. That is, it is really felt, only arises against the background of emotional experiences.
So, after eating, it seems to him that some piece is still stuck and at any moment mechanical suffocation will come, you never know how he “falls” there and gets in, suddenly completely blocking the ability to breathe.
Therefore, being frightened, both before and after eating, he experiences a panic attack. Which is characterized by such signs as:
- increased pressure, sweating, increased heart rate;
- headache and heart pain, cutting in the stomach. It seems that now a heart attack will happen or the heart will stop from experiences;
- dry mouth, which complicates the process of swallowing saliva, which is why the horror “rolls” that something is really stuck in the throat and suffocation will surely come;
- nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness and loss of consciousness;
- due to frequent and shallow breathing, oxygen saturation occurs. Because of what it seems that there is not enough air;
- tremor of the limbs, the chin and voice may also tremble;
- the ability to adequately perceive the surrounding reality and think logically is lost; therefore, being frightened, a person tries to hide in a safe place, prays for help and even “falls” into hysterics, crying loudly;
- legs give way due to sudden weakness in the muscles.
By the way, do you know what to do when a panic attack occurs and there is a catastrophic lack of air?
Breathe into your palms, as you exhale, we release carbon dioxide. This method will allow you to normalize the level of oxygen in the blood, which will gradually lead to dizziness and anxiety.
Causes
Media
It is enough for impressionable personalities to see the news about how, quite by accident, a person choked on food and died without waiting for help. Such an accidental death takes away the illusion of carelessness.
That is, a person realizes at such a moment that he is not immortal and risks his life literally every time he sits down at the dinner table.
Naturally, obsessive thoughts that a piece of, say, meat will simply get stuck in the throat, bring the fob to such a state that he prefers to refuse food, just so as not to risk his life.
Only then another danger appears — the probability of bringing the body to complete exhaustion.
By refusing food, a person will not receive the necessary trace elements in order to generate energy and other resources. Naturally, this will affect both physical health and mental health, which will only increase the manifestation of symptoms of phagophobia.
parental fears
When a woman has postpartum depression, she can become overly anxious and literally blow dust off her baby. And everything would be fine, but she is tormented by obsessive thoughts that something will happen to him.
Falls, gets sick, crashes somewhere, and so on. But the most frightening may be the idea that he will choke. It’s the most likely cause of death.
In addition, babies often regurgitate food and risk choking. And at an older age, babies swallow buttons, small toys and other items that get stuck in their throats, blocking air access.
In general, almost every minute of her life, an anxious mother, especially living through postpartum depression, is in suspense. She has to be overly attentive, ready to immediately provide first aid.
This, of course, exhausts and deprives the body of resources. Why the psyche at one moment does not cope and fails, then various kinds of phobic disorders begin their development.
In particular, the fear of swallowing food and pills, and also feeding the child so that he does not choke.
Education
If a child grew up among people who were terribly afraid of something and were extremely impressionable, anxious, then he may well adopt their ways of reacting to stress and other stimuli.
If you hear from birth about how dangerous it is to eat, this information will definitely be deposited in the subconscious.
Why, at every meal, terrible pictures will appear before his eyes, how he is suffocating, and no one is able to help him in order to free his airways from a foreign object, a piece of food.
Children raised by anxious parents quite often grow up vulnerable and impressionable. After all, they adopt the attitudes of adults and «torment» themselves with irrational fantasies.
Negative experience
A person, having lived an extremely unpleasant experience of suffocation, choked on a pill or something else, and spent a long period of time, according to internal sensations, experiencing a lack of oxygen, is at risk of psychological trauma. Which will subsequently lead to the development of phagophobia.
Especially if you happened to receive help from random passers-by or even doctors. Subconsciously, in the future, he will simply form a relationship, such a trigger “food is danger”.
Especially if such a person is usually inclined to fixate on one experience or event for a long time.
That is, he constantly thinks about what happened, again and again living the feelings that accompanied him at that terrible moment. As if “falling out” of reality, devoting their attention only to the past, not noticing the present, not appreciating it.
Treatment
If you have symptoms of this phobic disorder, then you should definitely contact a specialist.
Since the fear of choking while eating or taking pills affects not only social life, isolating from society. But it also affects his general well-being, daily routine, priorities and values.
After all, instead of focusing on a career or relationships, he pays all his attention to the choice of products, focusing only on what directly relates to the object of his fear.
By the way, a huge amount of the body’s resources is wasted, which subsequently leads to sometimes irreversible consequences. This is if, against the background of stress, deadly or hard-to-treat diseases appear. They are usually called psychosomatic.
Yes, and depression, hysterical neurosis, obsessive-compulsive disorder also bring a lot of difficulties.
Especially if the depression is prolonged and characterized by suicidal tendencies. One of the attempts to commit suicide may be successful.
Therefore, it is imperative to contact a psychiatrist who will prescribe medication. You should not be afraid that you will have to lie in the clinic.
Phobias, if they are not in particularly severe forms (threatening life and health), usually do not require hospitalization. You will simply be given a prescription for sedatives to reduce anxiety, this will allow you to relax your nervous system.
Also sleeping pills if you can’t sleep at night due to nightmares and obsessive thoughts. Antidepressants, to normalize mood, and sometimes improve it.
In the process of therapy with a psychologist, you will be able to understand what exactly provoked the development of a phobia in you. This will allow you to determine the most effective ways that will help you recover.
To speed up this process, practice meditation and learn various relaxation techniques. Aromatherapy, sports and a healthy lifestyle will also be useful.
Completion
And that’s all for today, dear readers!
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The material was prepared by a psychologist, Gestalt therapist, Zhuravina Alina