Sore throat when swallowing. Sore throat when swallowing: causes and treatment

Causes of sore throat when swallowing

Pharyngitis

This disease causes inflammatory process in the throat, which provokes a sore throat when swallowing. A person complains of a rise in temperature, but not a strong one. Feelings of dryness of the pharynx, various kinds of tingling sensations and the return of pain to the ear area are likely. The chronic form of pharyngitis is accompanied by difficulty in swallowing and congestion in the ears.

Angina (tonsillitis)

Many a well-known disease also provokes a sore throat during swallowing. The disease develops as a result of inflammation of the tonsils due to infection. Also, with tonsillitis, headaches, lethargy and fever appear.

The herpetic form of sore throat causes pain in the throat with headache and muscle pain. The patient may vomit, and the body temperature can reach 40 degrees. This type of disease is most common in young children. In chronic angina (paratonsillitis), inflammation of the tissue in the tonsils occurs, which also provokes severe pain in the process of swallowing. This pain can radiate to the ears and teeth. The temperature is usually not high, but headaches are observed.

A possible complication of angina can be a pharyngeal abscess, which is an inflammation of loose tissue and lymph nodes. In this case, pain when swallowing, difficulty breathing through the nose, fever and nasal voice are also noted. It should be said that the pain is so severe that the mouth opens only when necessary.

Laryngitis

This condition is an inflammation of the larynx that causes pain, dryness of the airways, tickling and wheezing. In some cases, the voice may disappear.

Foreign bodies

Pieces of poorly chewed food, fish bones, elements of cereals - all this can cause pain when swallowing if it goes down the throat unsuccessfully. Small children can put small toys into their mouths, causing a foreign object to get stuck in the piriform sinus or tonsil tissue. In this case, a stabbing pain immediately occurs. Later, swallowing becomes painful, and there are attacks of coughing and choking.

Various tumors and inflammations

Such phenomena can cause throat pain. In this case, tumors that provoke pain can be in neighboring organs. Sometimes pain when swallowing occurs even as a result of damage to the esophagus... An example would be gastroesophageal reflux, in which stomach contents and hydrochloric acid are thrown into the esophagus. In such cases, a comprehensive examination by a doctor and identification of the root cause of the disease is required.

Injuries, burns and allergic reactions

Painful sensations when swallowing can be the cause of various injuries or the action of allergens. Even food or dusty environments can play a secondary role. Loud screaming or prolonged singing can damage the muscles in the larynx.

At a temperature

Laryngeal pain may also be accompanied by an increase in body temperature. This is usually caused by SARS and other diseases that lead to inflammatory processes in the throat, ear and nose. The result of such inflammation is pain and an increase in temperature in the role of the body's defense mechanism against the causative agent of the disease.

Such diseases include:

Pharyngitis;
Laryngitis;
Tonsillitis;
Some forms of bronchitis;
Sinusitis with sore throat;
Some influenza viruses.

Treatment

For effective treatment sore throat need to identify the cause. Eliminating the cause will eliminate the pain as well.

If the pain is not chronic, and the temperature is not particularly high, then ARVI is most likely the provoking factor. This is usually accompanied by a runny nose and cough. If you do not have time or a strong need to go to the doctor, and the disease does not hit the body hard, then you can resort to independent methods of treatment. To do this, you need to drink plenty of warm liquid (tea with jam) and take pills for a sore throat. For more serious manifestations, an immediate visit to a doctor is required, who will prescribe special medicines to eliminate the root cause of the disease.

The unpleasant sensation of a lump in the throat when swallowing is familiar to many. In this case, a person experiences discomfort constantly, no matter what he does, or only in a certain position (for example, lying on his back or sitting with his head bowed). This symptom is often accompanied by difficulty breathing and the associated feeling of fear of death from suffocation, as well as a desire to cough up. Some are sure that a lump in the throat appeared after they accidentally choked, while others this feeling arose by accident, for no apparent reason.

But what, after all, causes the appearance of this incomprehensible symptom that inspires a feeling of anxiety? This is what we will try to understand in this article.

The causes of the onset of the disease

The main factors in the development of this condition can be combined into two groups and then, depending on the presence of certain symptoms in the patient, differential diagnostics can be carried out.

The first group includes somatic causes. Their occurrence is due to the direct influence of certain factors on the body, the action of which causes objective sensations. These include:

goiter (enlargement of the thyroid gland), which compresses the organs of the neck and makes it difficult to breathe and swallow;
diaphragmatic hernia;
the appearance of gastroesophageal reflux (return of food from the stomach back to the esophagus);
foreign body, neck injury;
an adverse reaction to taking any drug;
lesions of the nervous system, causing the development of neurological disorders;
tumors (benign or malignant);
obesity.

Swelling in the neck is one of the reasons for the feeling of a lump in the throat

In addition to all of the above, a lump in the throat can be felt due to the local development of inflammatory processes. These include: an increase in lymph nodes with any infection, a complication of laryngitis or pharyngitis, the occurrence of purulent tonsillitis, abscesses, etc. Allergies, in particular the incipient Quincke's edema, are also often the reason that a person feels a gradually growing lump. However, this feeling is temporary. After a while, it turns into a spasm and causes an attack of suffocation. This symptom can also occur before the onset of arrhythmia. After an attack, it usually goes away.

The second group of factors that make it difficult for the patient to swallow include psychogenic causes or psychogenic disorders. They usually occur against the background of depression, neurosis, or other mental pathology. In turn, they can be the result of excessive psycho-emotional stress, severe stress or fatigue, lack of sleep and rest, problems with acclimatization and other reasons.

The appearance of a feeling of heaviness when swallowing can be explained as follows: the fact is that depressive and stressful disorders lead to the development of muscle spasm in the throat. It is he who causes the feeling of the presence of a lump.

The mechanism of development of an unpleasant sensation

The feeling that a person has a lump in his throat is a subjective perception of the brain from signals coming from this zone and is perceived as a constant or intermittent obstruction that interferes with swallowing and breathing normally.

In total, two outcomes of the development of these symptoms are distinguished, and they depend on how strongly the discomfort will affect the behavior and change the patient's life activity:

The lump will in no way interfere with the normal functioning of all systems and organs of the patient and will not affect his daily behavior.
It will become difficult and even painful for the patient to swallow, eating disorders will occur and there will be a fear of suffocation.

The first option makes patients think about possible reasons the fact that something is interfering with them, and be examined by a doctor for the presence of a foreign body. The second, as already mentioned, is due to neurotic disorders and requires special attention to patients.

Diagnosis of the causes of a lump in the throat and treatment

No definition of an accurate diagnosis can do without the appointment of tests and various examinations. In case of discomfort when swallowing and other irritating factors, the doctor may insist on carrying out:

various methods of examining the oral cavity, tonsils, tongue, larynx, thyroid gland, lymph nodes;
general analysis of blood and urine;
biochemical blood test;
analyzes for the percentage of certain thyroid hormones;
fluoroscopy of the neck;
computed or magnetic resonance imaging of the upper spine.

Ultrasound is one of the most reliable methods for diagnosing the thyroid gland

A patient who is worried about the constant presence of a coma of saliva should be prepared for the fact that he will have to visit doctors of several departments, namely, ENT, neurologist, endocrinologist and oncologist. In the event that none of the specialists notes the pathology, the reason should be sought among ailments of a psychogenic nature, which means that it is also necessary to visit a psychotherapist.

The main method of treating an unpleasant sensation when swallowing is the implementation of vegetative correction, as well as a set of measures to reduce the intensity of neuromuscular excitement and anxiety. In addition, the doctor must eliminate various manifestations of respiratory destabilization, which most often cause fear in patients.

To begin with, the specialist needs to exclude the presence of organic problems in the patient - diseases of the pharynx and larynx, esophagus, the presence in them foreign bodies... After excluding all somatic illnesses and other real reasons, due to which it may be difficult for the patient to swallow, the attending physician should recommend the consultation of a psychotherapist. The latter will help get rid of an unpleasant feeling in the throat by prescribing medications or by prescribing relaxation and psychotherapy sessions.

Determining the root cause, making the correct diagnosis and the course of treatment will allow the patient to say goodbye to the annoying sensation forever and breathe a free chest.

It hurts to swallow, as if a lump in the throat, it is with such a complaint that patients turn to an otolaryngologist. If we turn to history, then a lump in the throat was studied by our ancestors along with hysteria, since it was attributed to nervous diseases. In the era of Hippocrates, a lump in the throat was called the pharyngeal ball and it was believed that this ailment manifests itself only in women. But it soon became quite clear that the appearance of a lump in the throat is caused by the psychiatric state of a person only in some cases, and unpleasant sensations in the form of a lump in the throat occur in men and women equally.

It hurts to swallow, but the throat does not hurt - what is it?

Today's WHO statistics show that 45% of modern people have this problem. The first doctor who examines a patient with these complaints is an otolaryngologist. It is he who must exclude, for his part, any somatic diseases that are caused by the manifestation of various inflammatory processes.

It is known that the causes of sore throat, often accompanied by a feeling of discomfort in the form of a lump in the throat, can be not only some specific ENT disease. Also, the result of this unpleasant sensation can be manifestations of diseases of the digestive tract, including gastroesophageal reflux.

In addition, a feeling of a lump in the throat, with or without pain when swallowing, may be the cause of:

If we talk about the psychogenic causes of a lump in the throat, then this unpleasant sensation may be caused by a consequence of any mental disorder. Often a lump in the throat occurs in people suffering from neurosis, as well as in patients undergoing frequent depression. And only in rare cases, a lump in the throat is a consequence of endocrine or mental illness. It is known that a lump in the throat is often the cause of high emotional experiences, and is also seen in people who travel often and a lot, which means they undergo periodic acclimatization.

It hurts to swallow in the Adam's apple

Unfortunately, today many doctors give patients who have complained that it hurts them to swallow in the Adam's apple region with a disappointing diagnosis. So, in almost 50% of people with similar symptoms, vegetative-vascular dystonia is observed, which stands out in this case as a separate disease, which is often caused by a shattered human nervous system. But at the same time, vegetative-vascular dystonia is just a symptomatology of some serious disease of the nervous system, since it simply cannot exist as an independent disease.

That is why, when a patient turns to an ENT, and the doctor does not diagnose any pathology in his specialization, he sends the patient for consultation with a neurologist. This is done in order to dismiss any hints of diseases of the nervous system. Then the attending physician gives a referral for an examination by an endocrinologist and an oncologist, in order to exclude the development of cancer, as well as pathologies associated with the thyroid gland, since all of the above diseases can cause sore throat, which may also be accompanied by unpleasant sensations in the form of a lump in the throat. The ideal option would be if the attending physician prescribes a full examination of the patient who contacted him with this symptomatology.

So, let's summarize all of the above. As you already know, the cause of a sore throat, accompanied by unpleasant sensations in the form of a lump in the throat, can be a previous stress.

This same symptomatology can manifest itself in a person who is in a depressed state. In such cases, the appearance of this unpleasant feeling has nothing to do with the general functioning of the whole organism or its individual organs. Long-term experiences, depression, stressful situations can cause involuntary muscle contraction in the cervical spine, thereby creating an unpleasant sensation, which neuropathologists call a "hysterical lump." You also learned today that a lump in the throat can cause an enlargement of the thyroid gland (autoimmune thyroiditis), or diffuse goiter, when diagnosed by a doctor, medications containing iodine are prescribed.

Often, the cause of a sore throat in the Adam's apple can be a previous trauma that contributed to a slight displacement of the cervical vertebrae, as well as prolonged intense coughing, cardiovascular diseases and diseases associated with the digestive system. But whatever the reason for this unpleasant sensation, sometimes even interfering with a full-fledged life, it is possible to identify the true pathology only with a full diagnosis, after which the doctor will appoint the only one correct treatment a specific disease leading the patient to this discomfort.

What if it hurts to swallow, but the throat doesn't hurt?

You should be aware that a lump in the throat can be caused by carcinophobia, that is, the fear of finding cancer. The mere thought of a possible cancerous neoplasm leads people into panic, because of which the patient feels a lump that has rolled up to his throat. In any case, if you often feel discomfort in the form of pain and a lump in your throat, you should immediately consult a doctor, as this may only be an imperceptible symptom of some more serious illness.

The sensation of burning, perspiration and sore throat during swallowing is familiar to every person. This symptom accompanies most respiratory diseases and can occur even with ordinary hypothermia or inhalation of contaminated air. At the same time, pain when swallowing may indicate dangerous diseases not only from the respiratory system, but also from other vital systems of the body. Therefore, this phenomenon should not be ignored, especially if the soreness when swallowing does not go away within a few days.

Causes of painful sensations when swallowing

Possible causes of sore throat include:

Bacterial infections (most often - staphylococcal and streptococcal), in which inflammation and pain occur due to the active multiplication of bacteria on the mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract. Pain when swallowing is usually accompanied by streptococcal sore throat and acute bacterial tonsillitis.
Viral diseases of the respiratory system (ARVI, influenza, viral pharyngitis, viral tonsillitis), which can occur without fever. With them, patients almost always have difficulty swallowing and a burning sensation, perspiration and dryness in the throat. Sore throat can also be caused by pathogens infectious mononucleosis, measles, chickenpox, parainfluenza.
Allergic reactions, in which there may be local inflammation of the mucous membranes of the pharynx and larynx. Pain when swallowing in this case occurs due to irritation of the pharynx during an allergy attack.
Foreign bodies entering the throat while eating (pieces of unchewed food, fish bones, cereal shells) or accidentally swallowing small objects that can get stuck in the piriform sinus or tonsil tissues, provoking throat irritation and the appearance of stabbing pain and leading to painful swallowing with the addition of cough and attacks of suffocation.
Respiratory tract irritation from smoke or dry air. A feeling of sore throat and sore throat can occur when inhaling dry indoor air during the heating season, when the load on the nasopharynx increases when breathing and swallowing. When the nasopharynx is irritated, the throat is usually not red, but pain is felt. Dusty or smoky air, as well as cigarette smoke when inhaled, can also make it painful to swallow.
Impact on airways irritating substances ( drugs, spicy food, strong alcoholic drinks, vapors of toxic substances).
Traumatic lesions (burns, scratches) of the larynx and pharynx or tumors of the pharynx, larynx, esophagus and adjacent organs.
Overstrain of the muscles of the larynx and pharynx with loud screaming or prolonged singing.

The sensation of pain when swallowing can occur in the presence of a number of diseases of the throat and esophagus, as well as nearby organs (stomatitis, periopharyngeal abscess, gastroesophageal reflux, thyroiditis, burns of the esophagus or stomach). In a child, the cause of a sore throat when swallowing can be children's infectious diseases: tonsillitis, scarlet fever, pharyngotonsillitis, mumps. This makes it difficult for children to swallow and talk.

What to do if a sore throat occurs while swallowing?

To relieve pain that occurs during swallowing, you should thoroughly chew or eat pureed foods, and avoid eating food that is too cold or too hot.

To determine how to treat a sore throat that occurs when swallowing, you must visit a doctor who will establish the exact cause of the disease and prescribe adequate therapy. Since this condition can provoke various diagnoses, taking medications should be pathogenetically justified. Drug treatment sore throat includes taking antiseptic agents in the form of sprays and rinsing solutions, analgesics, immunostimulants, homeopathic remedies, antibacterial drugs.

To relieve a sore throat, the patient is prescribed physiotherapeutic procedures: laser therapy to reduce swelling of the affected area or ultrasonic medicinal irrigation of the tonsils and back wall pharynx, which has an antiseptic effect and helps to reduce swelling and inflammation.