Why does my throat think it's time to cry when it's not?

January 20, 2010 9:51 PM

I have a constant lump/tightness in my throat, like one gets before crying. I feel choked up I suppose. However, there is nothing sad or distressing going on. How do I make this go away?

I'm fairly certain it is a psychological issue and not related to acid reflux or thyroid problems. I am relatively healthy, no complaints whatsoever. I don't have trouble swallowing or anything like that.

I don't think I'm depressed or have an anxiety disorder. The reason I say it's psychological is because if I get very distracted and manage to forget about it for a while, say while engrossed in a tv show or something, it goes away. However, once the distraction stops then it comes right back. It goes away when I go to sleep at night and reappears around mid-day. It's not really related to anything in my life or thoughts I can think of. Right now everything in my life is pretty much fine. It went away when I cried once when I was actually sad and didn't come back until the next day, but that was the only time the feeling relented.

This has been going on for at least a month. It happened a lot in the summer too and went away for a few months but now it's back. In fact, I also recall it happening around this time last year too but it went away when something really happy happened to me.

It's not painful or anything, but it's annoying. It interferes with my emotions and distracts me. Like, I can feel happy or amused, but it is short-lived because I get distracted by this lump in my throat that before this started happening every day I had associated with crying and sadness.

So, how do I get rid of this? Have you ever experienced anything like this? Like I said, I don't think it really has much to do with what's going on in my life. Maybe but I don't think so. I think it's this in fact.

Thank you!

posted by tweedle to Health & Fitness (19 answers total)

Here's my 2 cents that you absolutely will not want to hear:

For years, every medical professional in my life (from my mother to my GP) told me that the lump I felt in my throat was either Globus, GURD or a side effect of my panic attacks that I had at the time. And the problem would "go away" when I was sufficiently distracted. But it got worse and after a few years, it ruined my voice and interfered with swallowing and breathing. Guess what? Everyone was wrong and it turned out to be thyroid cancer.

The moral here is: don't self-diagnose. don't rely on the internet to diagnose your issue. Go to a doctor. If what the doctor tells you doesn't fit/doesn't solve the issue or simply makes no sense, insist on more detailed testing until an answer is found or find a new doctor.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 9:59 PM on January 20, 2010 [12 favorites]

How unpleasant. There's a possibility that it's being caused by acid reflux - and acid reflux worsens with stress. I occasionally have a feeling of a lump in my throat - like my throat is trying to jump out of my mouth - because of this. In fact, I had it for a few months before a friend recognized the symptom for what it was. To test, take one or two Pepcid Complete tablets. If you experience immediate relief, you'll know that's it. Then, go to a doctor and get it dealt with properly.

Best of luck.
posted by kitcat at 10:04 PM on January 20, 2010

I'm fairly certain it is a psychological issue and not related to acid reflux

I fully and completely accept that I'm an idiot.
posted by kitcat at 10:06 PM on January 20, 2010

I'm fairly certain it is a psychological issue and not related to acid reflux or thyroid problems.

Not wishing to be argumentative, but have you definitively had acid reflux or thyroid problems ruled out by a doctor? Thyroid issues can creep up very slowly and can feel inconsistent, including the lump-in-the-throat sensation (which I had off and on for years before I finally got my thyroid issues treated once and for all).
posted by scody at 11:37 PM on January 20, 2010 [1 favorite]

Go to the doctor. Keep pressing if they can't fix it. My friend (who'd had a post-gastric-bypass life-threatening hernia that wrapped around her esophagus) had a staple stuck in her esophagus that wouldn't let her swallow properly. It took 3 endoscopies before they spotted it. Now, while you probably don't have a staple stuck in your throat, if there IS something there, they might not spot it the first time.
posted by IndigoRain at 11:59 PM on January 20, 2010

Came here to say "get checked for thyroid tumors", but Cat Pie Hurts covered that.

I have Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and one manifestation is a choking feeling in my throat - sometimes severe.

So, both physical and psychological causes are possible. It's your throat - can you really afford to casually misdiagnose the problem?
posted by IAmBroom at 12:21 AM on January 21, 2010

Response by poster: While I am by no means an expert on anything, medical conditions or otherwise, from my casual research I don't have the symptoms of anything (except for this tightness in my throat) which is why I said I'm fairly certain it's psychological. And the tightness is just uncomfortable, it doesn't hurt or at all make me unable to swallow. It doesn't even make it uncomfortable to swallow.

I will go to the doctor though. This just seems really innocuous to me.

Thanks for the replies so far; keep them coming.

Another thing I might as well add is that I'm 19 and female. Like I said, I am not an expert on anything and I really don't know much, but 19 seems too young to me to be experiencing all these ailments.
posted by tweedle at 12:29 AM on January 21, 2010

19 and female is the perfect age for certain types of thyroid problems, especially autoimmune disorders. Just putting that out there.
If it is psychological, then regular meditation & biofeedback might be useful.
Good luck!
posted by nprigoda at 3:32 AM on January 21, 2010

You could do some "body work." E.g. bio-energetics or even plain old therapy with someone who understands about how people learn to hold feelings in their body. Alternatively, you can deal with this kind of thing with meditation, but some people find it difficult to face alone.
posted by Obscure Reference at 4:09 AM on January 21, 2010

please get it checked out i do not care if somebody stated this alreayd. I had to get my thyroid removed due to a lummp that suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Get this checked out. THYROID CANCER can travel to the lungs. Please go to a doctor.
posted by majortom1981 at 4:25 AM on January 21, 2010

19 seems too young to me to be experiencing all these ailments.

My brother recently told me that he's been having acid reflux since he was FOUR.

Disease knows no age. Certain diseases are more likely at certain ages, but that doesn't mean they're impossible.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:53 AM on January 21, 2010

While I am by no means an expert on anything, medical conditions or otherwise, from my casual research I don't have the symptoms of anything (except for this tightness in my throat) which is why I said I'm fairly certain it's psychological. And the tightness is just uncomfortable, it doesn't hurt or at all make me unable to swallow. It doesn't even make it uncomfortable to swallow.

My mother had no symptoms of thyroid cancer when a spot showed up in her thyroid on a cat scan for something else. Please go to a doctor!
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 5:32 AM on January 21, 2010

I had a similar thing for a few weeks and then it went away. I don't know what it was. Reading all this, I guess I should've asked a doctor.
posted by mgogol at 6:42 AM on January 21, 2010

I'm not saying you're anxious, because you will be if you're worrying about this problem, but just as a point of interest, the origin of the word anxiety comes from the latin word angere which means to constrict, strangle etc. Sort of describes your symptom.

You say there is nothing sad or distressing in your life; if you have genuinely done that then I would rule out anxiety too. BUT I would not assume that just because the sensation goes away when you watch TV that it must be psychological. Pain is a complex sensation and distraction methods are taught regularly in pain management sessions.
posted by Sarosmith at 9:15 AM on January 21, 2010

I would say go get your thyroid checked. It is easy and cheap.

I don't have thyroid cancer, but I have thyroid problems. I had NO IDEA about it until I was hired for a new job, and I had to have a physical. The PA found a nodule on my thyroid-- (at the time I had no idea even where it was located in my body.) I was really stupid. It can have very mild symptoms or symptoms that you can easily chalk up to fatigue or a bad day.

I would sometimes feel that I was choking. There was a period when I couldn't stand to wear a turtleneck. I had a nodule, which can flare up and then can disappear. I also have reflux, and the test for that is more expensive.
posted by chocolatetiara at 9:52 AM on January 21, 2010

Also, allergy testing. Especially if it recurs annually about the same time... something could be blossoming/sporing that's irritating your throat.
posted by Slap*Happy at 9:59 AM on January 21, 2010

Symptoms are similar to that of a goiter, I use to feel something of this sort, particularly when I lied down at night.

I now eat a bunch of seaweed, or take kelp pills, once a week and it has not bothered me for several months now.

See a doctor of course, ultrasound for thyroid is quick/easy/painless, and talk with them about iodine supplementation. If you don't use iodized salt (you have cool sea salt) then the major source of iodine is no longer a part of your diet.
posted by zentrification at 11:28 AM on January 21, 2010

Nthing see your doctor. It sounds like the early stages of a compressive goiter.
posted by timeo danaos at 6:04 PM on January 21, 2010

Iodine and iodine-rich foods are not a good idea for self-treatment of a goiter. Increasing the dietary intake of iodine can cause or dramatically exacerbate autoimmune thyroid disease. Most thyroid disease in developed countries is autoimmune in origin. People in developed countries typically consume well over the recommended daily allowance of iodine. Major dietary sources of iodine include fast food and milk products [PDF], so it takes some effort to limit one's intake of iodine to the recommended level.
posted by Ery at 7:45 AM on January 22, 2010 [2 favorites]