Hi Aim: Last year, I was choking on water and brought it up with my PCP & Neuro because the choking greatly aggravated my pressure headaches. Both asked if I was gulping/drinking cold water as it might be a vagus nerve response. I switched to room temp water, tried to moderate the gulping & haven't choked since.

Your neuro thinking this was 'funny' is horrid - all sympathies. 'Spose your choking could be a response to many things, but thought I'd throw this out there.

Hope you figure this out soon - sending best. PC

thank you PC; I do have sensitive teeth so I like to drink warm or room temperature drinks and I mostly use a straw. I have worked with speech pathologists in my career where I aided in swallow studies. I have started doing the exercises to make sure its not any of the muscles that aid in swallowing.

I will try sipping and not gulping my food and drinks to make sure this doesn't happen again. It is just darn scary that something that is suppose to be automatic like breathing....isn't automatic.

Again I am having times where my words are garbled (I scared my son the other day; he's only 12) I have intermittent hearing loss, tingling in hands, feet, face and neck.....the neck is weird...wraps around and feels like someone is squeezing it. Lasts for maybe 10 to 15 minutes and then stops.

Monday if the neurologist doesn't call to schedule the sleep study....I will be asking why and then moving onto another neurologist. Probably from the recommendation of my NO.

Blessings all, Aim

It IS scary -- this whole set of symptoms is scary. And, the sudden onset of new symptoms is just so frustrating. Am glad you've got a plan and referral options. Fingers crossed for sleep study.

Forgive me for not remembering (forgive me for not remembering anything!)...has your med dosing changed at all recently? Any breathing problems that precede the choking and might have to do with the neck squeezing sensation?

So sorry this is happening for you!

do you have any breathing problems? try holding your tongue out of your mouth and/or jutting your jaw forwards and see if it feels like your breathing is different like that.

I had a problem several years ago where I would start getting lightheaded and short of breath while eating, or swallowing vitamins. your airway is at the narrowest when you are swallowing. if your tongue is too large and you have a tongue thrust, then this makes your swallowing mechanism dysfunctional, and this can produce an issue with the swallow reflex as it progresses from the throat all the way down to the stomach. I have always had a lot of trouble swallowing large vitamin pills, for example. they seem to get stuck.

I had surgery to have the back of my tongue reduced, 3 years ago, and this eliminated the "swallowing pre-syncope" that I had. my airway was only a few millimeters in diameter, and I felt like I was suffocating all the time leading up to the surgery. this did not fix my sleep apnea or my IIH, the latter which I did not know I had at the time.

but after my jaw advancement surgery, my IIH is in remission, and this is clinically and on LP OP. my airway is doubled in diameter, but my OSA is not gone. I believe that there is a relationship between the narrow airway and the IIH, beyond the link to OSA. I believe that the large tongue and compression of the posterior airway space leads to an increase in resistance in the jugular veins, leading to the IIH. that very narrowed airway can be the source of a myriad of symptoms, without a person being fully conscious of the fact that they are breathing through a straw.

I would start paying attention to this, with jaw and tongue position. go to an ENT and ask for a fiberoptic examination of your airway behind your tongue, sitting and laying on your back. take a look at your brain MRI pictures, specifically the lateral view where your spine and the tip of your nose is visible. look at your airway behind your tongue. I'll bet it's only a few millimeters, like mine was.

let me know what you find out.

Hi ladies, my dosage of Diamox is 1000mg and my paps is resolved but the NO said that my optic disc was flattened. Not even sure what that means. I have had the tingling in the hands and feet prior to taking Diamox.

I have not had any shortness of breath except after I choked.....I haven't had problems breathing since my pneumonia in 2009-2010. That was a battle in itself.

Tomorrow is calling around to the neurologist about the sleep study and if I don't get anywhere then off to a new one in GR, MI.

I will continue to update and let you know. I will need a new ENT since he was one of the doctors who ignored my symptoms and said it was just a deviated septum. (even with me complaining of pulsatile tinnitus and eye pain)

Sometimes it just upsets me knowing that some doctors just don't care enough......

I had a really good doc in 2001 who did care, but still ignored my pulsatile tinnitus. it's just not something most docs think of. normally the patient's story triggers a cascade of deductive thought, and a differential diagnosis list forms itself involuntarily in our minds. but IIH just isn't on the list. it gets lost.

a deviated septum is a sign of a narrow airway. this formation only occurs when the bony airway is too narrow to fit the developing soft tissue as the child grows. my deviated septum was detected along with nasal airway obstruction, and fixed, in 03. I had been ill at that point for 3 years. still, no one detected my IIH nor my OSA. then I crashed in 09. doctors see the pieces, but never put it all together.

I just miss my doctor in Indiana....she was awesome and really listened to me.....