Question: Hi, I took a bite out of a very fresh soft nectarine. I didn't get to swallow it, the nectarine somehow just slid down my throat without me swallowing it. It feels like it went down the wrong way, I was taking a breath in at the same time. I can feel something lodged in my throat but I can still breath. Actually I would say it feels like something caught in my wind pipe. I have tried sips of water to see what happens. The sips go down, but I feel a pressure when I swallow the water. I have tried coughing to help dislodge but nothing happens. I have been constantly burping since the incident, not voluntarily it is just happening. Am I in danger, what should I do? Will this just resolve itself over time, even though my throat feels very uncomfortable.

Thank you for your reply.

In answer to your questions:
1. The piece would be about the size of a 50 pence piece roughly
I do feel a constant pressure in my chest ever since this happened, it is the pressure of something being stuck, a dull pressure under the sternum and a sense of burning. There is pain if I take a deep breath, like something catching me and my body has not stopped "belching" ever since this happened. I do not normally belch.

2.The coughing that happened at the time of the incident was spontaneous. I have tried to caught since then by myself to encourage anything that may be present to find its own way out, but that has not been successful, all I get is a gurgling of nectarine flavoured bubbles that seem to come up, but nothing solid.

If there is something there, ie being a soft piece of fruit, what will happen. Does nature take over and it will naturally dissolve over time in the Trachea of does it dissolve and make its way into the lungs, and eventually just dissolve away OR does it dissolve and cause an infection in the lungs.

When I saw the GP he listened to my lungs and tod me that they sounded ok, but he also said that does not mean that something has not gone down the wrong way in the Trachea. That this is still possible....

I just felt confused with the information he gave me, because it seemed to contradict itself.

If the nectarine has gone down the trachea do I need to be careful when sleeping, do I need to position myself in a seated position to make breathing easier.

I know my questions may sound silly, but being alone, the night is the trickiest time if something goes wrong. So I am asking you everything I can think of, because these questions will be going through my head anyway, so I figured I might as well ask you, as you know the anatomy and what happens better than I do.

Thank you very much for your help, I really do appreciate your expert advise.

Sorry I just realised something. I actually didn't cough at all at the time of the incident. When it happened, it happened so quickly the nectarine was gone down the throat within seconds. Then I tried to cough to release it, but nothing would happen. I just felt I couldn't breath and I felt a pressure in my chest like something caught there, that could not be moved and that still remains as I write this. Then the belching started and that has been a constant ever since. I panicked and dashing for the car, straight to the GP surgery. I struggled to breath in my car, my breathing was shallow, anytime I tried to take a deep breath, there as a pain in the chest again under the sternum.

The event happened at about 11.30am
I got to my GP at 11.45 am and was seen at about 12.15 pm today

I can breath, but when I take a deep breath I feel something stuck and feel pressure with that. Is the belching normal when something like this happens? Is that helping the situation to improve or is the belching happening because something is in the way of breathing properly.

Now I am scared from the response you have given me. Please can you let me know exactly what I need to do at this stage. Am I potentially in danger?

Answer to your questions:
1. I can't remember if I coughed vigorously immediately after, I just remember struggling to breath and then everything went into a sort of automatic mode after that. I just grabbed my keys dashed to the car to get to the GP surgery. I guess my logic in the moment was that I was alone and at least if something happened in the surgery there would be help at hand. I do remember struggling to take any deep breath driving to the surgery. This could also have been panic so shallow breathing in that regard. As I mentioned before I don't think there was a spontaneous cough, everything happened so quickly there was no immediate cough, I consciously coughed to try to shift the piece of nectarine.

3. I am asthmatic, so when I have an infection or extra mucous in my chest I feel that moving around and a lot of wheezing. If that is the sort of sensation you are talking about when you ask "Do you feel something moving in your chest when you breath in or out." I have to say No I don't have any gurgling sounds or wheezing. I just feel a pressure under the sternum and in the throat at that place where you have a dip or hollow in the neck, just beneath that.

I have just managed to drink some soup and that went down fine. There was no discomfort and no reflux or vomiting or the liquid. I have been told that sometimes if something has lodged in the throat or trachea, this can make retaining fluids more difficult, but maybe that is incorrect information, I don't know. So the soup was an experiment if you like and nothing happened. I don't know if that information is helpful or not

What a relief. So I can breath easy now..... excuse the pun !!! Thank you. :-)

In relation to the Asthma: Sorry I didn't mention it because I didn't realise it would be relevant.

I have been prescribed Bricanyl turbohaler 0.5 mg/does and Pulmicort turbohaler 200 budesonide, by the GP. I rarely need to use them. If the weather changes from winter to summer and visa versa, or if I am in an environment where there is smoke, or if I have been bitten by an insect (ie mosquito my body reacts badly to them, lots of swelling and shortness of breath) then I tend to use my inhalers. I found when I used them all the time, I seemed to be more prone to getting chest infections. Since September 2012 I developed a severe chest infection, which lingered for months, then I would have about two months clear, followed by another infection.... I think between September 2012 and XXXXXXX 2015 I had a total of about 15 chest infections, it was relentless. I needed the inhalers, but then something inside me decided to see what would happen if I stopped using them as much, the result was less infections...... I don't know how that makes sense, but it did with my body. So now I only use them at the points of season change and if I know I have to be in an environment where there will be smoke, however I avoid that as much as possible. I grew up with a mother who always smoked all the time, including in the car ( a confined space) with the children in the back, I am sure that didn't help. I was diagnosed in 1996 while living and studying in London, apparently there was a lot of Smog in London at the time and quite a number of my fellow students were also diagnosed with asthma at the same time. It seems I am sensitive to dust, strong odours (ie certain paints), smoke related environments, seasonal change in temperature and pollen. I am not a smoker and never have been, nor do I drink alcohol or take drugs, never have. I live a very healthy lifestyle and eat nutritional food (real food rather than packaged foods). Over the years I have become more sensitive to allergens. I do carry Epipens as I have food allergies to nuts, shellfish and eggs. I am also allergic to wasp stings, latex, various medications and anaesthetics. With the medications it seems to be something in the coating of the tablets that my system reacts to. A pharmacist once told me that some of the coatings are egg based, so that may be why

I have been assessed in the Anaesthetic clinic in Cardiff and they have been able to identify two local anaesthetics that I can take, however they stated that I reacted positive to all the General anaesthetics they could test me with and informed me that if I ever need surgery, that the anaesthetist, will just have to try a General and see what happens !!! and if I react I am in the right place for help !!! Great eh !!! really fills me with confidence... not !! Such is life, the human body is so unique, what can I say.

Hi,
The GP did not give me any drugs today. He just told me to go to A&E if things got worse during the night. He as said that if I found over the next number of weeks that I developed an infection to go back to him, because it may have been aspiration.

Should the GP have given me any medication today? Or is it a good sign that he felt I did not need anything? I did not know the GP I saw and he did not know me, he was the on call GP. Would his response have been different if he had known my history or do you think his response was adequate in the situation?

This is the last message I can send you because I am not allowed any more questions. So can I clarify with you that you feel from what I have shared with you I do not have aspiration and I have no need to panic tonight. That it I can go to sleep safely. I live alone so it puts an extra pressure on you when you are unwell, and I find I have to be extra vigilant when something goes wrong, because if I needed urgent assistance in the night there is nobody here to help me. So I ask a lot of questions simply to ensure I have the knowledge I need in case I need to have a back up action plan in place.

I have not eaten anything tonight just to let things settle down again. I shall eat something tomorrow. I have had soup and that was fine.

Thank you very much for your help. I am saying that now, because I may not be able to ask you another question when you write back and I just wanted you to know that your words and knowledge have really helped me, as well as put my mind at rest. So thank you very much for that.

Is there anything else that I need to be mindful of, or aware of or need to take further action on from your opinion of the overall situation ?

If I need to use this service again, can I ask for you or does the service just connect me to any Doctor that is available online at that time ?

Many thanks again for all your help and kindness, XXXXXXX