​Swallowing saliva feels like there is a foreign body sensation

Saliva is a liquid secreted by the human body that lubricates the mouth and throat. It can also resist bacteria and protect teeth. People swallow a lot of saliva every day. The saliva flows down the mouth into the throat. Under normal circumstances, it feels very comfortable and moist. But sometimes you feel like there is a foreign body when swallowing saliva. Why is this? Let’s learn more about it with the editor below.

If you feel a foreign body in your throat when swallowing saliva, you may have pharyngitis. Pharyngitis is a very common upper respiratory tract infection, often caused by colds. Almost everyone has experienced this disease in their life, but some people have milder symptoms, some have more severe symptoms, some people are prone to it, and some people don't get it often.

The main symptoms of acute pharyngitis are rapid onset, with dryness and burning in the throat at the beginning; followed by pain, and the pain in the throat is often more obvious when swallowing saliva than when eating; it may be accompanied by fever, headache, loss of appetite and soreness in the limbs; if it invades the throat, it may be accompanied by hoarseness and cough. The main symptoms of chronic pharyngitis are discomfort in the throat, dryness, itching, swelling, excessive secretions and burning pain, nausea, a foreign body sensation, inability to cough up or swallow. The above symptoms will be aggravated especially when talking too much, eating spicy food, feeling tired or when the weather changes.

An early symptom of esophageal cancer is a strange feeling in the esophagus when swallowing food, but this feeling is often missed because it is mild. Therefore, when the following symptoms occur, you should go to the hospital for treatment in time: there is a mild choking feeling when swallowing food, especially when the food is hard, the symptoms are more obvious. When eating, the esophageal wall muscles rely on regular contractions to push food from the upper end of the esophagus to the stomach. However, patients with esophageal cancer may choke because the tumor destroys the muscle layer of the esophageal wall, causing the esophagus to lose its regular contraction function.

Because both esophageal cancer and pharyngitis can cause similar symptoms such as throat discomfort and foreign body sensation, some esophageal cancer patients simply think they have pharyngitis when these symptoms occur in the early stages. They do not take it seriously and simply buy throat medicines for treatment. They do not go to the hospital for diagnosis until the symptoms worsen. Often, the disease has already progressed to the middle or late stages, and they miss the opportunity for treatment.

After reading the editor's introduction, I believe you have a deeper understanding of this disease. If you have this symptom, it is best to go to the hospital for a check-up in time. It is important to find out the cause and rule out esophageal cancer in time. The earlier the disease is discovered, the easier it is to treat. Don't be careless and delay the disease.