What Causes the Lump In Your Throat?
Having a lump in your throat or the sensation that it’s hard to swallow is a very common sensation among anxiety sufferers.
This lump causes us to think that we are headed for a medical disaster and may even cause us to swallow in quick succession so that we can make sure that we can still swallow – just in case.
This creates fear in us because the assumption is that sooner or later you won’t be able to breathe. We start jumping to conclusions about what could be causing it and go into extended versions of the what if game.
But let me assure you that when you get this lump in your throat you’re not dying. Like most of the other physical symptoms caused by anxiety having a lump in your throat is just another physiological fear response. So what’s going on in there and what is causing you all this worry?
Without getting into medical school style detail the cause of your lump is rooted in the bodies peripheral nervous system. This system is broken into two parts – the voluntary and the autonomic (automatic). The voluntary set of nerves allows us to do things with our bodies, like walking.
The other set of nerves, the autonomic nerves, control the functions of your body that you can’t control – like the beating of your heart, digesting food, etc. So now that we have identified the part of the nervous system causing all the trouble, let’s look at how it can effect the throat.
When we get nervous we enter the fight or flight mode. This in turn creates havoc in the body. During the early days of the human experience this was used to get our bodies prepared to take survival measures – like running from bears and the like.
The “havoc” comes in the form of increased blood flow, faster heart rate, faster breathing, and so on. The faster rate of respiration is what effects the muscle that controls the opening of the throat called the glottis (middle of the larynx). The glottis expands to allow more air in during the preparation for fight or flight.
The expansion and retraction of the glottis is the “lump” you feel in the throat. This of course is a watered down explanation but the basic mechanics of this lump production I hope is clear.
And although this information is not terribly entertaining it is important to note that your anxiety symptoms are a normal reaction to fear and the subsequent fight or flight response that is initiated by all the nervous tension you endure.
So, in summary, you are not crazy. In fact it is your bodies natural reaction to anxiety and not some other thing that is creating lumps in your throat. Despite the fact that these lumps can feel large and like there is a foreign object that has been jammed down our throats – it is harmless.
Do all you can to reduce the stress in your life and you will, overtime, reduce your anxiety and the number of lumps in your throat. Moreover the lump in your throat is not a choking hazard, anxiety just makes you think it is.
Brief recap of what causes lump in the throat.
Anxiety + fight of flight response + effects on the throat muscle (glottis) = lump in the throat.
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Thanks so much for your article, it was probably the clearest written explanation for this I have ever heard and you have definetly helped to calm my nerves about the “lump” in my thoat. Thanks SO much again.
it’s so awesome to see that i am not the only one in this vast universe that creates her own lumps of fear. my mother always told me it was caused by anxiety, and so, in return, i told my kids the same story. I didn’t really think she was right. hmm. thanks for the article!
i’ve had this feeling in my throat for maybe 3 months already. in the morning when i wake up is not there but as the day goes by it gets more intense. is like the more i think about it the more i notice it. i wish i could control it and make it dissapear, it is very annoying and exhausting.
thanks for the comment i have had the lump for about 2 months and its really keeping me from eating cause i feel like im choking to death
I get the same thing and it is annoying for sure. I did a bit of reading on it and found some neck relaxation exercises, like leaning my head back gently to look at the ceiling while opening and closing my mouth, and also massaging the sides of my neck while tilting it side to side.
It gets worse for me when I work on the computer too long; I guess I hold my head funny or something.
im so glad i read this , ive had the feeling of having a lump in my throat since i found out i have chronic kidney desise, the stress has been unbelievable, ive tried alsorts of things to make it go away , my gp said it was nothing to worry about and i didnt believe her, reading this article has given me one less symptom to worry about .
I jst wanna thank you so much for this article i feel so realived that im not the only one with this problem. At first i thot myb i had too much worms in my intestine and myb they were crawling up to my throut and took Vermox for it bt it didnt help. At night wen im sleeping it feels like im going to die. the lump feels like its on the right handside of my neck and when i drink liquids it feels like its pushing the lump down slowly and it just comes up again.I aslo feel pain on the right side of my chest. Please let me know what i can take to make the lump go away, iv had it for more than 3 months now
Lng story short thanks this article is very straight to tha point and informal
I want to thank god, that im not the only one with this problem. I have not been able to eat solid foods for 5 months. The feeling is not as bad when I first wake up but the later it gets the worst it gets.
Thanks a lot for the information. I am feeling it since 4 months. This article is helped me to calm my anxiety.
Ya like I can barily swallow and it feels very weird