Be careful when eating at gatherings. How to save yourself if food gets stuck in your throat?

If you encounter food choking, don't try any folk remedies. Go to the hospital as soon as possible. On this issue, especially encourage the elderly in your family to go to the hospital early in the morning.

Written by Li Changqing (Doctor of Medicine, American-based gastroenterologist)

The most common emergency during the Spring Festival is esophageal foreign bodies, commonly known as food stuck in the esophagus. This problem is probably more local. In Western countries, the main cases reported are steaks stuck in the esophagus, while in northern China, it is jujube pits, chicken bones, fish bones, etc. Because I work in the Department of Gastroenterology, I can be considered "well-informed" in this regard. I have even seen people swallow bottle caps and chess pieces stuck in the esophagus during New Year's betting; there is also a case where someone accidentally swallowed a fish bone, used a toothbrush to reach it, and dropped the toothbrush in the esophagus.

Many people may have had the experience of having food stuck in their mouths, but the number of such cases increases dramatically during the Spring Festival. Among these people, the elderly are more likely to have food stuck in their mouths. There are probably two reasons for this: First, the elderly have lost their teeth and have poor oral sensitivity, so they are prone to swallowing things that are not chewed well or things that should not be swallowed. Second, the elderly have a decreased swallowing function and reduced esophageal mucus secretion, so swallowed food is easily retained.

Here is an important reminder for everyone: If you encounter a situation where food is stuck and needs to be dealt with, go to the hospital as soon as possible. Foreign bodies in the esophagus are usually removed through endoscopic means. Generally speaking, most of them can be removed smoothly within 24 hours; the longer the time, the more difficult it is to remove. The reason is that when foreign bodies are inserted into the esophageal wall, infection and inflammation will occur. Some will penetrate the esophagus and insert into the aorta, which is very dangerous and sometimes requires open-chest surgery. Such cases have been reported by many media.

If food falls into the trachea, it is more urgent. Asphyxiation caused by foreign bodies in the airway needs to be treated within a few minutes, otherwise death will occur due to lack of oxygen and cardiac arrest. The patient may show symptoms such as coughing, difficulty breathing, inability to speak, irritability, etc. In such a situation, the Heimlich maneuver must be used immediately for rescue. The rescue methods for adults and children are very different.

As mentioned before, the elderly are more prone to esophageal foreign bodies, and they are also more prone to complications such as infection and bleeding. The reason is that the elderly prefer to endure it at home, and only come to the hospital when they really can't bear it. It is common for them to endure it at home for seven or eight days.

So what should you do if food gets stuck in your mouth? First of all, remember not to try many folk remedies, such as pushing food down or drinking vinegar. These methods are likely to be ineffective and dangerous. We can understand this problem vividly: if you hit another car or a corner when moving your car, you should obviously turn the steering wheel in the opposite direction and back up, rather than forcing it to go over. The same is true for foreign bodies in the esophagus. If it is already stuck and you force it down, even if you succeed in pushing it down, you will pay the price of aggravating the injury. If you are unlucky, it will penetrate the esophagus and cause the complications we mentioned above, such as perforation, bleeding, and puncture of surrounding organs. Moreover, this kind of folk remedies will create additional troubles for treatment after going to the hospital: for foreign bodies in the esophagus that require endoscopic treatment, the things that are forcefully swallowed will affect the operation.

So, should you go to the hospital immediately as soon as you get stuck? This is not necessarily the case, because most esophageal foreign bodies can be relieved on their own. A simple principle is: you should go to the hospital as long as you feel pain or discomfort, especially pain behind the sternum, you need to go to the hospital as soon as possible. Before doing an endoscopy, the doctor will do an X-ray or CT scan to determine the location of the foreign body, as well as the size and shape of the foreign body, and then take appropriate measures.

Of course, the best way to deal with foreign bodies in the esophagus is prevention, especially during festivals such as the Spring Festival, Lantern Festival and Dragon Boat Festival, when people in the north have the custom of eating jujubes. The author's suggestion is that if you want to eat jujubes, it is best to remove the pits; if you eat fish, separate the fish bones and fish thorns first, especially in families with children and the elderly.

Reference Links

[1] https://www.msdmanuals.cn/professional/critical-care-medicine/how-to-do-basic-airway-procedures/how-to-do-the-heimlich-maneuver-in-the-conscious-adult-or-child

[2] https://www.msdmanuals.cn/professional/gastrointestinal-disorders/bezoars-and-foreign-bodies/esophageal-foreign-bodies?

This article is supported by the Science Popularization China Starry Sky Project

Produced by: China Association for Science and Technology Department of Science Popularization

Producer: China Science and Technology Press Co., Ltd., Beijing Zhongke Xinghe Culture Media Co., Ltd.

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