What is Choking Fear?
Choking phobia is an apparently rare condition characterised by an excessive fear of choking to death on food, drink, medicines or tablets. It is more usually associated with food or pills rather than with fluids and sufferers typically have difficulty with eating. They tend to eat items that they regard as safer foods such as soup, purees, yoghurt, etc, but even these are avoided as much as possible so that sufferers usually lose weight. Food is chewed excessively before it is swallowed to further reduce the perceived risk of choking. However, doctors now recognise that the sensation of globus can have a physical cause such as the throat having been previously scratched by a hard piece of food. Whatever the cause, people with globus report discomfort upon swallowing and are not afraid of choking. Difficulty in swallowing connected with a definite physical disorder (commonly of the oesophagus) is called dysphagia. Hence, choking phobia can be easily distinguished from this condition wh
