Lump in throat: psychosomatics, symptoms and treatment

If you feel a lump in your throat or a foreign body, do not panic. In most cases, this problem can be solved easily and without unnecessary costs. What could be the cause of a lump in the throat and how to properly solve this problem? Treatment rarely requires significant time. Modern technologies of restorative medicine and psychotherapeutic techniques developed by clinic specialists are used to solve this problem. Treatment for the feeling of a lump in the throat is usually carried out after identifying the true causes.

Brain Clinic specialists will be able to correctly determine the causes of a lump in the throat and correctly and safely carry out treatment without any negative side effects on the body. Do you constantly feel a lump in your throat and cannot figure out the reasons for the feeling of a lump in your throat?

Call and make an appointment! Our treatment helps even with the most severe cases, when other treatments have not helped!

Symptoms that something is wrong with your throat

The feeling of a lump in the throat may be accompanied by a “soreness” in the throat, a feeling of incomplete inhalation, difficulty swallowing, discomfort in the neck and chest, a burning sensation or a sensation of a foreign body, although there are no changes when palpated (nothing is enlarged, not deformed, not inflamed).

A “lump” that appears once should not cause concern, since it is most likely a one-time reaction of the body to stress, overwork, or excitement of the nervous system.

If this phenomenon recurs, you should consult a doctor, as this feeling can become a painful symptom, “overgrown” with other manifestations: a feeling of a foreign body in the oropharynx, sleep disturbances, anxiety, loss of appetite and disruption of normal swallowing, surges in blood pressure and sensations of heart failure , diarrhea or constipation.

As a rule, timely and adequate treatment completely eliminates the unpleasant symptom.

Forms of the disease

Doctors identify several forms of a lump in the throat with psychosomatics:

• Hyperesthesia - discomfort during swallowing, decreased sensitivity of the throat mucosa. Without treatment, it can lead to suffocation from water or food.
• Paresthesia - itching, pain, sensation of a foreign body in the throat, cephalgia. Occurs in patients with a labile psyche, nervous disorders, and in women during menopause.
• Anesthesia - numbness, decreased sensitivity, tension in the larynx, difficulty breathing and swallowing.
• Hyperalgesia is pain in the throat that does not stop and intensifies while eating.
• Hyperesthesia - due to spasm, it is difficult to speak, breathe, eat, itching, burning in the throat. Develops immediately after stress.

Causes of an unpleasant lump in the throat

1. Overwork.
2. Severe or long-term stress. Nervous tension.
3. Neuroses and neurotic reactions.
4. Depression.
5. Anxiety disorder (phobias, panic attacks, generalized anxiety disorder, etc.)
6. Psychosomatic diseases.
7. Schizotypal disorder, schizophrenia.
8. Consequences of organic damage to the nervous system after trauma. infections, strokes, heart attacks, etc.
9. Diseases of internal organs (hyperthyroidism, thyroiditis, tonsillitis, spinal osteochondrosis, hiatal hernia, obesity or cachexia).
10. Allergic reactions.
11. Poisoning.

Causes

To get rid of a lump in your throat, you should consult a doctor and get a diagnosis. This feeling may be accompanied by:

• tumors in the neck and brain;
• diseases of the thyroid gland (endemic or diffuse toxic goiter, thyroiditis);
• side effects from taking medications;
• laryngeal neurosis, psychological factors, stress;
• systemic autoimmune diseases (Sjogren's syndrome, scleroderma);
• paralysis;
• obesity or cachexia;
• infections and inflammations of the ENT organs (tonsillitis, tonsillitis, pharyngitis);
• cervical osteochondrosis;
• pathologies of the upper gastrointestinal tract (dyskinesia, hiatal hernia, heterotopia of the gastric mucosa, gastroesophageal reflux disease);
• poisoning at work with hazardous working conditions;
• consequences of damage to the nervous system (stroke, heart attack);
• pathologies of the endocrine system (hormonal dysfunction, diabetes mellitus);
• allergic reactions.

Psychosomatic disorders develop when the body, through disease, sends signals that negative emotions are accumulating in it. For example, inflammation of the conjunctiva occurs if a person tries to close his eyes to what is happening around him, and an acute respiratory infection occurs when he wants to avoid business and responsibilities. Even after drug therapy, such diseases may not go away or may constantly return again if emotions are not addressed. They often become chronic.

Causes of a psychosomatic lump in the throat:

• constant fatigue;
• neuroses;
• prolonged nervous tension;
• depression;
• schizotypal or anxiety disorder.

In children, the feeling of a lump in the throat usually occurs with tonsillitis. But there may be psychosomatic reasons for this. Discomfort in the throat develops from a lack of tenderness, love and attention from parents. The child cannot express his emotions or talk about his loneliness.

Who to contact if you have a lump in your throat

The feeling of a lump in the throat is treated by a psychotherapist or psychiatrist. During the consultation, the doctor will assess the condition and determine the amount of assistance needed.

Help can be obtained in any clinic where there is a license to provide assistance in psychotherapy, psychiatry and neurology and where a psychiatrist or psychotherapist conducts an appointment.

ROSA Clinic

is a specialized and licensed clinic that provides assistance for all types of disorders accompanied by a feeling of a lump in the throat.
Our specialists
are ready to come to your home for consultation; you can also see a doctor in our clinic.

Treatment is most often carried out at home. If necessary, it is possible to be hospitalized in our own hospital, equipped with modern diagnostic equipment and where it is possible to carry out active treatment.

Sore throat and gastritis: an unobvious connection

This will probably seem “strange,” but a sore throat can actually be a consequence of gastritis, or more precisely, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Pain in this case appears “on its own”, without other traditional signs of acute respiratory infections. But rinsing, inhaling or taking antibiotics obviously doesn’t make it better. So how not to confuse acute respiratory infections and GERD? And what else does pathology threaten?

What is GERD

Gastroesophageal reflux disease is a chronic pathology with a relapsing course, characterized by periodic spontaneous reflux of gastric contents into the esophagus and larynx, and the development of lesions resembling chemical burns.

This type of reflux is felt as heartburn or a sour taste after a burp, and most often appears after eating, during sleep, or when bending the body forward.

At the same time, it also occurs in a healthy body, after eating. True only if it is not accompanied by unpleasant sensations and extra-esophageal symptoms.

These symptoms include:

• pain behind the sternum, radiating to the neck, lower jaw, interscapular area and left half of the chest, which can simulate angina pectoris;
• sore and sore throat, hoarseness, laryngitis;
• as well as cough, shortness of breath and severe bronchospasm, reminiscent of asthma.

As you can see, GERD successfully disguises itself as several fundamentally different diseases, often leading clinicians down a false diagnostic and therapeutic path.

For example, “provokers” of coughing and choking are often sought among allergens. Chest pain leads to a cardiologist. Laryngitis is treated with antibiotics.

Such treatment, however, will not give any tangible results. After all, the true cause of the pathology lies in excessive acidity of the stomach and insufficiency of the lower esophageal sphincter (“flap” between the esophagus and stomach).

How to check for GERD

The classic way to detect GERD is 24-hour intraesophageal pH-metry.

However, the method cannot be used in a screening format and for self-diagnosis, since it requires the installation of a nasopharyngeal tube and is associated with the psychological experiences of the patient.

Unfortunately, medicine does not yet know another reliable and non-invasive way to assess acidity in the esophagus. However, GERD can be indirectly assumed using the Gastrocomplex blood test.

The complex includes the definition:

• Gastrina-17,
• Pepsinogen (I, II and their ratios)
• and antibodies to H. pylori,

which allows, with a high degree of efficiency, to detect the presence of hyperacid (with high acidity) gastritis and Helicobacter pylori infection, which are the “basis” of GERD.

In addition, the analysis is widely used to identify atrophic gastritis and the risk of gastric oncology.

How is the feeling of a lump in the throat treated?

Treatment is determined by the causes and mechanism of development of the disease and is selected individually for each patient.

For a recent and non-severe condition

treatment is carried out on an outpatient basis: the doctor conducts a psychotherapeutic session, prescribes medications that the patient takes at home and periodically comes for follow-up consultations.

For moderate severity

- treatment in a day hospital is recommended: daily treatment procedures are carried out (drug infusions, physiotherapy, etc.), which take an hour and a half, but the patient lives at home and goes about his usual business. The average course of a day hospital is about 10 days.

In severe condition

hospitalization in a hospital is recommended. Due to intensive treatment, the condition can be stabilized already in the first hours of stay. The average length of hospital stay is 10 days (from 5 to 30 days depending on the severity of the condition and the body’s recovery abilities).

Main methods of treatment:

• Psychotherapy.
• Drug treatment (pharmacotherapy).
• Physiotherapy.
• Massage and manual therapy.
• Diet therapy.
• Biofeedback therapy.

Diagnosis of throat neurosis at the Yusupov Hospital

In order to establish the cause of throat neurosis, doctors at the Yusupov Hospital conduct a comprehensive examination of the patient. Using radiography of the cervical spine, osteochondrosis is detected or excluded. More accurate information is obtained after a computed tomography scan of the spine. Patients undergo laboratory tests (general and biochemical blood tests, thyroid hormone levels).

In order to exclude the organic nature of the disease, doctors perform magnetic resonance and computed tomography of the throat. A comprehensive examination includes Doppler ultrasound of the vessels of the brain and neck, and electromyographic study. Patients are consulted by an otolaryngologist, neurologist, vertebrologist, and psychotherapist.

Relieving throat muscle tension during neurosis

Tension of the throat muscles during neurosis causes breathing problems. In the complex treatment of neurosis of the pharynx and larynx, breathing exercises can give good results. It helps relieve spasm and tension in the respiratory muscles, restore breathing rhythm, reduce the dosage of medications, and speed up the healing process. You need to take an active short breath and a natural passive exhalation. The air should be inhaled through the nose, making a short, strong movement, and exhaled through the mouth.

The breathing movement and inhalation must coincide in time. The rhythm of breathing movements should correspond to the rhythm of the march. Breathing exercises for throat neurosis can be done standing, sitting or lying down. Their effectiveness improves in fresh air. To determine the cause and type of throat neurosis, exclude the organic nature of the disease and undergo a course of effective therapy, call the contact center of the Yusupov Hospital.

Diagnostics

If the described symptoms last more than 2 weeks, immediate consultation with a doctor is indicated. The specialist examines complaints, conducts an external examination and prescribes diagnostic procedures:

• X-ray of the larynx, esophagus;
• Ultrasound of the neck area;
• MRI of the larynx is the most accurate study;
• blood test (immunological);
• laryngoscopy – examination using an endoscope;
• biopsy (sampling of biological material) of the tumor with histological analysis.

Treatment of laryngeal cancer

The course of treatment depends on the stage of development, the patient’s condition, concomitant pathologies and other factors. Basic methods:

1. Radiation therapy is carried out when direct intervention is impossible or dangerous, as well as after surgery to destroy possible remaining parts.
2. Chemotherapy – usually used in combination with radiation therapy. It is also used in the later stages, when the disease is advanced.
3. Targeted therapy is used in combination with radiation and chemical therapy.
4. Surgery is the most effective method, in which direct intervention under general anesthesia is indicated. The surgeon cuts out a fragment of the larynx, and, if necessary, the entire organ. In severe cases, it is necessary to remove the lymph node and other parts that have metastases.

Causes of throat cancer: who is at risk

The development of throat cancer still raises questions - some stages of this process are poorly understood. However, it is reliably known that regular abuse of smoking and alcohol leads to the development of pathology.

Men over 40 years of age are at risk. Other provoking factors include:

• unfavorable environmental conditions;
• work in hazardous industries;
• unbalanced diet;
• high meat consumption;
• hereditary predisposition to cancer;
• insufficient intake of vitamins;
• heartburn;
• papilloma infection (caused by a virus).

To put it briefly, we can say that 9 out of 10 patients with laryngeal cancer are men of mature age (from 40 to 60 years). Moreover, they live in large cities and smoke at least 1 pack of cigarettes every day for several years.