What causes Clicking or Popping in Throat when Swallowing?

Posted by mushroom @mushroom, Oct 2, 2020

I was doing some neck massages a few days ago and then afterwards whenever I swallow, I feel a clicking/popping sensation and sound when my larynx moves up upon swallow. There is no pain at the moment but the popping sensation in my throat gives me anxiety whenever I swallow. Is this the result of the cartilage rubbing on each other? Is it from the hyoid bone rubbing the thyroid cartilage? Are there exercises that can fix this?

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@ajbellman

I have experienced extreme health anxiety over various types of diseases (cancer, HIV) and of course just general health anxiety about anything in this body. I remember having the clicking noise back when I had been extremely worried about cancer, in addition to other various physical sensations that have manifested in all parts of my body. I was going to doctors, lung specialists, WEBmd, ALL OF IT.

I have grown tremendously since then, mentally, physically, emotionally and all the other allys. This clicking noise, however, started happening again a few weeks ago. I have been over-using marjuana and nicotine again, leading to more paranoia about health and heightened anxiety. I am 22. I am an extremely gifted and talented athlete, and I am blessed to have this body! Our minds trick us.

The clicking noise is as mentioned above, normal. Our human bodies are weird and magnificent. When we become "hyper focused", we get caught in reactionary loops, such as - swallow, feel/hear click, anxiety, more thoughts, swallow, repeat... - we then look things up, think the worst, and next thing we know we can't focus on ANYTHING else. Throughout our day our focus is always in some way giving attention to the thoughts/sensations, in this case, the feeling of a lump in the throat/cancer/omg whats going on. Faulty beliefs.

If you are feeling ill, certainly seek medical attention. If you feel okay other than this clicking/lump in your throat, I can assure you it is normal and it just an anxiety loop. Reading how so many people go through it is just a simple relief in and of itself. The solution is not overnight, but you will feel major relief rather quickly by following the guidelines below:

1) breathe. deep breathes. feel the relaxation in your body start to build up the more you take some deep breathes.
2) drink cold water, and as youre drinking it, feel the cold sensation in your throat and thank the water for nourishing this body.
3) take hot baths, and i love putting my throat under the warm water.
4) The body knows how to function/heal NATURALLY. There is nothing to fix, or change, or do. Trust and Love that body.
5) Search up health affirmations, light a candle, and immerse yourself in the vibration of love/healing.

Much love to all my fellow warriors!
,stay dusty
-A

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Any thing new my brother just needed your words

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@captainj

Any thing new my brother just needed your words

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Hello @captainj, Welcome to Connect. I'm hoping @ajbellman responds to your post but I'm not sure they are still following Connect since they have not posted since Sept 2021.
Are you having similar symptoms as @ajbellman?

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@johnbishop

Hello @captainj, Welcome to Connect. I'm hoping @ajbellman responds to your post but I'm not sure they are still following Connect since they have not posted since Sept 2021.
Are you having similar symptoms as @ajbellman?

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Yes a click when i swallow it does click when i move my head in a certain position i had a cobblestone stone throat for a month i went to the hospital for it 2 times and the doctor said it not inflammatory and would go on its own still have it no pain and 3 days ago i noticed a click while swallowing

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@captainj

Yes a click when i swallow it does click when i move my head in a certain position i had a cobblestone stone throat for a month i went to the hospital for it 2 times and the doctor said it not inflammatory and would go on its own still have it no pain and 3 days ago i noticed a click while swallowing

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Did you happen to see this video posted earlier in this discussion? - https://connect.mayoclinic.org/comment/323788/

Just wondering if it might help...

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Here are possible short term maybe longterm remedies i've come to know in the past 8 years. 1. I've found that b12 shots have made my throat completely relaxed and eased any clicking for a few days. The shots I tried were stronger than the basic b12 shot a physician would give. I went to a natural doctor who gave combination of b12, b1,2,3,5, and 6. They can also add taurine and something called MIC. Check with a natural doctor in your area. 2. Posture was definitely a problem for me. I sat in a chair at work for 80 hours a week during most of my 20's and early 30's. Bad posture and stressful environment. I stopped engaging my throat muscles and kept larynx high in throat habitually. Being conscious of the positions that help or hinder the clicking. I use a "peanut massage ball" every other day or so on my cervical spine; the C1, C2, C3 etc vertebrae that the muscles in top of spine attach. I do some posture workouts from youtube but nothing too major.
For me I don't have clicking when I swallow; only when I flex the neck muscles and try to manually lower my larynx. I don't have a guarantee solution but maybe try those vitamin be shots. They are about $25-30 where I live. Go to a natural doctor for them. A general Internist or Physician won't give you one strong enough.
You can also try CBD with or w/out THC, micro-dosing mushrooms, yawning, juicing vegetables, stretching neck properly, drugs like xanax can help relax those muscles in neck but maybe medical drugs should be last resort,? Running daily to relax throat muscles, keep larynx low when speaking if that's a potential issue for you, the correct posture will ensure you don't have muscles being stressed that shouldn't be. Our heads are heavy and designed to sit on our shoulders, not be held up constantly with muscles. Search youtube "how to keep larynx low" and follow voice coaches warmups so it retrains your throat muscles to transition larynx up and down (not saying this will cure the clicking when swallowing but worth a try) The last one is allergies. Check to make sure you don't have allergies or asthma that's messing with your throat. See an allergist and look into immunization shots if you have bad allergies. I hope this can help someone in some way.

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Hello everyone, I've been studying a lot of neck anatomy, including hyoid bone, thyroid cartilage, suprahyoid and infrahyoid muscles, among others. I also spoke to some doctors about it, asked questions and cleared my doubts. And I came to a - Possible - conclusion. (I want to make it clear, that I did this research on my own, I talked to doctors also on my own, and I also did exams, so this is not a scientific article, at least for now, maybe I will go deeper as a researcher and take this to an even more professional side, anyway, I hope this can help you.) If you search for thyrohyoid membrane or thyrohyoid ligament, you will see that between the hyoid bone and the thyroid cartilage, there is a group of fibroelastic ligaments, these ligaments allow mobility of the larynx as a whole, and thus, aid in speech, swallowing, and breathing. Based on reports from people who suffer from it like me, I realized that most of us ventured into laryngeal massages or suffered some trauma in the region, such as: high pressure vomiting, blows or even falls. After having researched for months about all these things, using scientific articles as a basis, I went to ask doctors with many years of experience, one of them answered me something like this: People who do laryngeal/hyoid massages passively tend to experience symptoms like those (Clicking, popping). He didn't explain why, but I have a guess; As the connection between the hyoid bone and the larynx is made of fibroelastic ligaments, these ligaments are more fragile than muscles, and may tear or even break; depending on the intensity of the massage or trauma, it may have led to laxity or rupture of a part of these ligaments, more precisely on the lateral part near the greater cornu of the hyoid bone, and the superior cornu of the thyroid cartilage, giving rise to friction, causing the click, because technically the hyoid became more "loose" so to speak. As a solution, I didn't find anything specific and truly effective, I don't know if there is any surgery to repair or strengthen these ligaments, but maybe physiotherapy, in the medium term, can help or even solve this problem, if there is a minimally invasive procedure for this, such as an infiltration or even the surgery itself, would be a good possibility. I hope I helped, and I want to remind you again that this is not a scientific article, nor something scientifically proven, it's just a hypothesis of someone who suffers from it, did a lot of research on it, and questioned experienced doctors about the problem. Anyway, look for an experienced specialist and ask about it, you may find a specific solution for your case. Hugs and best wishes to all!

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Hello everybody! I have possible good news!
so, as I've been researching a lot about anatomy, pathology, and things like that, I've been discovering interesting things, and I have news that can make you calmer and calmer about it. I recently read something in the medical literature that explained how forensic agents to discover, or suspect strangulation, usually do a laryngeal palpation to check whether or not there is crackle. If there is NO, it is unfortunately a bad sign, as it may indicate the presence of a mass in the retrolaryngeal space. That is, crepitus is NOT a pathology in most cases, but on the contrary, it is an indication that things are normal. If you, for example, have had a laryngoscopy, CT scan, or similar tests to check your neck, and nothing was found, crepitus is not a sign of pathology. I once heard a speech therapist say "if your larynx crackles during the massage don't worry, the HEALTHY larynx does crackle!"
if anyone wants the article link, here it is: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11693221/
I hope I've helped someone here, but remember, if your problem is more specific than that and you think you should go to the doctor, please do not hesitate to go.

Thank you so much for reading and good health to all.

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Hey all, this thread has been a great help and to see others with this issue has been reassuring when I felt alone. I’ve had the ‘popping’ sensation for 6 months now, where when my head is in certain positions, i.e Facing down to the left, i get a jolt around the hyoid bone area, where the hyoid bone jolts to the right, almost like a muscle or ligament is catching. It can then either keep doing it every time i swallow saliva/food/drink, or not at all, it’s easy quite inconsistent. Doesnt hurt but definitely makes you wonder what’s going on when it jolts, almost like an elastic band being flicked in the throat. Ive seen 3 gp’s and all said nothing to worry about… non smoker/otherwise healthy etc but still feeling the ‘pop’ i was concerned something was more serious that was being ignored, i.e the big C word which drives my anxiety wild (perhaps part of the issue), which could be pushing everything out of place. With this in mind i pushed for a ENT appointment, which i got, and had to wait 4 months for!. Today i had the full appointment, with examination and endoscopy, which revealed no issues at all apart from small nasal polyps and postnasal mucus and dry throat, which could be causing the pop. I feel better that nothing sinister was seen, nor was any sign of reflux, even though i do get that. I still wish i knew what was causing the pop but after this appointment i do feel it’s a case of being hyper focused on the area making it 10x worse, which hopefully will fade over time. I also have an impacted wisdom tooth which I’ve seen mentioned in here, perhaps pushing something out of line! Right now though i feel at ease for the first time in 6m and not concentrating on every swallow!

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@scrypto

Hey all, this thread has been a great help and to see others with this issue has been reassuring when I felt alone. I’ve had the ‘popping’ sensation for 6 months now, where when my head is in certain positions, i.e Facing down to the left, i get a jolt around the hyoid bone area, where the hyoid bone jolts to the right, almost like a muscle or ligament is catching. It can then either keep doing it every time i swallow saliva/food/drink, or not at all, it’s easy quite inconsistent. Doesnt hurt but definitely makes you wonder what’s going on when it jolts, almost like an elastic band being flicked in the throat. Ive seen 3 gp’s and all said nothing to worry about… non smoker/otherwise healthy etc but still feeling the ‘pop’ i was concerned something was more serious that was being ignored, i.e the big C word which drives my anxiety wild (perhaps part of the issue), which could be pushing everything out of place. With this in mind i pushed for a ENT appointment, which i got, and had to wait 4 months for!. Today i had the full appointment, with examination and endoscopy, which revealed no issues at all apart from small nasal polyps and postnasal mucus and dry throat, which could be causing the pop. I feel better that nothing sinister was seen, nor was any sign of reflux, even though i do get that. I still wish i knew what was causing the pop but after this appointment i do feel it’s a case of being hyper focused on the area making it 10x worse, which hopefully will fade over time. I also have an impacted wisdom tooth which I’ve seen mentioned in here, perhaps pushing something out of line! Right now though i feel at ease for the first time in 6m and not concentrating on every swallow!

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Let go on Zoom

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@captainj

Let go on Zoom

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@captainj, you'll notice that we removed your email address. Connect is a public forum. We recommend sharing personal contact information using the secure private message function.

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