Fear of choking to death
I’ve been suffering from this for more than 3 years. At some point this phobia significantly affected quality of my life and my ability to enjoy it. But I know it is possible to get out of it.
My way of dealing with it:
- Since you’re afraid of this you need to make sure that nothing bad is going to happen during the meal. So chew food thoroughly (good enough not to worry about it getting in the wrong place). Even if you fear solid foods you can eat them - just chew them good.
- Do not breath through the mouth much when eating. I have no idea where I got this habit - but it looks to be tightly connected to choking phobia. Breathing through nose actually makes it safer and reduces possibility to choke.
- Read as much as possible about it. Make sure that you can read about choking without fear.
- Read “Freedom From Fear” book by Dr. Howard Liebgold. He has a very good paragraph about choking where he tells that unless you’re totally drunk and swallowed piece of meat 2×2 inches it is almost practically impossible to choke to death. Reading this paragraph over and over again makes me significantly more relaxed. I recommend getting this book - it helps.
Good luck dealing with it! It is curable.
