I never thought that I would fear something as natural as swallowing food. My fear of choking, however, occupied most of my waking thoughts for nearly two years.
My fear of swallowing didn’t just lead to panic and misery. It also robbed my body of nutrition and skyrocketed my weight. Eating mostly carb-heavy foods will do that to a girl.
About three months into this ridiculous spiral, I reached my breaking point. I felt like crap, I looked like crap, and I ate like crap.
Around that same time, I was experiencing constant chest pressure that landed me in the emergency room. I was sure I was having a heart attack, but the tests revealed no abnormalities other than a blood-pressure reading of 200/140. After a dose of intravenous Ativan (an anti-anxiety medication), my blood pressure plummeted back to normal levels and the chest pressure went away.
The patient doctor sent me home with a prescription for Klonopin and orders to see my primary care physician immediately.
Not a heart attack
It’s hard to walk into an emergency room as a 33-year-old woman and demand tests that might detect cardiac arrest. When I first went to the window in the reception area, I…