what happens to food that goes down the windpipe
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What exactly is happening when your food goes downwards the wrong piping?
Nosotros've all been there: You're having a pleasant meal when suddenly, out of nowhere, your food goes down the wrong pipe. It'south uncomfortable, annoying and scary at the same time. It'due south the worst.
Merely why does this happen? What are all of these "pipes" for? And where does that food or liquid even go? To clear things up, we spoke to Dr. Clark Rosen, a professor of otolaryngology at the University of Pittsburgh Schoolhouse of Medicine and medical manager of UPMC Voice Center, and Dr. Lawrence S. Kim, M.D., a Colorado-based gastroenterologist.
When y'all put nutrient in your mouth, a lot of muscles go into action without you lot even knowing information technology.
"Theres a mental component," says Rosen. "You have to know that you're getting fix to swallow." The act of swallowing involves more than 30 different muscles in and around the throat that spring into action in less than 1 2d. Showtime, you have to chew food down to a size yous know yous tin swallow, and then your natural language pushes information technology into the back of the pharynx, where information technology has two "pipe" options: the esophagus and the trachea.
Afterward you're washed chewing, that'due south where the "pipes" come in.
If yous consume correctly, solids or liquid will go down your esophagus into your stomach. This is because, when your tongue propels the food into your throat, your voice box elevates to close off your trachea, or breathing "pipe." At the same time, the opening of your esophagus opens upwards (it'south usually airtight to protect the contents of your stomach from pouring out each time you curve over).
At this bespeak, a series of muscles in your throat forces the food down into your esophagus -- pic information technology like the way snakes movement food downwards into their bodies, where muscles constrict at the top part of the cavalcade and relax at the bottom part of the cavalcade. This is called persistalsis and it takes well-nigh 10 to 15 seconds, says Kim.
Aye, your food really can go "down the wrong pipe."
Since your mouth has to practice double-duty -- breathing air in and out and swallowing nutrient -- things don't always run smoothly. When somebody feels like something went down the wrong piping, it unremarkably means that it went into his or her trachea, a procedure known as aspiration.
"In otherwise healthy people, the presence of foreign material in the airway is extremely uncomfortable and will stimulate firsthand gag and coughing reflexes," says Kim. "If these reflexes neglect to clear the textile, it may become lodged in and obstruct the trachea causing choking." Even if y'all don't choke, nutrient that makes its way downwardly the trachea into your lungs tin lead to a very serious instance of pneumonia.
And then why does this happen? It's usually a cognitive issue -- the person swallowing isn't fully awake or they're distracted -- or information technology can be a physical trouble, where someone has a sensation or motor abnormality. It also commonly occurs after a stroke or surgery on the throat. "This happens more frequently as we age, too, considering our muscles don't react as quickly and our awareness isn't as good every bit it was when we were younger," Rosen adds.
Liquids are trickier than solid food.
You lot should also take into consideration that liquids are much harder to swallow than solids, but because they move faster and are more than hard to manage. "When people are having swallowing issues, liquids are their nemesis," says Rosen. "When people get life-threatening pneumonia from their swallowing, it's unremarkably liquids, non solids."
Even if you don't have issues swallowing per se, it's a good idea to be extra alert every time yous potable.
Sometimes, food is just stuck in the correct "pipage."
Discomfort while swallowing tin can also be acquired when food goes down the esophagus like it's supposed to -- it's that feeling that something's caught in your pharynx, accompanied by an uncomfortable fullness in your upper chest or neck expanse, but you tin however breathe. If you're violently coughing, though, that's a good indication that the food did, in fact, go downwards the "incorrect pipe," your trachea.
So what should you do when food goes "down the wrong pipe"?
"Immediately afterward you feel that something went downward the wrong way, yous feel similar you lot can't breathe and your vocalism is actually constricted or you take no voice at all," says Rosen. "That's because everything has gone into restriction, shut-down, violation mode." When your vox box senses that something went into your windpipe, it closes off, because there's been a "violation." Ofttimes, there'southward more nutrient or liquid coming, then it doesn't want anything else entering the windpipe.
Don't be afraid to cough when this happens. Coughing is your natural protective mechanism that volition clear your throat -- and information technology's very powerful. Most of the time, your coughing will become the food or liquid out of your trachea and into your esophagus, a.one thousand.a. the right "pipe," without you lot even knowing it. (So don't worry if you don't really see or feel the food come up up.) You can as well accept small sips of water to help this procedure along.
Once your body knows that it's gotten everything out of the airway, you lot'll terminate coughing, start animate ordinarily and you'll get your voice back if it was scratchy or restricted. Moral of the story: Pay attention while you're eating or drinking, and don't fight an urge to cough. Merely if you consistently accept swallowing bug, consult an ENT.
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Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/food-down-the-wrong-pipe_n_4889910