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Why can I sometimes not swallow if I wamt to? (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
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Sometimes I malfunction and wamt to swallow but I cant. After a few tries it suddenly works. I usually bug when I breath heavily through my nose.

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[–] 44 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)

This happens more frequently than you thought.

Even right now, if you try to swallow saliva multiple times as fast as you can, consecutively; you will hit a "bottleneck" :)

Oesophagus, operates on a rhythm, of which is initiated by the back of your tongue (where tonsils hit)

But, oesophagus, having mind of its own (involuntary); does not accept initiated rhythm, if it's "out of timing"

This "timing" is dictated by the way muscle contract and relax as they push saliva you just swallowed down into your tummy. Nasty yet brilliant ain't it?

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  • [–] 16 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    I just tried this and I’m absolutely mindblown. I can get about 3-4 swallows before my body just refuses another

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    So you’ve never drank a big glass of water that takes more than four swallows?

    The reason your body won’t do more than 3-4 swallows is there’s only so much saliva it can produce per unit time.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    It’s not the lack of saliva to swallow. After a certain point the top of my throat feels like it locks up and won’t let me even attempt a swallow.

    I haven’t tried it with water but when drinking normally I’m not trying to swallow continuously as fast as possible.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago

    Ah. My own sense of thirst is completely missing, so I almost never enjoy water. I just chug it like I’m doing a chore, so I tend to drink as much as I can put down without running out of oxygen or giving myself the runs.

    I can drink off a liter at a time if I choose, but I don’t because that much water does actually reach the other end of the tube before getting absorbed.

    So for full absorption I usually do half a liter at a go, ideally a few times a day. It’s hard to remember to though because, like I said, no thirst.

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