Repetitive coughing and throat clearing

[Guest Sally44]

This is driving my son insane.

He thinks he has swallowed a fly or spider [he hasn't], and has to cough or clear his throat to try to get it out.

This happens throughout the day. Sometimes he can go hours without it bothering him, and then he'll start coughing/throat clearing every couple of seconds for maybe an hour.

His throat must be so sore. He is losing his voice. But he keeps on going. And is getting very angry and upset with himself. And it is driving us to insanity as well. You cannot stay in the same room.

What do I say to him. I don't want to reassure and say "you haven't swallowed a spider". So what do I say and what do I do?

[battlethrough]

Hi sally

As an adult I obsessed about something similar,i bit a balloon at a party lol,dont ask me why,just to pop it I think,any way this opened up an obsession that I had a bit of balloon stuck in my throat,it got so bad I would cough so much and be sick and yes a trip to the hospital in an ambulance and a camera up my nose down my throat,nothing,but that still didnt convince me

The good news is it passes,the bad news is probably because its gone into another obsession,i dont know what treatment your sons getting,i meditate,i know its hard to get a13 year old to but I do it with my 7 year old and he says how calm it makes him,i guess you know all the tools to manage ocd,just stick to those,

As ive got older I realize some of the best ocd care I had as a child was time,love and patience fom my parents,also you said it doesnt bother him alot then it does,so his brain remembers the obsrssion witch quickly builds up the anxiety,so maby rather than reasure,try calmly and sutly to divert the attention away from his fear to something that intrests him

Best wishes

Battle

Edited July 31, 2014 by battlethrough

[Guest jayjay89]

Hi Sally, this is going to sound a bit funny, but I had a similar thing and in the end I got over it because someone told me to stop trying to cough it up, but to swallow it.

I guess with that it runs the risk of swallowing becoming a compulsion, but it did work for me! I think doing something so abhorrent to the obsession just helped it to pass.

Otherwise battle's suggestion is a really good one, distraction is key for reducing obsessions

[Steven_in_the_clouds]

Funny. I once had a very similar obsession too at one point. Thought I was the only one! I worried I had inhaled part of my fingernail and had an endoscopy in the end! They found nothing. Funny how we get the same worries. Anyway, in this case, I would reassure him a bit that even if he has swallowed a spider, it wouldn't actually do anything. Also if it was stuck in his windpipe, he'd be in severe distress which he isn't. He just needs to resist the temptation to cough. Actually, by making his throat sore, he is probably creating a sensation that he needs to cough. Can become self fulfilling. Also can damage the voice box do he should stop. Distraction is good. Can he go and do things with friends so he forgets about it a bit?

[NicoletteCB]

I agree with everyone else, distraction is a key factor to helping get over OCD. Does he have a hobby he really enjoys doing? Maybe when he gets the urge to cough he can distract himself with that. I think there is a study saying we swallow seven spiders a year and who knows how many other insects in our sleep and if people were to get ill or die from just doing that we would all be dropping like flies. I don't know if this will be a helpful story but one time my mom and I were walking through a parking lot and there were lots of little flies, the really small annoying ones that bite and all fly together in little clouds, and I didn't see a swarm of them and walked right through it. One of them flew straight at my eye and I felt it collide with my eye and I was so freaked out. Of course the body is very smart and the pupil and eye have a protective shield over it kinda and the fly had died and sunk to the skin underneath my eye. I know it sounds nasty so I apologize but even though I was able to remove it I kept freaking out that I was going to go blind from an eye infection caused by the fly contaminating my eye but weeks passed by and I didn't. Our early ancestors probably swallowed and even ate tons of bugs and didn't die.

Nothing can remain stuck in the throat, we eat and swallow food all the time and if something were stuck in there it would go down when he's eating food or drinking water. And if he's afraid it's gotten lodged in the trachea or someplace it's not supposed to be then he would probably be in severe pain and not even have the ability to make himself cough.