![]() ![]() Recovery wasn’t quick, but the worst was over within a few months, and then I suffered erratic minor episodes for “only” another couple years - but it is long gone now. The good news is that this is all ancient history for me now: I actually did figure out what was causing my globus, and fixed it. My globus story has a happy ending (sort of) There aren’t many detailed articles about globus available, and certainly none like this one. I think this article will help some people. I’ve rarely used the platform in this way, but globus belongs here: it can hurt, it’s quite musculoskeletal in character, it’s often associated with neck pain, and it involves some truly neat biology and science. This is an unusually personal article, an exploration of a medical problem that relates to pain indirectly. For a sensory phantom, globus is a serious bully. The worst was over by the one-year anniversary, and then there three more years of erratic, minor episodes. I continued to suffer severe episodes for several months, days or weeks at a time. My initial battle with globus felt like the longest month of my life, peaking with some terrifying swallowing awkwardness that made eating difficult. Globus feels like something in your throat, but it’s all in your head. This sensation, in the absence of any physical obstruction in the throat, is called globus pharyngeus, or - if you’re in a more judgemental mood - the old-timey term globus hystericus, which bluntly suggests a psychosomatic cause. (Mostly I do not swear on this website, but I’m making an exception for this article: it would feel dishonest not to cuss with feeling about this experience!) Painless, 1 but deeply unsettling. I kept trying to spit it up, and getting nothing.Ī 19 th century etching/lithograph of a human throat dissection during an autopsy. As moving day wore on, it grew under my Adam’s apple until I noticed I was clearing my throat as often as I swallowed. Or a finger pressing firmly on my trachea. Or a medium-sized pill lodged in my esophagus. The lump in my throat was like a thick booger I couldn’t swallow. My globus nightmare began with just the right sort of day for a stress-triggered medical problem: moving day. ![]() Many subtle or obscure problems can be at the root of it, but some globus sufferers eventually get answers and relief from the discovery of causes like tonsil stones, acid reflux, minor injuries to pharyngeal stuctures, Eagle syndrome, cysts and cervical osteophytes, and other oddball anatomical abnormalities, mostly minor - just anything that irritates the throat. Unfortunately, the diagnostic challenge of is immense. Globus is “all in your head” unless it isn’t. Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to confidently rule out a medical cause in the short term. For a sensory phantom, globus can be a serious bully, interfering with swallowing and even breathing at worst, and causing severe anxiety about the possibility of scary causes like cancer. It’s common and may just be a minor sensory anomaly, like tinnitus. Globus pharyngeus is the sensation of a lump in the throat in the absence of any apparent physical obstruction in the throat, often considered psychosomatic. ![]() This article explores the phenomenon of globus through the story of an actual case that was both severe and prolongued, but also eventually resolved. ![]()
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