What To Do About The Feeling Of Something Stuck In My Throat Ever Since I Swallowed Some Large Vitamin Capsules A Few Days Ago?

Posted on Fri, 4 May 2018

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 4 May 2018 Answered on

Fri, 3 May 2024 Last reviewed on

Question : I swallowed some larger vitamin capsules a few days ago and had the feeling of them being "stuck" in my throat much of the day. Usually when that happens it eventually goes away. For the past two days it hasn't gotten much better and has actually started to hurt a little more when I'm swallowing food or if I have to burp the gas hurts coming up. Did I do lasting damage to my esophagus or is something else possibly wrong?

Answered by Dr. Ramesh Kumar (3 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Take a mild anti-inflammatory for 3 days.

Detailed Answer:

Hello,

Have gone through your details and I appreciate your concerns.

The esophagus is lined by a soft layer of cells called mucosa.The function of mucosa is to secrete mucus and to prevent any direct damage to the muscles inside.Most likely the large capsule has rubbed against the mucosal layer of the esophagus causing mild injury to that area which leads to inflammation giving the feeling of something stuck in the esophagus.

Whenever you would swallow this would rub against this inflamed part and would cause pain etc.

Treatment-
Take an anti-inflammatory like Ibuprofen 200mg twice daily after some food. This would help to subside inflammation.

You would be fine in 3 days.
Hope this was helpful.

Feel free to ask further.
Thanks

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Arnab Banerjee