Dooley Noted: 4/21/2016
We’ve all had it.
You get nervous and your sympathetics start ramping up.
Your breathing gets altered.
Quickly, you feel a lump in the back of your throat.
You try to swallow it down – but you can’t.
It’s because there is nothing there.
You won’t see anything on imaging.
In Chinese medicine, they call it plum pit qi.
In allopathic medicine, they call it glomus hystericus, a sexist term assuming it happens only in people with a uterus.
It’s listed as a psychological issue.
I see it as purely anatomical.
When many people stress, especially when the stressor is huge and out of nowhere, they alter breathing.
The gasp is a sharp inhalation, creating concentric tightness around the diaphragm.
This tightness constricts the esophageal hiatus of the diaphragm, which permits passage of the esophaus and vagus nerves in and out of the thorax to the abdomen.
The vagus nerve travels through this hole to help you digest your food with parasympathetic innervation.
The stress amps sympathetics, decreasing vagal tone.
But if vagal tone is already low, the typical indigestion the person may feel now is accompanied with a lump in the throat.
This is because the vagus nerve also innervates the laryngopharynx (lower throat) and larynx (voice box).
So, your breathing affects your digestion – and also that lump in your throat.
To improve your vagal tone for digestion and less throat lump feelings, learn to breathe more efficiently with the diaphragm.
You can see an acupuncturist and herbalist to help you with the plum pit feeling. Their formulas promote healthy digestion.
And if you are chewing on Prilosec or similar drugs, you are reducing your own vagal tone and developing more digestive issues for the future.
Learn to breath. It matters. The anatomy proves it.
See a movement specialist that knows the diaphragm well.
You’ll watch your digestion improve, along with your stress management and lump throat feelings.
As always, it’s your call.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley