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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Happens When Your Food Goes Down The Wrong Pipe?

I swallowed food down wrong pipe last night. I coughed a little, but tried to wash it down, etc., though I never felt like it went down. Went to bed and can still feel it, quite uncomfortably, and is still there this morning. Should I go to urgent care? What would they be able to do, besides the Heimlich?
posted on Fri, 14 Mar 2014
Twitter Wed, 4 Jun 2014 Answered on
Twitter Wed, 4 Jun 2014 Last reviewed on
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General & Family Physician,  's  Response
Thanks for contacting HCM. It is possible that whatever went in your wind pipe was coughed out and subsequently swallowed by you and in your distress you failed to notice this. During this process the food particle may have abraded the lining of wind pipe and thus you have discomfort. There is a possibility that the food particle is still in wind pipe, in that case you need to go to urgent care. they can take X-ray to locate food particle(if it is the type visible in X-rays), or they can do a bronchoscopy to find and remove the food particle(if it is there). Regards
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What Happens When Your Food Goes Down The Wrong Pipe?

Thanks for contacting HCM. It is possible that whatever went in your wind pipe was coughed out and subsequently swallowed by you and in your distress you failed to notice this. During this process the food particle may have abraded the lining of wind pipe and thus you have discomfort. There is a possibility that the food particle is still in wind pipe, in that case you need to go to urgent care. they can take X-ray to locate food particle(if it is the type visible in X-rays), or they can do a bronchoscopy to find and remove the food particle(if it is there). Regards