Sore throat and difficulty swallowing

Sometimes we all feel sore throat and discomfort. If your throat is sore, swallowing will be very difficult. I often feel sore throat and difficulty swallowing when swallowing. This is usually caused by a sore throat. If your throat is inflamed, it will cause great inconvenience to your life, so it needs to be treated as soon as possible. So, what should you do if your throat hurts and you have difficulty swallowing after eating?

1. Early days

Symptoms are often not obvious, but there may be varying degrees of discomfort when swallowing rough and hard foods, including a choking sensation when swallowing food, and burning, tingling, or pulling and friction pain behind the sternum. Food passes slowly and there is a feeling of stagnation or foreign body. The feeling of choking and stagnation often disappears after swallowing water. Symptoms vary in severity and progress slowly.

2. Middle and late stages

The typical symptom of esophageal cancer is progressive dysphagia, which starts with difficulty swallowing dry food, then semi-liquid food, and finally water and saliva. Often spit out mucous sputum, which is swallowed saliva and esophageal secretions. The patient gradually becomes thin, dehydrated, and weak. Persistent chest or back pain indicates advanced disease, when the cancer has invaded tissues outside the esophagus. When the inflammatory edema caused by cancer obstruction temporarily subsides or part of the cancer falls off, the obstruction symptoms may be temporarily alleviated, which is often mistakenly believed to be an improvement in the condition. If the cancer invades the recurrent laryngeal nerve, hoarseness may occur; if it compresses the cervical sympathetic ganglia, Horner syndrome may occur; if it invades the trachea and bronchi, esophageal, tracheal or bronchial fistulas may form, causing severe choking when swallowing water or food, and respiratory infections. Finally, a cachectic state occurs. If the disease metastasizes to organs such as the liver and brain, jaundice, peritoneal effusion, and coma may occur.

3. Esophageal damage, esophageal diseases and food stimulation Esophageal damage and certain esophageal diseases can trigger esophageal cancer. The incidence of esophageal cancer is higher in patients with caustic esophageal burns and strictures, esophageal achalasia, esophageal diverticula, or reflux esophagitis than in the general population.

4. Malnutrition and lack of trace elements: Insufficient intake of animal protein and lack of vitamins A, B2, and C are common characteristics of the diet of residents in areas with a high incidence of esophageal cancer. However, esophageal cancer is not prevalent in most areas where malnutrition is high, so this cannot be a dominant factor.

5. Genetic factors: The incidence of esophageal cancer often shows familial clustering. Investigations in Shanxi, Shandong, Henan and other provinces in my country found that about 1/4 to 1/2 of people had a positive family history. In high-incidence areas, the proportion of people with a positive family history is high, with the paternal line being the highest, the maternal line being the second, and the collateral line being the lowest.