When eating certain types of food it is possible that some pieces may slide into the throat before you finish chewing them. This is more likely to occur with hard or crunchy foods, such as a potato chip or a piece of hard candy.
There are easy ways to get rid of throat obstruction. However, if the blockage of your throat prevents you from breathing, someone should practice the Heimlich maneuver or you will have to go to the emergency room immediately. In this article, we give you tips on how to remove food trapped in the throat. Take note!
How to know if someone is suffocating
If you are at a meal and suddenly someone starts coughing without stopping, you may think at first that it will pass, but then start worrying. If you want to learn to recognize the symptoms of suffocation or choking, pay attention to these data:
- Does not stop coughing
- I cannot speak
- Can’t breathe
- His face turns red
- He puts his hand to his chest or neck
- Try to make hand signals
If this is the case, it is best to call an ambulance or take that person to the emergency room immediately before something worse happens.
How to remove something stuck in the throat
When something has stuck in our throat, such as a fish scrape or a piece of pipe, we must take special care when trying to take it off, as we could hurt ourselves or stick it further. Depending on the seriousness of the matter, the following is recommended:
- Eat a piece of bread: but it is better to be the moll, since the crust could harm us more. The ideal is to chew the bread a lot before swallowing it, so that it mixes well with the saliva and, thus, can better pass the food.
- Use fingers: if what we have nailed looks simple, you can help with your fingers to extract it. Of course, you must do it very carefully so as not to push it and stick it further. If you need it, ask someone else for help to do this for you.
- Use tweezers: another option is to use tweezers to remove food stuck in the throat. It will always be better for someone else to do this, since if you do it yourself, you could damage yourself with the tweezers and / or push the food even further.
- Go to the emergency doctor: if there is no way to see what is stuck in the throat, it is best to go immediately to the emergency room to have it removed by a professional. If possible, try not to swallow saliva until you are with the doctor, since the muscle movement could drive the food from your throat even further.
Of course, if in doubt, it is best to call an ambulance or go directly to the doctor. This will be the safest way to extract a scrape, piece of pipe or other food from the throat.
How to remove food stuck in the windpipe
When the food gets stuck in the throat or trachea, we run the risk of suffocating if we fail to expel it. Therefore, if you start drowning or see that someone is drowning because they have food stuck in the windpipe, it is best to call an ambulance and, in the meantime, perform the Heimlich maneuver.
How to do the Heimlich maneuver
To do this type of technique, you must follow the following steps:
- Get behind the person who is suffocating and lean your body slightly forward.
- Next, form a fist with one of your hands and the other on top.
- Next, by the fist and your other hand above your belly button, but just before where the ribcage begins.
- Now, press in and up at the same time, quickly and continuously.
- Keep doing it until the person ejects the stuck food from his throat.
What the Heimlich maneuver does is expel the air from the lungs with great force, causing the trachea food to press out. If this does not work, and if the ambulance does not arrive, take that person to the emergency room.
How to remove food stuck in the throat
Very different from the stuck food is the one that has stuck to the throat. Sometimes we can have the feeling of having something stuck in the throat, as if some food did not come down. This can happen if we eat very fast, if we do not chew enough food or if what we are eating is very dry and we have not been drinking water.
In these cases, it is best to drink water, a soda or any other liquid that we have on hand. In fact, when this happens it is the body itself that asks you to drink water. When you do, you will notice that the food starts to go down. It may be unpleasant, but once the windpipe passes, you’ll be fine again.
