Choking on saliva while sleeping

“Never sleep, you die too often in your sleep”
Mark Twain.
From WHO statistics: It has long been no secret that sleep is given to a person to restore strength after being awake. But we are talking about healthy sleep! Only he is able to “unload” the human brain. Increasingly, people go to bed, but the next morning they find themselves more unhealthy and stressed than at the end of a hard day at work. “It’s all about bad sleep,” most will say, not realizing that the concept of “bad sleep” has long been a terrible diagnosis that leads to death. And sleep disturbances hide dysfunctions of the whole body! So, we will talk about breathing disorders during sleep.

Choking on saliva: What are the causes and how to prevent it

Although choking on saliva happens to everyone from time to time, repeatedly choking on saliva can indicate an underlying health problem or bad habit.
Here's what you need to know about choking on saliva, including causes and prevention. Choking on saliva can occur if the muscles involved in swallowing weaken or stop functioning properly due to other health problems. Swallowing and coughing when you have not drunk or have a symptom of choking on saliva. You may also experience the following:

Sometimes choking on saliva may not be a cause for concern. But if it happens frequently, identifying the causes may prevent future occurrences. Possible causes of choking on saliva include:

Acid reflux

Heartburn can also irritate the lining of the esophagus. This can make swallowing difficult and allow saliva to pool in the back of the mouth, causing choking.

Other symptoms of acid reflux include:

Sleep associated with abnormal swallowing

This is a condition in which saliva accumulates in the mouth during sleep and then enters the lungs, leading to aspiration and suffocation. You may wake up gasping for air and choking on your saliva.

Lesions or tumors in the throat

Benign or malignant lesions or tumors in the throat can narrow the esophagus and make it difficult to swallow saliva, causing choking.

Poorly fitting dentures

Saliva production may slow down as your body adjusts to the dentures. If not, consult a doctor. Your dentures may be too high for your mouth or may not fit properly into your bite.

Neurological disorders

Treatment depends on the neurological disorder. Your doctor may prescribe medication to reduce saliva production and teaching techniques to improve swallowing. Medicines to reduce saliva secretion include glycopyrrolate (Robinul) and scopolamine, also known as hyoscine.

alcohol abuse

Choking on saliva can also occur after using heavy alcohol. Alcohol is a sedative. Consuming too much alcohol can slow down muscle response. Being unconscious or incapacitated from drinking too much alcohol can cause saliva to pool in the back of the mouth rather than flow down the throat. Sleeping with your head elevated can improve saliva flow and prevent choking.

Talking excessively

Saliva production continues as you say. If you talk a lot and don't stop swallowing, saliva can move down your trachea into your respiratory system and cause choking. To prevent choking, speak slowly and swallow between phrases and sentences.

Allergies or breathing problems

Other symptoms of an allergy or respiratory issue include:

9. Hypersalivation during pregnancy

This problem may gradually improve. There is no cure, but drinking water can help flush excess saliva from the mouth.

Drug-induced drooling

Some medications may also cause increased saliva production. These include:

You may also experience drooling, difficulty swallowing, and the urge to spit.

Talk to your doctor if producing too much saliva is causing you to choke. Your doctor may switch medications, change the dosage, or prescribe medications to reduce saliva production.

Source

I constantly choke on my saliva for reasons. Choking on saliva - is it dangerous and how to help?

3. If the above measures are ineffective, tilt the victim upside down and knock 5 more times between the shoulder blades. 4. As a last resort, use the Heimlich method. This will clear the airways of fluid. To do this, you need to stand behind the choking person and wrap your arms around him, one should be clenched into a fist and located just below the chest. Then you need to, as it were, pull the choking person towards you with a strong push of your fist. Repeat everything until the person begins to cough heavily, this indicates that the saliva is leaving. 5. Call an ambulance.

Emergency help for choking on saliva

Parents often wonder whether a baby can choke on saliva and why this happens. This is really possible if the baby sleeps in a supine position. Also, a sleeping baby may choke when burping. To prevent this from happening, after feeding you should keep the baby in an upright position for about 15 minutes and only then put it in the crib.

Emergency help may be needed if:

In these cases, parents must act correctly so as not to harm the baby.

If parents see that the child is choking on saliva, they need to give the baby an upright position as soon as possible. A baby after six months who can sit can be placed on pillows to sleep in this position; Children up to two to three months are placed on their stomach. If the baby cannot breathe, you need to take him by the legs, turn him head down and hold him in this position until he spits out mucus or a foreign body. This must be done quickly.

What not to do

When a child is choking and cannot clear his throat, parents should not be nervous, because anxiety always interferes with the correct action. Also, you should not slap the baby sharply on the back - this can push the mucus even further into the respiratory tract. If the baby screams loudly, you should not interfere with this - with a scream, he can get rid of the abundance of saliva on his own.

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Attention! You should not give your baby bagels or dryers instead of a teether. The baby may bite off a small piece and choke. All rattles with small parts inside that the baby takes into his mouth must be securely closed.

Salivation: significance for the body

If a child chokes on saliva in his sleep, he should be moved from a position lying on his back to his side or stomach, then the mucus will not flow into the lungs, causing a cough. The problem is worse at night because:

The baby lies on his back;
The child does not move for a long time;
Mucus drains into the lungs along the back of the throat;
At night, the activity of the salivary glands increases.

This condition should not be considered a pathology; it is normal in children under one year of age.

The most common reason for the active formation of saliva is teething. Also, the volume of mucus secreted increases sharply when a child suffers from acute respiratory infections and acute respiratory viral infections. When the period of recovery begins, this condition passes. The baby begins to choke on saliva because mucus from the mouth constantly gets into the throat, and the baby does not have time to spit it out.

The most likely cause of the problem is active teething

About every half hour, 6 ml of saliva is produced in the mouth. The daily volume is about 2 liters. Such a high level of fluid secretion is necessary for a person to achieve the following goals:

assistance in the absorption of complex carbohydrates;
protection against infections;
making it easier to swallow food;
reducing the likelihood of caries development;
preventing drying out of the mucous membrane.

It is important to know! Saliva is 98% water. The positive effect on the digestive process is due to the presence of enzymes, bacteria, trace elements, proteins, vitamins and other compounds. The composition may change slightly under the influence of irritants.

Salivation is controlled by the autonomic nervous system. When the parasympathetic subdivision is stimulated, a liquid with a minute percentage of protein is released, and as a result of the influence on the sympathetic branch, it is viscous. Without direct exposure, no more than 0.5 ml is produced in 60 seconds.

Symptoms

When a person choke on saliva, he begins to cough. This is a good way to open the openings of the larynx and trachea. The cough may not be severe, but to clear the airways it is important that the process of expectoration of liquid begins. When a person begins to choke on saliva, his complexion changes - from pale to bluish.

Sometimes a person who is choking may not cough, but rather hiss. This indicates that the situation is critical and you need to call an ambulance. While waiting, immediately apply the Heimlich method.

Symptoms of suffocation

A person is unable to take a full breath.

The first phase of asphyxia is characterized by increased activity of the respiratory center. The frequency and depth of breathing increases, blood pressure rises, the heart contracts more often, and the head becomes dizzy.
In the second phase, breathing movements become rare, heart contractions slow down, fingers and toes, lips, and the tip of the nose turn blue.
In the third phase, disruptions in the functioning of the respiratory center occur. Holding your breath during sleep lasts from a few seconds to 2-3 minutes. Reflexes fade, blood pressure decreases, convulsions and hyperkinetic syndrome (involuntary muscle movement) may occur.
During the fourth phase, severe rhythm disturbances are observed - rare short or deep respiratory movements, convulsive, intense inhalations and rare exhalations.

This is how patients describe their condition: “I’m suffocating at night, I can’t wake up, I’m afraid of suffocating, it seems that I forget to breathe in my sleep and I’m going crazy.” Some say: “Respiration stops during sleep, and there are real sensations that someone is strangling. I don’t know what to do, I wake up at night out of fear of dying and I can’t move or call for help.”

Consequences

If someone chokes on saliva, measures must be taken to eliminate it from the respiratory tract. After this there will be no serious consequences. The only thing is that mild pain may occur.

There is no recovery period as such. After 1-3 hours, all unpleasant sensations will go away on their own. If your throat hurts after the incident, you just need to use sprays and aerosols. You should limit the consumption of spicy, salty, hot and cold foods for a period of 1 to 5 days. If nothing bothers you, then restrictions are not needed.

Hello! I am 27 years old. I have been experiencing bouts of drooling during sleep for a month now. Every night, as soon as I doze off, I wake up choking on my saliva. This is accompanied by a sore throat and nausea. At the same time, a lot of saliva is released (it just flows like a stream), I just don’t have time to swallow it. Usually the attack passes within 10 minutes (I try to breathe deeply and quickly swallow saliva), after which I calmly fall asleep until the next attack. Usually 1-2 attacks occur per night. A similar thing happened to me a few years ago, but it quickly passed. I recently suffered from an acute respiratory infection with a cough, and I have chronic tonsillitis (if that matters). What could it be and where to start the examination? Which doctor should I contact? Thank you in advance!

Not clear, do you wake up from a bout of drooling? Is nausea and sore throat only during an attack? Does heartburn bother you? What medications are you taking?

Yes, I wake up from suffocation caused by an attack of drooling (as if I was choking on saliva). Nausea and sore throat only during an attack; heartburn does not bother me. As for medications, I irrigate my tonsils and throat with miramistin, took Ascoril a couple of times, but the attacks started before that. Thank you for your attention to my problem!

The most likely cause of hypersalivation is gastroesophageal reflux. Another possible reason is helminthiasis. Contact a gastroenterologist.

Helminths manifest themselves as salivation. I thought it was a myth, just like gnashing of teeth in a dream...

Hypersalivation can be observed with trichuriasis (trichocephalosis). It is not typical for other invasions. The causative agent of this disease, whipworm, is very difficult to detect by stool analysis due to the low egg production characteristic of this species.

Drooling in pregnant women is excluded??

Nastydoc, pregnancy is excluded.

Could such symptoms be caused by an exacerbation of chronic disease? tonsillitis?

Increased salivation can occur with dysfunction of the jaw joints. Have you had any dental problems in the coming year?

Sergey, my wisdom teeth are actively coming out (2 have come out just in the last year, the 3rd is on the way), but I haven’t gone to the dentist about it. One of the dental concerns that concerns me is pain in the gums in the place where the protruding wisdom tooth “moved” the neighboring tooth to the place of the removed one (the 8th moved the 7th, which is now in the place of the removed 6th, upper jaw, on the left). My entire jaw aches from time to time, but I chalked it up to my wisdom teeth...

Sergey, my wisdom teeth are actively cutting in (2 have come out just in the last year, the 3rd is on the way)… Even without dysfunction, this can increase salivation. ...pain in the gum in the place where the protruding wisdom tooth “moved” the neighboring tooth to the place of the removed one (the 8th moved the 7th, which is now in the place of the removed 6th, upper jaw, on the left)…. It seems that this is called Hodon’s symptom... ...The whole jaw aches from time to time, but I chalked it up to wisdom teeth... I would strongly advise you to visit a dentist. And look at the dental section of this forum: Search there: TMJ.

Do you have increased salivation during the day? At night, when you have bouts of salivation, what do you do with the saliva: swallow, spit? If you spit, how much saliva is collected per night (by volume)? Do you have problems swallowing (at night or during the day) saliva, solid food, or water? Is there a nasal voice? Have you had a traumatic brain injury or encephalitis?

Possible consequences and complications

Situations when a child chokes on saliva are most often characteristic of acute respiratory diseases and the period of teething. There are usually no complications; any baby can choke or choke slightly, it’s not scary.

However, if a child chokes on mucus from a runny nose and finds it difficult to breathe, self-medication or improper treatment can lead to bronchitis (pneumonia). In this case, treatment with antibiotics will be required. If your baby starts coughing, you need to pay attention to this.

Constant contact of saliva on the chin of a newborn can lead to skin irritation: redness, itching, and discomfort. In this case, it is recommended to lubricate the affected area with any moisturizing baby cream containing panthenol. Also, do not rub irritated skin with a towel. If your baby begins to drool a lot, you can only gently blot it with soft cotton pads or a microfiber cloth.

Increased activity of the salivary glands is not a disease, but a normal physiological condition

Diagnosis of signs of suffocation during sleep

If a person says that sometimes I suffocate in my sleep, then in order to eliminate or prevent the occurrence of unpleasant pathologies that may be associated with attacks of suffocation at night, it is necessary to carry out a competent diagnosis. A timely study will allow, under the supervision of a doctor, to get rid of the unpleasant consequences of such a pathology, and will also prevent its occurrence.

To establish a diagnosis, it is important to consult a doctor immediately after the first attack occurs. Some serious diseases, such as bronchial asthma, may be accompanied by such attacks at night.

If a person begins to choke in his sleep, before the ambulance arrives, you can help him by opening all the windows for ventilation, and also try to calm him down so that panic does not develop. Depending on the reason for its appearance, it is necessary to give the appropriate drug.

If a person has difficulty breathing due to heart failure, nitroglycerin should be given. If the cause is high blood pressure, you should give pills that lower it. If the cause is an allergic reaction, then the right remedy is to use any type of antihistamine. Asthmatics usually have tools in their arsenal to help them cope with attacks.

When choking has occurred, the person should not be given anything to drink, since his throat is under tension and this can only worsen the situation. It is best to move from a lying position to a sitting position.

Heart failure

Specific description of the complaint.

Valentina:
“I have had heart problems for a long time, hypertension, 10 years ago I had a heart attack. I take pills... A couple of weeks ago it got worse. I can’t walk as much as before – I’m out of breath. When I go to bed at night, I’m also out of breath! I noticed that if you sleep on a high pillow or even half-sitting, it’s easier to breathe.”

Signs:

A person suffocates not only in his sleep, but also simply in a lying position with a low headboard;
Shortness of breath appears or worsens on exertion;
A patient is a person with heart disease.

Patients with heart failure (chronic circulatory failure) may experience breathing problems at night. This is a sign of deterioration (decompensation). If you have heart failure, shortness of breath appears or worsens, and you begin to choke while lying down, be sure (urgently!) to consult a cardiologist.

Possible reasons why food and liquid often end up in the windpipe

Hello Tatiana! Despite the fact that foreign bodies in the respiratory tract are most often observed in children, we can also observe a similar picture in adults. Most often, in the case of adults, food ends up in the “wrong throat” when talking while eating or with diseases of the epiglottis, when the entrance to the larynx is not tightly closed at the time of swallowing. Perhaps these problems are associated with impaired innervation of the soft palate. Maybe this is a manifestation of esophageal diseases. For example, with dysphagia (swallowing disorder), conditions are observed in which it is impossible to take a sip, or the movement of food in the pharynx and through the esophagus is disrupted. Unpleasant sensations may also occur due to food retention in these organs. With the so-called oropharyngeal dysphagia, paresis of some muscle groups that are involved in the act of swallowing, or discoordination in their work, is observed. In these cases, food, especially liquid food, can enter the respiratory tract and nasopharynx. At the same time, a person naturally starts coughing, sneezing, or choking. Conditions similar to this are found in the outcome of poliomyelitis, diphtheria, syringomyelia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, parkinsonism, bulbar palsy, encephalitis, botulism, myasthenia gravis, strokes, lesions of the glossopharyngeal nerve, etc.

Specific cases

Many people probably have a question: what should I do if I choked while alone in the room? Who will help you take all these actions? Or if help needs to be provided to a pregnant woman or a baby - after all, they are more sensitive than everyone else? In such cases, follow these tips.

You are alone in the room

Perform the Heimlich maneuver yourself: place the fist of one hand on the place intended for this technique (on the midline of the abdominal area, above the navel, just below the end of the sternum), then with the other hand grab your fist and quickly press it up. Lean on a nearby stable object, for example, the back of a chair, a sink, and press your whole body against it. Keep in mind that the thing you will lean on should not have a sharp end.

When applying pressure to a conscious, choking person, place your hands not on the stomach, but on the chest: stand next to him, hug the chest from the back, place your palms clenched into a fist on the middle part of the sternum at the height of the nipples. Perform five presses. The further sequence of actions is standard.

In this paragraph we will talk about how to behave if a small child who is still too young to explain this to his parents is choking. That is, we are more interested in how to help an infant, since the actions that we have already discussed above are suitable for an older child.

A baby's head is usually quite large and heavy, but their neck muscles are too weak to maintain a stable head position during blows to the back, therefore, if assistance is not provided correctly, due to sudden movements of the head, the child may suffer an injury to the cervical spine. It is strictly forbidden to shake a child by holding his legs upside down.

Place the baby on his back on the forearm of your right hand, and hold his head with your hand.
Place the forearm of your other hand on the baby's chest and wrap your fingers around the lower jaw.
Turn the baby and hold him on the forearm of your left hand so that the head is slightly lower. Using the heel of your free hand, hit your back between your shoulder blades five times. The hand will be more stable if you rest it on the slightly bent thigh of the leg of the same side.

If these actions do not help remove the foreign body, hold the baby's head with your free hand, and put your forearm to the back, place the baby upside down, and sharply press the sternum five times with two fingers at the height of the line connecting the papillae (pressure depth - 1. 5 cm - 2.5 cm). Your hand will be more stable if you place it on your thigh.

Repeat these steps until the baby starts breathing, coughing, crying, or loses consciousness. If you lose consciousness, proceed to the initial stage of resuscitation, which we have already discussed above.

Hello! Don't put off visiting a neurologist! Swallowing impairment is manifested by dysphagia and aspiration.

often able to identify one of the following difficulties when swallowing: 1) difficulty initiating swallowing, in which solid food gets stuck in the oropharynx; 2) regurgitation of fluid through the nose; 3) coughing and choking immediately after swallowing and hoarseness and “wet cough” after taking liquids; 4) a combination of the listed symptoms.

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Swallowing difficulties may develop unnoticed and manifest as weight loss or a significant increase in the time it takes to swallow food. Throwing back and moving the head to the sides to help move the food bolus, as well as the need to wash down food with water, are other manifestations of dysphagia.

It should be noted that the tongue and levator velum palatine muscles may function normally on direct examination, despite obvious swallowing impairment. In this regard, it is necessary to check the gag reflex. The rise of the soft palate in response to touching the posterior wall of the pharynx indicates that the IX and X cranial nerves and the muscles they innervate are not paralyzed;

however, the preservation of the reflex does not yet indicate a normal act of swallowing. The first type of swallowing disorder is usually associated with tongue weakness and can be a symptom of myasthenia gravis, motor neuron disease, inflammatory muscle disease, XII cranial nerve palsy (metastasis to the base of the skull or meningoradiculitis) and many other diseases.

In this case, dysarthria is usually observed with a violation of the pronunciation of sounds that require the participation of the tongue. Regurgitation of fluid through the nose indicates insufficient closure of the velum palatine and is characteristic of myasthenia gravis, palsy of the X cranial nerve of any etiology, and swallowing disorders with bulbar and pseudobulbar palsy.

A related symptom is a nasal tone in the voice and air escaping through the nose when speaking. Symptoms of aspiration, such as choking or recurrent unexplained pneumonia (“occult aspiration”), have many causes that can be divided into three main categories: 1) muscle weakness due to unilateral or bilateral vagus nerve damage, myopathy (myotonic and oculopharyngeal dystrophies), or neuromuscular diseases (ABS and myasthenia gravis are the most common);

2) damage to the medulla oblongata involving the nucleus of the solitary tract or motor nuclei (lateral infarction of the medulla oblongata is most common, but syringomyelia-syringobulbia is also possible, less commonly - MS, poliomyelitis and brainstem tumor); 3) less studied mechanisms of swallowing disorders with damage to the corticospinal tracts (pseudobulbar syndrome, hemispheric stroke) and with lesions of the basal ganglia (mainly Parkinson’s disease);

with them, the time relationship between breathing and swallowing is disrupted, and food passes into the back pharynx while the airways are open. In Parkinsonism, decreased frequency of swallowing leads to accumulation of saliva in the mouth (drooling), which increases the risk of aspiration. Aspiration and swallowing problems also occur in a strikingly high number of stroke patients.

These disorders persist for 1-2 weeks and can cause pneumonia and fever in the patient even with aspiration of clean saliva. You need an examination: MRI of the brain, electromyography, evoked potentials, fundus examination. Do not delay your visit to a neurologist - it is better to go to a specialized center (myasthenic center or neurology research institute).

Hello! Don't put off visiting a neurologist! Swallowing impairment is manifested by dysphagia and aspiration. The patient is often able to identify one of the following difficulties when swallowing: 1) difficulty in starting to swallow, in which solid food gets stuck in the oropharynx; 2) regurgitation of fluid through the nose; 3) coughing and choking immediately after swallowing and hoarseness and “wet cough” after taking liquids;

4) a combination of the listed symptoms. Swallowing difficulties may develop unnoticed and manifest as weight loss or a significant increase in the time it takes to swallow food. Throwing back and moving the head to the sides to help move the food bolus, as well as the need to wash down food with water, are other manifestations of dysphagia.

It should be noted that the tongue and levator velum palatine muscles may function normally on direct examination, despite obvious swallowing impairment. In this regard, it is necessary to check the gag reflex. The rise of the soft palate in response to touching the posterior wall of the pharynx indicates that the IX and X cranial nerves and the muscles they innervate are not paralyzed;

A related symptom is a nasal tone in the voice and air escaping through the nose when speaking. Symptoms of aspiration, such as choking or recurrent unexplained pneumonia (“occult aspiration”), have many causes that can be divided into three main categories: 1) muscle weakness due to unilateral or bilateral vagus nerve damage, myopathy (myotonic and oculopharyngeal dystrophies), or neuromuscular diseases (ABS and myasthenia gravis are the most common);

with them, the time relationship between breathing and swallowing is disrupted, and food passes into the back pharynx while the airways are open. In Parkinsonism, decreased frequency of swallowing leads to accumulation of saliva in the mouth (drooling), which increases the risk of aspiration. Aspiration and swallowing problems also occur in a strikingly high number of stroke patients.

These disorders persist for 1-2 weeks and can cause pneumonia and fever in the patient even with aspiration of clean saliva. You need an examination: MRI of the brain, electromyography, evoked potentials, fundus examination. Do not delay your visit to a neurologist - it is better to go to a specialized center (myasthenic center or neurology research institute).

First aid for choking

You should always call a doctor. It is necessary to calm the patient to eliminate panic. Help sit down and provide fresh air.

During an attack of bronchial asthma, when breathing stops during sleep, it is recommended to put mustard plasters on the chest, apply a heating pad to the legs, and give the patient Euphilin.

If you have difficulty breathing during sleep due to allergic swelling of the larynx, you must take a solution of calcium chloride and any antihistamine that you have at home (Diphenhydramine, Fenkarol, Clarotadine, Diazolin).

In case of heart failure syndrome, the patient needs to be given a semi-sitting position, given Nitroglycerin or Validol, make a warm foot bath, apply mustard plasters to the calves, and adjust the pressure.

With diphtheria, sleep apnea in adults and children occurs due to blockage of the airway lumen by a fibrinous film. The patient needs to be given a sitting position and his legs warmed.

Moderate attacks of choking in the throat occur in children with sore throat and pharyngitis. The child must be woken up and calmed down. In an upright position, the work of the muscles involved in breathing is facilitated.

If a person does not breathe in a dream, it is necessary to force him to wake up, help him take a vertical position, and force him to breathe through his nose. Late pregnant women may choke in their sleep when the fetus puts pressure on the diaphragm. A pregnant woman may experience severe shortness of breath. If an attack of suffocation occurs in a dream, it is necessary to open the window and sit the woman on a chair. It is advisable to have an oxygen inhaler at home.

Don't let us drink. The pharynx and throat are tense. A sip of water can provoke a new attack of suffocation. Make sure that the patient's tongue does not sink.

Make sure that the patient's tongue does not sink. Relatives should know about the disease and have medications on hand to help. Breathing can stop with an overdose of drugs, gas poisoning, depression, and metabolic disorders. If you wake up at night because you are suffocating in your sleep, contact a specialist.

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A person may begin to choke in their sleep, regardless of age and other factors. At night, attacks of suffocation are especially dangerous because the person has not yet fully recovered from sleep and sometimes does not understand what is happening to him. The reasons for their appearance can be not only diseases, but also psychological problems.

During an attack, a person is overcome by severe fear, he experiences stress, his nervous system is tense, and therefore the attacks may repeat another time. In this case, a person may experience insomnia because his subconscious has remembered the negative experience in a dream, and the person is afraid of repeating it.

What diseases cause sleep apnea?

Partial or complete cessation of breathing during sleep is frightening because of its suddenness. The person becomes helpless and cannot wake up. The lack of air takes your breath away, panic begins, and discomfort occurs in the neck and throat. People who have experienced night suffocation wake up from the fact that they cannot breathe and are afraid of suffocating. There is a feeling that someone is choking you at night, pressing on your throat, chest.

Night suffocation occurs due to low oxygen in the body and excess carbon dioxide in the blood. This condition is manifested by shortness of breath, muscle tension, a sharp spasm in the throat, and pale skin. During a prolonged attack, the patient develops cold sweat and the skin turns blue. Normal breathing is a physiological human need.

Important!

A single attack can be caused by heavy physical exertion or severe stress. If breathing periodically stops, or there is not enough air, you need to contact a specialist. Choking in a dream indicates the presence of diseases of the lungs, respiratory tract, and cardiac system. If you notice that you are suffocating at night, contact a specialist.

Bronchial asthma. Shortness of breath can develop into suffocation due to obstruction of the bronchial tubes. Attacks often occur at night. They can be controlled by taking special medications.
Sleep apnea syndrome. The lumen of the pharynx may close due to loss of muscle tone. Stopping breathing when falling asleep occurs due to obesity, taking sleeping pills, alcohol, and hypertrophy of the tonsils. Sometimes a person is unaware of his condition. Therefore, if you feel suffocated at night, daytime sleepiness, morning headaches, severe snoring, or high blood pressure, you should consult a somnologist. Apnea syndrome increases the risk of developing cardiovascular and endocrine diseases. The method of treating sleep-disordered breathing using a device that supplies air under low pressure into the respiratory tract of a sleeping person gives positive results. People with sleep apnea have an increased risk of coronary heart disease and death.
Angina pectoris. Sleep disordered breathing can occur after heavy physical activity during the day or emotional stress. The condition is accompanied by a burning or pressing pain behind the sternum and cough. Shortness of breath limits physical activity. With angina, breathing stops more often during the daytime.
Arrhythmia. You can suffocate in your sleep during attacks of atrial fibrillation. Sometimes the patient has no pulse. Shortness of breath and rapid heartbeat are accompanied by pain in the heart and a feeling of weakness.
Chronic heart failure. The heart's ability to pump blood is impaired. Stopping breathing during sleep occurs due to impaired gas exchange and lack of air. Attacks with suffocation occur more often at night than during the day.
Thyroid diseases. The feeling that someone is choking and a lump in the throat appears from the pressure of the goiter on the trachea. Choking in the throat can occur as the cyst grows.
Panic attack. In people with an unstable nervous system, breathing failure occurs during sleep against the background of palpitations, panic, and chills. Typically, patients do not show any abnormalities. The risk zone includes patients with an anxious and suspicious character. Treatment is prescribed by a psychiatrist.
Sleep paralysis. At the moment of awakening, a person does not understand why he cannot talk or move. The skeletal muscles relax, but the brain does not send a signal to action. The condition is complicated by hallucinations and severe anxiety.

The announcer choked on live broadcast, what to do in similar cases

This has happened to almost everyone. Most often - during a conversation. It seems like there is no food or chewing gum in the mouth, but the person suddenly chokes, starts coughing, and tears come to his eyes.

The reason, as Dr. Itay Gal explains on the Ynet website, is that saliva ends up in the wrong throat: in the larynx instead of the esophagus.

The body immediately reacts to the situation, sensing a drop of liquid moving down the trachea and threatening to enter the lungs. It uses mechanisms located near the vocal cords.

The vocal cords contract sharply to prevent further fluid from entering the airways, creating a sensation of suffocation. The cough reflex is activated: the muscles of the diaphragm contract powerfully in a pulsed mode, put pressure on the lungs and cause a cough, which should push fluid into the oral cavity. The result is a clinical picture - an uncontrollable cough and a feeling of suffocation. Speech becomes hoarse and breathing becomes difficult because coughing pushes air out.

Partial and complete suffocation

There are two possible options for sudden suffocation - complete and partial. With partial suffocation, the foreign body narrows the airways, but does not completely clog them, and with complete suffocation, the airways are completely clogged. Typically, a foreign body gets stuck at the height of the vocal cords, leaving a partial entrance to the trachea near the vocal cords, or the foreign body is smaller than the limited opening of the vocal cords and falls into the trachea, partially narrowing its lumen. Complete suffocation occurs when a foreign body is larger than the opening limited by the vocal cords (entrance to the trachea), and, stuck in this place, completely clogs it, in which case air cannot enter or leave the lungs. Thus, a person cannot inhale, exhale, speak, cough, suitable assistance must be provided as quickly as possible, otherwise the victim dies.

Treatment of excessive salivation with surgery

In particularly severe cases, surgery may be prescribed. In this case, particularly large parotid salivary glands can be removed. The operation is quite complex and can lead to certain consequences. If the facial nerve is damaged, symmetry can be seriously disrupted. The decision on surgical intervention and the advisability of such actions is made only by an experienced and highly qualified specialist.

The operation helps stop excessive drooling for up to 8 months. This is not a radical measure. It is impossible to completely get rid of the disease in this way. Therefore, in any case, you need to start with an examination of the body and its traditional treatment.

Remember that saliva not only interferes with comfortable sleep and rest, but also threatens human life. A sleepy person can easily choke in it. To prevent the consequences of hypersalivation, we recommend that you do not delay and make an appointment with a professional therapist who can find the cause of the malfunction in the body.

Sleep paralysis

There is a pathology called sleep paralysis. It can appear at night in any person, regardless of his age and health. This violation is rare, but it is very unpleasant and dangerous for any person. Sleep paralysis is often associated with somnambulism.

Sleep paralysis occurs in both men and women. There is some genetic predisposition to its occurrence. Most often it happens for the following reasons:

chronic lack of sleep;
jet lag;
change of time zones;
alcohol and drug addiction;
mental disorders;
taking antidepressants.

Some drugs can cause sleep paralysis. In the instructions for their use, this pathology is indicated as a sleep disorder. Sleep paralysis can also occur as a result of long-term depression.

During its onset, a person feels stiffness in movements, cannot move, cannot breathe normally, and feels an attack of panic and suffocation. Sometimes people describe the attack as a feeling of something heavy on the chest, hearing various voices and sounds, but at the same time they themselves cannot utter a word.

If the appearance of suffocation in a dream is associated with a pathology such as sleep paralysis, you should first get rid of the root cause of its occurrence. Once all causes are eliminated, suffocation usually does not recur. Relapses are extremely rare. Typically, this pathology appears in people no more than 2–3 times during their lifetime.

Doctor Komarovsky's opinion

Komarovsky believes that cough due to strong salivation is most often caused by the appearance of teeth; this condition does not require treatment. Even a healthy child must cough sometimes to clear the nasopharynx of saliva and mucus. However, if the baby begins to choke, urgent medical attention is needed; self-medication is dangerous.

Attention! If during the period of teething the temperature rises above 38.5 degrees, most likely we can talk about an infection. This happens quite often, because during this period the child’s body becomes especially vulnerable.

The child’s body is particularly vulnerable and increased susceptibility to medications, so it is strictly forbidden to give the baby any medications without prior approval from the attending physician. The dosage should be appropriate to the age and (or) weight of the baby.

When you need a doctor's help

If a child chokes on saliva in his sleep due to a runny nose, the snot flows down his throat and interferes with sleep. In this case, you should contact your pediatrician to prescribe antiviral drugs and vasoconstrictor nasal drops. You also need medical help if:

The child has a red and swollen throat (this may be a sign of infection);
Small ulcers are visible in the mouth, longitudinal grooves are visible on the tongue (a characteristic sign of stomatitis);
In addition to salivation, severe cough and high fever are observed;
Children's teeth erupt in the wrong order.

Typically, an infant begins a period of active drooling after six months, when the first milk teeth erupt. However, in some cases this time begins much earlier - at three to four months. In this case, it is necessary to bring your baby to the doctor, since premature appearance of teeth may indicate rickets and other diseases.

To alleviate the condition, you can give your baby a special children's toy - a teether. When a newborn girl or boy chews or sucks such a rattle, the child gets rid of excess drool and pain in the gums, and therefore begins to feel better.

When the toddler turns one year old, the activity of the baby's salivary glands gradually slows down, but periodically resumes during the appearance of new pairs of milk teeth. At this time (up to 2.5 years), you should be especially attentive to the health and well-being of the baby and make sure that he does not suffocate from increased salivation during sleep.

Treatment

Treatment of increased salivation at night involves, first of all, diagnosing the causes that caused its occurrence and treating the underlying disease. For diagnosis, you should contact a specialist: gastroenterologist, dentist, endocrinologist, neurologist, therapist. You need to undergo clinical tests and be checked for worms. The specialist prescribes the necessary studies. Therapeutic treatment is selected by the doctor.

In some cases, medications with an anticholinergic effect (riabal, platifilin, scopolamine) are prescribed, which reduces the amount of saliva produced. However, you should not prescribe these drugs yourself, because side effects may occur. In addition, drug therapy is usually short-term. And, of course, it is necessary to completely cure all diseases of the oral cavity. Cryotherapy, a method that allows one to reflexively increase the frequency of swallowing saliva, and homeopathic treatment have proven to be quite effective methods.

In the most difficult cases, with excessive salivation, surgery is performed to remove large salivary glands. However, this is a very complex operation that can cause a number of other problems: for example, if the facial nerves are damaged, the symmetry of the face is disrupted. Injecting botulinum toxin into the parotid glands stops saliva production for up to 8 months.

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