What is phagophobia?
Phagophobia is the fear of swallowing.
Phagophobia is often confused with pseudodysphagia (fear of choking). The difference between these two phobias is that a person with phagophobia is afraid of swallowing directly, while a person diagnosed with pseudodysphagia avoids swallowing due to the fear of choking.
If you have phagophobia, you avoid taking medicine, swallowing liquid and food.
The following symptoms also appear:
- Anxiety before eating;
- You divide food into small pieces and drink water often while eating;
- Episodes of anxiety and fear during swallowing;
- Panic attack;
- Accelerated heartbeat and breathing;
- You avoid eating in the presence of others;
- Sweating;
- You add raw food to your diet, because you think you will swallow it much easier this way;
- Weight loss.
Phagophobia is a noteworthy phobia and must be managed, as the risk of health problems increases in untreated clinical cases; If a person does not take food and drink for several days, he may develop dehydration, lose extra kilos than necessary, develop nutritional deficiency.
Source:
https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-fear-of-swallowing-2671906
