Worry about aspiration pneumonia?

Question

Yesterday Whilst I was eating my evening meal some of the food "went down the wrong way" so obviously I coughed to try and clear it. However during the evening a bit of food came down from near my nose to the back of my throat and I spitted it out. The food had obviously got lodged there whilst I was eating. Today I have a hot feeling when I burp - could this be because of some bit of food that I didn't clear when I coughed ?

My main worry is that any bit of food left (if any) could find its way into the respiratory system e.g. the lungs and cause aspiration pneumonia.

What do you think ?

Answer 1

I think you're spending too much time looking for something to worry about. The fact that you burped, and the bit of food particle in the nasopharynx, still don't impair your neurologic status, and if there are any more little surprises that try to get past your larynx, you'll still have the same protective reflex, and you'll simply cough (and gag?) again.

Answer 2

Your airway is well-protected (as evidenced by your apparent robust (and normal) gag reflex. It is extremely difficult for food or liquids to enter the pulmonary tree in a conscious person. Your burb caused a little acid reflux from your stomach. Hopefully this is not a common issue for you. If you do have chronic heartburn/acid reflux, see your physician for treatment.

Answer 3

Theoretically, yes, you may have aspirated the contents of the meal and may succumb to 'aspiration pneumonia.'  In all likelihood, however, I do not expect that you will have such trouble so long as you are otherwise healthy.

Should you develop symptoms consistent with an infectious process, I urge you to make an appointment with your pulmonologist and/or regular physician for additional followup.

Answer 4

give it a couple of days and if you still dont feel well ask you gp for a x ray

Answer 5

i think its very unlikely that it will find its way to the lung but .... i think what you have done is where it got stuck in your wind pipe and came out of your nose later on it now just feels strange and the food may have just scraped the throat and there for gives the feeling of something there .. hope this has helped

Answer 6

If you had aspirated even a small drop of saliva, you would have felt like you were coughing up a lung.

The attempt to clear the food that went down the wrong way is likely to have caused the material to enter your nasopharynx (the part of the throat behing your soft palate, leading into your nose). During coughing, the soft palate will vary in the degree of closure against the posterior wall of the nasopharynx and food or liquid can enter the area (we've all seen liquid- usually milk- come out of a schoolmate's nose when they laugh-- same phenomenon).

The hot feeling you are experiencing when you burp is acid reflux from your stomach rising to your hypopharynx through your esophagus; it's not coming from your lungs.

In neurologically intact persons and those with normal anatomy, food and/or liquid do not enter the airway. If they do, they are readily expelled by the cough reflex. The only exception to this is getting a large chunk of food stuck in the trachea, but that can be cleared by the Heimlich Maneuver.

Relax; you have zero reason to worry about aspiration pneumonia.