Menopause & Difficulty Swallowing: A Lesser-Known Symptom You Need to Know About

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:00]If swallowing suddenly feels uncomfortable during the menopause, like food is sticking, your throat feels tight, or you've become unusually aware of every swallow, you are not imagining it. Because surprisingly, this can be an overlooked symptom in the perimenopause and menopause. Now, it's important to say at the start that swallowing difficulties can also have other causes, including neurological conditions, muscle disorders, or structural issues. So, if this has suddenly appeared, if it's getting worse, if it's becoming more frequent, it should always be checked by a doctor first. But once more serious causes have been ruled out, hormonal changes during the menopause can often be behind it.

[00:00:51]So, let me explain why this happens and what can help. So, difficulty in swallowing, feeling like your throat is stuck, is a lesser-known menopause symptom. It And [clears throat] sometimes you don't even connect it, so it can catch you off guard. It's not widely talked about, and it can feel very alarming when it starts because it You might think that you're actually choking when nothing like that is actually going on. So, it can be described as a very tight, restricted restrictive feeling on your throat. You might find that food moves more slowly, or you're having to do more swallows per mouthful just to get the food to move down your throat. Um you might find you're aware of of the the kind of feeling of your throat moving than you ever were before. It could be that you have a constant lump in your throat. You feel as if something is lodged there, even though nothing is there at all. And this is called the globus sensation. Um so it can come and go. It's one of these symptoms that doesn't necessarily just start and and stay with you. It can come and go. You may feel it more um when you're under pressure, when you're tired, when you're more um anxious. You may find that you notice it more with dry foods. You just you can't get the saliva going in your mouth to help you to swallow.

[00:02:26]You might find that it happens when um you're sort of chewing larger bites or or larger lumps of food. You might find when you're just in a rush, when you're having to eat really quickly, it can happen.

[00:02:40]So and it can also create more anxiety.

[00:02:42]So it can become one of these vicious circles. You're anxious before you start eating and that actually compounds the anxiety when it happens. So why does this happen? It's the hormonal changes that are going on, especially estrogen, because estrogen helps to maintain moisture in your mucous membranes. So that's your mouth, um your throat and your esophagus. Your mouth and your throat and your esophagus just feel dry all the time. You might find that it food isn't going down smoothly. It's sort of stopping and starting the whole time. It might be that um you're having problems chewing food and producing saliva.

[00:03:27]Also, when you swallow, the amount of muscles needed to help you to swallow the food, if there's sort of muscle uncoordination going on, even just a tiny little bit, you can notice the whole set sensation much more. It becomes much more less subtle.

[00:03:45]Could be nerve sensitivities, too. We know that falling estrogen can have quite a big impact on the nerves in general. So, you may be aware of things in your throat much more profoundly that there's a much bigger feeling when you're swallowing amounts of food. Um and obviously, as I mentioned before, if your nerves are already a jangle, that can create more anxiety and stress around this. So, the things that you can do to help yourself, water, water, water. Remember that dehydration will affect the mucous membranes anywhere in the body, and that includes the mouth, the throat, and the esophagus. So, plenty of water. You may also find just having a a little mouthful of water and just swill it round your mouth maybe a minute or two before you start to eat. That might help to lubricate things a little bit more.

[00:04:41]You can support the mucous membrane. So, that's things like your sea buckthorn oil. This can be a really useful one to take in this particular condition.

[00:04:52]Adjust the texture of your food. So, if you're in one of these scenarios where it's happening, just try some softer food so that you're not having to chew so much. Make sure maybe that you're cutting up your food into smaller pieces so that you're not having to take so long to chew. Slow down because one of the other things that can happen is the production of saliva in the mouth can decrease or it can take longer to to get going. So, chew really well and chew slowly, and that will help the production of saliva, and it will help everything to get mixed up properly in your mouth so you can swallow things much more easily.

[00:05:34]Don't eat on the run because that's going to have a huge impact because you If you're rushed, if you're in a hurry, you never chew your food properly, and obviously, that's going to make things worse, as well.

[00:05:46]Pause between swallows, too. So, allow the the mouth to get back to normal for a second or two instead of just sort of shoveling in your food one forkful after another. Reduce tension at mealtimes.

[00:05:59]Now, as I mentioned before, this is can become one of these vicious cycles. So, if you're already uptight and anxious because you think it's going to happen again, especially when you're eating out, you know, you might feel much more aware and self-conscious that that something is is going to happen and you're going to be terribly embarrassed.

[00:06:18]So, do the slow deep breathing when you sit down to eat. Just take a second or two to relax, have that little mouthful of water, as well, and very often that can help to calm the nervous system nervous system down and make it less likely to happen.

[00:06:35]So, as I said before, this is one of these situations. It's not connected to the menopause very often. Um a lot of people don't see the the connection or the link between the hormones and and what's going on in in your mouth and your throat. But once you understand what is happening, why it's happening, it makes it much easier to control.

[00:06:58]Just a little reminder, remember if this appears suddenly, if you're getting any pain with it, if it's happening all the time, if you're really having a problem, um if your mouth is so so dry, if it gets to the point where maybe you're starting to choke, you're starting to to be physically sick, obviously double-check with your doctor first.

[00:07:22]So, if you've had this one, what did you do? What things did you do to help yourself? Let me know. Please share your stories because what you say could help someone else down the line, and you know that I love to read your stories. Have a lovely week, and I'll see you soon.