Seeing the words “Laryngeal spasm” in a newspaper headline was so
exciting! I’ve never found any useful advice on the
Internet about those seizures where the throat abruptly shuts up tight. Every scientific paper I found mentions the
word “terrifying” – which is pretty accurate.
When I get one, there’s nothing to do but try to relax, which is
impossible, sit or lie down in case I’m going to pass out, and wait a minute or
two. You’ll be happy to learn that so
far I haven’t had a fatal one. The newspaper’s medical column is carried Mondays on the comics page (not really a good location), written by a Dr. Roach (not really a fortuitous patronymic.) But the question sent in by a reader looked useful – this guy started having them in his 30s, just as I did. And the only comment he got from his doctor was “My mother gets them too.”
Wait a minute! Is that a standard
line they teach in med school? Because
that’s what my doctor said, so many years ago.
At which point I looked at the signature – the letter came from E.
L. Oh well, I must have written to Dr.
Roach, and maybe not so long ago. For
once I’m on the other end of a q&a column!
So what useful information did I get from the good doctor, whose
email address, which I must have used, is
at Cornell University EMT specialist advise me to “whistle
in.”
Both fairly difficult when one can’t
breathe at all.
There seems to be a singing group called The Laryngospasms and here’s their melodious
youtube number called "Breathe" -- it's a slightly different situation – but yes -- it
includes the words “think you’re going to die.”
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