What to do if a fish bone is stuck in your throat. What to do if you have a fish bone stuck in your throat

Meat and fish are healthy and tasty sources of protein and other important chemicals for the normal functioning of the human body. But their use is associated with some danger. If a bone gets stuck in the throat, it can cause irreparable damage to both the larynx and the digestive organs. In some situations, the problem even equates to critical cases requiring emergency medical attention.

What to do if a large fish or meat bone gets stuck in your throat?

Such foreign objects are comparable in degree of danger to swallowed blades or pieces of glass. Large, rigid bones with sharp edges can instantly cut the walls of the esophagus and provoke severe pain.

If large bones (fish, chicken, rabbit, duck and others) get into the throat, it is important to immediately go to surgery or call an emergency medical team. It is strictly forbidden to do any independent manipulations; this can only aggravate the situation and increase the threat to the life of the victim. The likelihood of complications developing in such situations is very high, and delay is too expensive.

What to do if a small fish bone gets stuck in your throat?

Fortunately, more often small and flexible fish bones are retained in the soft tissues of the larynx. This is the most common complaint seen by an otolaryngologist and surgeon.

If a soft, bendable fish bone is stuck in your throat, there is no particular cause for concern, although in this situation it is advisable to consult a specialist as soon as possible. The doctor will carefully and scrupulously examine the larynx; if a foreign body is detected, he will carefully remove it with medical tweezers and treat the microscopic wound.

Sometimes, when examining the throat, the doctor does not detect a bone, but the patient feels symptoms of its presence. This is explained by the fact that damage caused by a foreign object completely simulates its presence. As soon as the wound heals, all unpleasant signs will disappear.

In very rare cases, no more than 7% of all visits to the otolaryngologist, a fish bone gets stuck not in the larynx, but in the esophagus. To detect and remove it, an endoscopic examination is prescribed.

Even if the described foreign object is stuck so deeply that a specialist does not see it, the likelihood of complications is minimal. Inflammation will form at the site where the bone is present, and it will begin to rot. Over time, the capsule with pathological contents will break through on its own or with the help of a surgeon, and the wound will heal without a trace.

Fish is a healthy and satisfying food product, rich in protein, vitamins, minerals and... bones. Unfortunately, this component is the biggest disadvantage of live fish, especially some of its species. Therefore, it is simply necessary to be careful when consuming such fish. But this is not always possible. And the result may be a bone stuck in the throat.

What happens when a bone gets stuck?

First of all, let us note that this happens when a person forgets the old Russian proverb: “When I eat...”. Talking and laughing while eating leads to the fact that a foreign body enters the soft part of the palate, pharynx and causes at least severe discomfort, which is characterized by stabbing pain when swallowing. A person himself cannot always determine the location of a stuck bone. It can be located in the area of ​​the lateral ridges and tonsils, palate and tongue, or penetrate between the tonsil and palatine arch.

The pain will only intensify as the oral mucosa is irritated. Fish bone sometimes causes swelling, inability to breathe normally, and even suffocation. If a fish bone gets into the esophagus, it can result in esophagitis.

A bone stuck in the throat is characterized by increased salivation, vomiting with blood, pain when swallowing and behind the sternum, and a possible increase in temperature. In this case, it is necessary to seek help from an otolaryngologist as soon as possible. Using tools, he will be able to detect and remove a foreign body.

How to remove a stuck bone

Since ancient times, we have received advice from our ancestors on how to eliminate the problem. Their use allows you to independently get rid of a bone accidentally stuck in the throat. These are the methods:

1. Mashed potatoes or juice with pulp. It is not liquid that can push the bone further into the esophagus, but a medium-consistency product, such as thin mashed potatoes or thick juice. This method works if the bone is not very deep.
2. Bread. This is perhaps the simplest and most accessible way to remove bone. It is better to take rye and stale bread, do not chew it too much. In this case, the bread will serve as a pushing agent. But you should be prepared for the fact that this will cause a fracture of the bone or its deeper penetration into the soft tissue.
3. Honey has a liquid consistency. Its use is the lowering of a foreign body into the digestive system.
4. Severe sneezing. It must be called from the injured person. To do this, they give him to sniff black pepper or snuff, if there is one in the house. This method is a protective reflex that helps get rid of a foreign object.
5. Vomit. This is also a protective reflex that needs to be evoked in a person. You can press on the root of the tongue for this purpose. The vomit will push the stuck bone out.
6. Tweezers. If the fish bone is clearly visible, you can try to remove it with tweezers. The instrument is pre-disinfected with an antiseptic. It is better if another person performs the procedure on the victim. To do this, you need to hold your tongue with a spoon, and carefully hook the edge of the bone with tweezers and remove it with a strong jerk. It will be more difficult to do this in front of a mirror. If you have done this, try to be more careful when eating fish in the future. And to be completely sure that there is no piece of bone left in the throat, it is better to go to an appointment with an ENT specialist.

What to do after removing the bone?

If you managed to remove the bone, then immediately after this you need to gargle with infusion of chamomile or calendula. This can be any remedy that has an anti-inflammatory and healing effect. This manipulation is necessary to prevent infection of soft tissues. After all, the wound is formed after the bone is removed in any case. It will continue to make itself felt with pain and discomfort for some time. That is why it is recommended not to eat rough, hot, spicy food for a day or two. It should be soft and warm. You should also avoid drinking carbonated drinks that irritate the throat mucosa.

Fish is one of the favorite and most popular products, so every family includes it in its diet. All people try to give preference to non-bony varieties. This is not surprising, since during the meal a fish bone often gets stuck in the throat. Let's figure it out together what to do in such a situation.

What is the danger of having a bone in the throat?

1. If during a meal a person violates the culture of eating food, for example, laughs or talks with his mouth full, a foreign object will get stuck and cause enormous discomfort. When swallowing, pain is felt, which manifests itself in tingling.
2. Difficulties arise when attempts are made to remove the bone on your own. Often the foreign body is located in the most hidden places, be it the area around the tongue and tonsils or the area of ​​the lateral ridges. Often the bone penetrates deeper, reaching the space between the palatine arch and the tonsils.
3. Any foreign body stuck will cause pain, which intensifies over time and causes irritation of the mucous membranes. In rare cases, a stuck bone from a fish causes suffocation, difficulty breathing, spasms, and swelling. Particular difficulties are observed when a foreign inclusion creeps into the esophagus, causing esophagitis.
4. This disease has the following symptoms: pain when swallowing, severe salivation, unpleasant aching pain in the area behind the chest, vomiting with the presence of blood, fever. If you experience these symptoms, consult your doctor (ENT) immediately. A specialist, using available instruments, will identify the location of the bone accumulation and remove it.
5. If you do not seek help in a timely manner, purulent inflammation may develop, accompanied by intoxication and pain. In the most difficult situations, death was observed. Be careful, in advanced stages surgery may be required.

Ways to eliminate fish bone

There are many options for how to remove a stuck foreign body. These methods have been used for a long time, so there is no doubt about their reliability.

Method 1. Fermented milk drinks
To implement this method into reality, you need to take high-fat kefir or natural drinking yogurt, also high-fat. The bone can go deeper under the pressure of the fermented milk drink. This technique will only work in cases where the foreign inclusion is not located too deep. You can replace the product with mashed potatoes diluted with melted butter.

Method 2. Bread
Our great-grandmothers used this method. If while eating you feel that there is a bone in your throat, take a crust of rye bread. Don't chew it completely, swallow it. Any stale baked goods will also work. It is worth understanding that this method is effective, but in some situations a hard product can cause damage to the mucous membranes and inflammation. Resort to it after you have tried the method of removing bones with kefir.

Method 3. Honey
An excellent product that facilitates the comfortable removal of fish bones is honey. The ideal option is a beekeeping product with a liquid consistency. But if this is not the case, take candied honey and heat it in a water bath until the desired structure is obtained. Cool to an acceptable temperature. Scoop up a teaspoon and slowly swallow the raw material. Muscle work is encouraged. This method will lead to the foreign object descending lower into the esophagus.

Method 4. Candle
If the bone from the fish has not penetrated deep into the throat, and its free edge is visible in the oral cavity, resort to using a wax candle. Melt its reverse side (where there is no wick) while the wax is still wet, bring it to the bone and hold it. When the paraffin hardens, remove the device along with the bone. The method is not particularly difficult, it is painless, but it requires accuracy and good lighting in the room.

Method 5: Sneezing
During the process of sneezing, the swallowing muscles do not tense, but a bone will fly out of the throat. To trigger this reflex, use snuff or crushed black pepper. Such a simple maneuver will lead to the removal of the bone if it is embedded shallowly.

Method 6. Vomiting
This protective reflex helps people with food poisoning and facilitates easy removal of a foreign body from the throat. To induce gagging, simply insert two fingers into the oral cavity and press on the root of the tongue. Vomit will speed up the removal of the bone in the opposite direction.

Method 7. Tweezers
If the free end of the fish bone is clearly visible, and you are absolutely sure that you can remove the foreign body yourself, use tweezers. Treat it with an antiseptic solution, chlorhexidine, vodka or hydrogen peroxide. Make sure the lighting and mirror size allow you to perform the procedure comfortably. Take a tablespoon, press your tongue with it, stand in front of the mirror. Hook the tool on the bone and pull it out.

What to do after bone removal

1. If you have successfully gotten rid of foreign matter, now you need to prepare a solution for rinsing your mouth and throat. Take a tincture of oak bark, calendula or chamomile. Mix with water, take a little warm liquid and start gargling.
2. Now the same thing needs to be done, only with chlorhexidine. It will disinfect the oral cavity and relieve possible inflammation. Chlorhexidine is sold in pharmacies and does not need to be diluted. Buy a non-alcohol solution.
3. In any case, the bone will leave an inconspicuous wound, so you shouldn’t bother your throat. Do not eat hard foods for several days, rely on broths and yoghurts.

What to do if the bone cannot be removed

1. If you are unable to get rid of the bone on your own, under no circumstances should you let things take their course. The foreign body will not disappear anywhere and can provoke the development of serious problems.
2. Be sure to seek help from a specialist. The doctor will help you cope with the task without any problems. It is often possible to remove part of a broken bone.
3. To be completely sure that the problem has disappeared, you need to be examined by a doctor. An ENT specialist or dentist will help solve the problem.

Unacceptable actions

1. It can be noted that fish dishes are quite tasty and enjoyable. Food from river or sea products turns out especially well if it was prepared by a real master. Don't forget about the rules for eating fish. The dish must be chewed thoroughly and swallowed in small portions. Take your time, pay due attention to the dish.
2. In practice, there are still cases when a person follows all the rules for eating such dishes, but the bone still gets stuck in the throat. Often people simply take risks, resorting to not the best, and sometimes quite dangerous methods of removing a foreign body.
3. The situation will turn out for the better if your option did not work and, moreover, did not cause additional damage. Under no circumstances should you strain your throat muscles or try to cough. If the stuck bone pushes into the esophagus, serious problems will arise.
4. Don’t even think about using various tools on your own that supposedly will help get rid of a bone in your throat. Among such devices are a toothbrush, toothpicks, and a fork.
5. Do not massage the outside of your throat where the bone is stuck. Otherwise, such manipulations will lead to irreparable consequences and extensive damage to soft tissues.
6. It is forbidden to leave the problem even for a day. Try to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. Otherwise, the foreign body will cause an infection. The fish bone will begin to rot right in the throat.
7. If you feel that your throat is swollen and breathing is difficult, call an ambulance immediately.

What to do if a bone gets into the esophagus

1. If you have not encountered a similar problem before, then it is worth knowing that the bone is rarely removed, most often it passes further. In practice, this problem can be quite dangerous. A foreign body can harm the mucous membranes of internal organs.
2. If the situation has already occurred, the correct measures must be taken. The bone needs to be sealed with enveloping compounds and products. In this case, negative consequences can be avoided.
3. Flower honey copes with this task perfectly. The bee product will help solve many problems and prevent the spread of infection. If a bone gets into the esophagus, it is recommended to eat honey with a thicker consistency.
4. An alternative remedy can be bananas, marshmallows, peanut butter, butter, and chocolate spread. Such products envelop the mucous membrane of internal organs and protect from damage. The disadvantage of such compositions is that they do not have anti-inflammatory properties. Therefore, it is worth drinking herbal or green tea.

If you get a fish bone stuck in your throat, don’t hesitate. Take decisive action, don't panic. If you doubt your own abilities, immediately contact a specialist. Read the rules about what actions should not be allowed. Follow practical recommendations and try not to get into such situations.

Video: what to do if you have a fish bone stuck in your throat

When I eat, I am deaf and dumb... Why do we remember this folk wisdom only when trouble happens? This expression is very relevant when we eat fish. After all, during a conversation you may not notice the smallest bone. Namely, it can create big troubles for us!

It would seem, what’s so terrible? Well, just think, a bone. I thought so too when I accidentally noticed a slight tingling in my throat after eating fried crucian carp. Since the feeling was not very pleasant, I started reading tips on the Internet on how to remove the bone from the throat.

What haven’t I read! The most harmless method turned out to be the method of removing a fish bone from the throat with a bread crumb or crust. Everyone has known about this since childhood, and I decided to try it. Having swallowed “I don’t want to” from half a loaf of bread (this was after a hearty holiday dinner), I realized that I couldn’t achieve anything this way, and went to look for other recipes on how to remove a fish bone from my throat. Moreover, the second half of the bread simply wouldn’t fit into me anyway.

The following methods seemed rather strange to me: the bone itself will dissolve by morning in an acidic environment (by the way, it has not dissolved), and take it out with tweezers (how to find it?), and gargle with an antiseptic, under the action of muscle contraction it will pop out on its own (gargling, not jumped out). As an option, it was suggested to induce vomiting, but somehow I didn’t like this method.

I considered the following advice to be the most dangerous: melt a candle, stick a bone into it, wait until it hardens and pull it out. I don't think you should do that! Imagine what could happen if this melted paraffin gets into the larynx! Horrible, and that's all. I think this advice was written by our enemies in order to destroy us as a nation.

In short, having tried the method of rinsing and pushing the bone with bread, shining a flashlight into my throat and not finding a bone, I fell asleep with the thought that perhaps it was not a bone, but a scratch. The sensations are similar. But the next morning the tingling sensation was felt in a slightly different place. And I realized that it was still a bone.

I went looking for a working paid ENT specialist, especially since I read on the forum that this is the only option for removing a fish bone from the throat on a day off. As luck would have it, all the ENT specialists I called would either be working tomorrow or in a week, because they were on vacation... My husband suggested going to an ambulance, which I, naturally, immediately dismissed. People there are dealing with serious problems, why bother? distract for nothing…

After a while, I realized that it was becoming difficult for me to breathe. Apparently, some kind of reaction occurred and the tonsils began to swell. That’s when I got scared and called the emergency room. There they explained to me that even the tiniest bone in the throat can cause problems that are not at all tiny. And that you need to call an ambulance, and without delay. This was confirmed in the emergency control room, and 5 minutes later the doctors arrived. They injected me with an antihistamine and took me to the hospital. There I had a fish bone removed (it was behind my tonsils, and the doctor looked for it there for quite a long time; I could never have done it myself). And then I was told many horror stories about fish bones in the throat and the consequences of removing them from the throat yourself.

This story taught me the following: if you don’t see the bone yourself, don’t experiment, don’t look for ways to remove a fish bone from your throat. It turns out that it is necessary call an ambulance. And emergency doctors, if they cannot detect the bone without special mirrors, will take you to where they will help you.

Don't joke with your health!

Aspiration of foreign objects in the larynx poses a great threat to the life of the patient, especially the child’s body, due to the development of stenosis/inflammatory process. Emergency care can be provided at home, but there is a risk of displacement of the fish bone, its entry into the projection of the glottis with subsequent asphyxia. How to remove a fish bone from your throat yourself?

After the fish bone got stuck in the throat, it continues to be held by the folds of the vestibular and vocal apparatus. With involuntary forced exhalations (, sneezing), it moves and is localized in the pear-shaped pockets between the folds and walls of the larynx, less often in the subglottic region.

The nature and severity of symptoms of a bone fragment are determined by its parameters, depth of the lesion, and anatomical location.

The initial period is sudden and manifests itself the following signs:

• redness and cyanosis of the face;
• shortness of breath;
• stenotic breathing with difficulty inhaling;
• voice function disorder;
• which may be accompanied by hemoptysis, vomiting;
• stabbing pain radiating to the projection of the ear;
• localized pain in the chest space during coughing, with sudden movements.

Upon visual examination of the pharynx, a wound site with a fragment of a fish skeleton bone opens. If the bone has moved, there are several damaged areas. In some clinical cases, the palatine tonsils are swollen and hyperemic, the throat is red. If it is impossible to conduct a mirror examination and localize the foreign body, direct laryngoscopy is indicated.

Prolonged aspiration of a foreign object precedes the development of an inflammatory process with local signs of intoxication. Patients report headache, febrile fever, general malaise, and tender lymph nodes.

For reference! When reflex acts are exhausted, a latent course of aspiration of a foreign substance occurs, when the patient does not experience discomfort.

When the fish fragment remains fixed for a long time, there is a threat of granulation, due to which, after scarring of tissue structures, it can develop. A sharp piercing object, when moved, causes superficial or deep damage to the mucous membrane. Consequences of injury there will be the formation of ulcers, perforation of the esophageal wall.

First aid

Before you remove the bone from your throat, it is recommended to evaluate its size, location. Most often, a foreign body affects elements of the lymphoid pharyngeal ring in the projection and oral cavity (palatine tonsils and lateral walls), and the root of the tongue.

Basic principle of emergency care– do not aggravate the primary position of the bone fragment, do not provoke its movement deeper into the esophagus. You must act carefully, starting with atraumatic methods.

Advice! If the bone is clearly visible, you can remove it with tweezers pre-treated with an antiseptic. To avoid damaging the tissue, it is recommended to perform the procedure in good lighting, in front of a mirror, with the tongue pressed tightly against the lower palate.

How to remove a bone from a person's (adult) throat:

1. Inner part of bread (crumb) when chewed, it captures a bone fragment with subsequent disposal from the mucosa. Only suitable for removing small bones.
2. Liquid. When the fish bone is located superficially, water helps displace it.
3. Soft foods: banana, marshmallows, marshmallows, marshmallows, boiled potatoes. They act like a “needle cushion”, envelop foreign substances, and help remove bone. They should be moved around in the mouth, but not washed down with water, and not brought to a mushy state.
4. Rusk. Stale bread should catch the bone and push it further into the gastrointestinal tract, where it no longer poses a health hazard.
5. Vegetable oil, honey. Liquid substances help the fish bone slip into the lower parts of the respiratory tract, where it is completely dissolved under the action of hydrochloric acid.
6. Black pepper, tobacco. Inhalation of volatile components provokes sneezing, when the bone can be released with a stream of air.

These manipulations will be effective and useful for extracting minor bone fragments. Removal of a large foreign body is carried out by an otolaryngologist using bayonet-shaped tweezers or a Hartmann forceps under visual control.

Advice! Young children should not be offered fish in its pure form; it is better to give preference to fish cutlets or fillets.

If a child has a fish bone stuck in his throat, medical attention will be required. The baby is taken to a specialized medical institution, where the necessary conditions have been created for endoscopic procedures under anesthesia. The child must remain upright or sitting at all times. If it is impossible to manually remove a foreign object, a surgical operation is performed.

With a slight violation of tissue integrity, the recovery process will be quick and complete. If the wounds are deep, inflammation persists, As prescribed by the doctor, rinses with antiseptic agents or herbal decoctions.

Conclusion

Now you know what to do if a bone gets stuck in your throat. When localizing small fish fragments, a person can be helped with the help of available products and simple actions. However, there is a risk of aggravating the severity of the initial injury, so the best option would be to initially entrust the removal of the fish bone to a qualified specialist.