This sounds like a nightmare to me. You are eating and a bit of food goes down “the wrong way.” Instead of going down your esophagus, it goes down your trachea. Most of the time, food that does this gets stuck in our trachea and we are in danger of choking if it is not dislodged. But, can a small piece of food or other object be inhaled all the way into your lungs? Yes, this can happen! And it is no joke.
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Certain foods are notorious for getting stuck in our throats and causing irritation and coughing. Popcorn and peanuts are prime culprits. If a little bit of food gets lodged in the folds of your throat tissues, at the back of your mouth, it will make you cough and gag like crazy until it comes out. But this is not choking. It’s simply a gag reflex and irritation from the foreign body hanging out where it doesn’t belong.
On the other hand, when a piece of food makes its way past your throat and down the wrong hole, your trachea, where air is supposed to go, this can obstruct your airway causing you not to be able to take air into your lungs. This can lead to death.
Foreign Body Aspiration
Here, we are talking about the next step. A piece of food or other small object doesn’t get lodged in your windpipe. It’s small enough that it makes its way down the trachea and into the lungs! If this happens, and the object does not come out on its own, a trip to the emergency room is required.
How would you know that you inhaled an object? You would be coughing relentlessly and wheezing. Your breathing may be noisy, you’d be short of breath, and you’d likely have pain in your chest or throat. You know the old phrase “I feel like I coughed up a lung.” That is what it would feel like. Your lungs would be violently trying to get rid of the foreign object. If you felt the piece of food go down as you “inhaled” it, and it made it all the way to your lungs, you wouldn’t be wondering about it. You’d know.
If you didn’t feel the object that you inhaled go down, typically, you’d know something was very, very wrong with you. At least for a while. And therein lies the true danger.
The medical term for this is “foreign body aspiration.” A medical doctor on Quora described the sequence of events involved, calling it “five fingers.”
1. The food or foreign body gets lodged in the larynx or lower in the lungs. This makes you cough violently for a while. This is the “first manifest phase.”
2. The coughing and other symptoms ease because the body’s reflexes become exhausted. You may think the object has come out and you are in the clear. This is the “first latent phase.”
3. The object blocks a segment of the lungs, causing an infection. You start to experience new signs and symptoms of this infection. This is the “second manifest phase.”
4. Things get better again as the body fights the infection. This is the “second latent phase.”
5. Things go from bad to worse and you end up with lobar pneumonia or a pneumothorax, etc. The third manifest phase.
Death could occur next. Once things have progressed to this stage, and you go to the hospital, a good outcome is not guaranteed. You may well have to undergo surgery and have part of your lung removed. There may well be lifelong complications.
Atypical Situations of Foreign Body Aspiration
There are also cases where things aren’t so typical. It is possible for the initial symptoms to be delayed or to be less severe and more chronic, seeming to mimic other lung conditions like asthma or COPD. Sometimes, a foreign object will be tolerated for a long time and will not seem like a big deal. This case report describes such an incident of foreign body aspiration.
Key Summary Points For “Can You Inhale Food Into Your Lungs?”
- Yes, it is possible for a small piece of food or other object to be inhaled all the way into the lungs. This is called foreign body aspiration and can be very dangerous.
- when this happens, the object may obstruct the airway, causing difficulty breathing and potentially leading to death if not treated.
- If you were to get a piece of food or other foreign object into your lungs, you would know something was seriously wrong, even if you didn’t feel the object go down.
- Symptoms of foreign body aspiration include relentless coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, and chest/throat pain.
- The medical progression can involve 1) initial violent coughing as the object lodges in the larynx or lungs 2) a “latent phase” where symptoms ease as the body’s reflexes become exhausted 3) infection as the object blocks a lung segment and causes new symptoms 4) another “latent phase” as the body fights the infection 5) and finally serious complications like pneumonia or a collapsed lung.
- Without prompt medical treatment, foreign body aspiration can ultimately lead to death.
- It is important to know that In some cases, the initial symptoms may be delayed or less severe, mimicking other lung conditions.
- A foreign object in a lung can also sometimes be tolerated for a long time before causing problems.
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