Strangled feeling around my throat

Hi Beermat 

Sorry to hear your husband is having problems. 
The reason is fibrosis( which is scarring). Scar tissue is inelastic and you can’t relax that. What you can do is keep massaging to loosen it as his consultant has suggested but you need to be rigorous and do it properly. Can you get a referral to a physio specialising in this? 
Are you anywhere near Northants? They have an excellent late effects clinic. 
The numbness is due to nerves being cut during surgery. Nerves don’t grow back after such a long time. 

Did he have radiotherapy as well?  I had 2 neck dissections and found numbness and tightness. 

The numbness, at this stage, is probably what he had to live with.  It no longer worries me.

For tightness doing exercises may help as will keeping it moisturised (E45 or Aloe Vera gel).  I also find that a hot shower with the water playing on my neck also frees it up in the morning.

In all honesty at my stage none of this worries me.  It is part of life going forwards.

Get him to mention it at his next review so they can check it out properly.  There is a very, very remote chance that it is a tumour.  I have a very unusual cancer journey but in 2023 I thought I had scar tightness in my dissection and it was a tumour forming.  I reiterate this is very unusual and my case/journey is quite unique, but it is worth asking the question.

Hi Beermat

Dani has explained the reason for your husbands discomfort.  I am three years down the line since jaw surgery and neck dissection and I still have the tightness in neck area, along with numbness and weird feeling in face and ear. 
I religiously do face and neck exercises every day which although not improved things I am sure prevents from getting any worse, also I find like Peter that the shower on neck area or even just a hot face cloth helps in the mornings. I apply E45 cream with a gentle massage and at night Bio-oil.  I accept as part of life now, and although a bummer I don’t let it worry me.  I hope things improve for your husband.

June

Hi Beermat,

I’m going to say my experience in the hope that it’s helpful as it’s something slightly different than the other replies. I’m not sure if your husband felt the strangling sensation straight after surgery or if it has slowly started happening, in which case the other replies will be more relevant than mine but I thought I’d mention this in case it helps.

I felt “strangled” the minute I woke up from my neck dissection surgery, so mine wasn’t scar tissue. I told my consultant there and then in hospital and have been telling him every time I see him (now nearly 2 years out!) And like yours yes he has just kept saying... give it time and yes it will be tight, you had an awful lot of tissue removed!

In the first year it was the hardest thing to get used to. Absolutely awful. I could understand the pain I had in other areas but this strangling mentally was torture. So hard for others to imagine too.

I’ve tried every intervention you can think of, nerve blocking drugs, complimentary therapies, including very strong CBD oil and I’m afraid nothing helped me. That doesn’t mean it won’t help your husband though, we are all individuals.

But I can tell you on a positive note, that now my brain seems to have adapted to the feeling and I am no longer thinking about it 24/7 and obsessing about it. Yes there are times when it gets worse, when it is cold especially but I wear scarves/polo necks all the time and use heated bean bags around the front of my neck. I also massage the sides constantly as they are very tight and I think that pulls the skin across my windpipe, hence the strangling feeling.

I’ve researched it to death over the last 2 years and come across a few who have this feeling straight from neck dissection surgery and there doesn’t seem to be much intervention. But just do have hope that the brain is incredibly adaptable and it will learn not to focus on it quite so much. Distraction is definitely the key for me. I hardly think about it when I’m out with the dog. I have also recently started anti-depressants and find myself in a much better state mentally to cope with it, rather than it getting me down. This may have a bearing on it, so if your husband suffers from low mood/depression aswell it might be worth talking to your GP? It’s taken this long but I also seem to have at last accepted this is a kind of pay off for still being alive if that makes sense. But I do understand how he feels, it’s absolutely dreadful.

Anyway I hope this is of some use. Best wishes.

Amanda.

Hi Amanda

Yes my husband felt the same from the very beginning after having the operation. We was told it will get better when the scar softens it will loosen but it has not. He is just getting over the flu and had a really sore throat with it. The tightness in his throat felt even worse. He feels like its closing up. It's definitely getting him down and the more anxious he gets the tighter his throat feels. It seems worse in the evening. I thought if I could find something that would relax his mind and muscles it may help (ie CBD). Have you been on a plane since the operation? Hes quite anxious about this too with the air pressure and his tight throat. He always wakes up with a sore throat in the morning which he's taking acid reflux tablets for and a liquid before meals. He's throat is still sore so we are going back to see a gastrologist again. Did you experience this too? I've been researching and found one person had a revised scar operation and it took the sensation away. We are seeing our consultant to express our concerns again. I will ask for a physio referral to help breakdown the scar tissue. I did also see a post that laser helps with the breakdown of scar tissue too somewhere. My husband thinks he's been stitched up too tight that's giving him this strangled feeling. I'm glad you have responded, Thank you. 

Thank you for your reply

Hi 

No he didn't have radiotherapy, thanks for your reply

Hi, I’m sorry he’s had this since the surgery aswell. I’ve not felt any difference with time either, even though I’ve religiously massaged and moisturised since I got home and my consultant said I was doing a good job and the scar was soft and pliable! I’ve been having deep tissue massages too and even acupuncture for a while. The NHS physio I went to wouldn’t do any manual massage, I found a private one that did. I don’t have much money but would throw anything to get rid of this. It relieves the tension a bit but not the strangling.

Mine tends to relieve a bit when I rest my head, so against pillows in the lounge or if I’m in bed. I think my neck muscles are weak now after surgery and as they strain during the day, they get tighter and this makes the strangling worse? I wonder if it is the same for your husband? I’m working with a private physio on strengthening.

My neck was quite skinny and I did have to have alot of cancerous tissue removed, so my consultant did suggest perhaps that was why I was feeling this more?!

Yes I recently had a virus with a really sore throat and it all felt terrible. I too wake up with a dry sore throat most mornings. I tried a humidifier for a while, have you tried one?

I have definitely found the anti depressants have helped my anxiety too, so that may be an option you’d want to look at? As I said they've really stopped my thoughts spiralling down about it. In hindsight i took far longer than I should've done before I went on them. My upbringing held me back but I can see that's nonsense now and I feel so much more able to cope.

No I haven’t been on a plane since my surgery, so I can’t help you there sorry.

I’d be interested to hear what your consultant says about the revised scar operation, do let me know.

Sometimes it helped me just to know I wasn’t alone. Hope your husband feels this too. X

Hi Amanda

I was thinking his sore throat was from a dry mouth. I think he sleeps with his mouth open and sometimes the window. I will try the humidifier and see if it helps (luckily I have one). I'm wondering if he's taking acid reflux tablets for no reason. Did the humidifier help you? I really feel for you and my husband, I hate to see him feeling so uncomfortable hence researching to see if there is anything out there to help or cure this horrid feeling. Have you tried laser? Was the manual massage helping with the tightness but not the strangling feeling? I think some medication to help with his anxiety may help him too. I will attach the post I found re the scar review. I took a screenshot of it. I will let you know what the consultant says if I can help you in any way. The evening does seem to be worse as I think he's tired. He's also a electrician so his neck is quite often straining from his job x

Beermat said:

Have you tried laser?

Now that's thought. Photobiomodulation or PBM it's called. Ask about it