Many people enjoy chatting, watching TV shows, or playing games while eating. Doctors say that not focusing on eating during meals is very dangerous, as you can easily choke on fish bones.
Eating 2 grains of rice or drinking a little vinegar are unscientific oral methods. If you use these methods, choking on fish bones can become more serious than ever.
Swallowing rice will compress the fish bones with external force, but the more pressure you apply, the deeper the bones will go, causing damage to the esophagus and making it difficult to remove. Because the esophagus has many blood vessels, it is easy to scratch and bleed when pierced by fish bones, and it can also cause infection and nodules.
As for drinking vinegar, its purpose is to soften the bones, but it takes time to be effective. With this method, fish bones will not be softened because they only “touch” the vinegar for a few seconds. Moreover, putting a large amount of vinegar into the esophagus not only does not solve the problem but also can easily irritate the esophagus.
When we accidentally swallow fish bones, the correct way is to cough hard, use a finger to hook the throat, and vomit it out. If you choke on fish bones, no matter how large the bone is, you should ask for help from those around you. Ask them to press the base of your tongue down with a spoon to observe. If you can see it with the naked eye, it means that the fish bone is not deeply stuck and can be removed with tweezers. If the fish bone cannot be seen, you should stay still and go to the hospital immediately.
After the fish bone is removed, you still need to protect your esophagus by avoiding spicy foods and eating easily digestible foods, which help the esophagus recover quickly.
Injury to the esophagus is not a small matter. Minor injuries can cause chest pain and some serious injuries can cause infection and high fever. If the esophagus is punctured, it will cause difficulty breathing, continuous fever, and life-threatening situations.
In general, no matter what foreign object you accidentally swallow, when you feel unwell, you should still seek medical treatment in a timely manner. You should not try to fix it on your own, as it can harm your body and worsen the condition. Therefore, doctors recommend that when eating, especially fish or bone-containing foods, you should focus on eating, avoid joking, and distractions to prevent choking.
