What should I do ?
Hi my name is Damian I'm 18 years old and I have a rare illness called Moebius Syndrome which is basically a facial paralysis which means I can't smile,open my mouth fully or move my eyes from left to right.there are also other complications that can occur like clubfeet or deformed hands and feet.Since a long time I have a problem with swallowing food,so I normally don't like go out eating with other people because this swallowing problem gets evident when I eat something.Now a recently joined a new school and so I have many new classmates,one of this new classmates will leave our school at the end of October and a few students have decided to surprise him by taking him and the whole class to a restaurant and eat pizza together,which is a really nice gesture only I'm a bit confused on what to do now because I told nobody that I have problems swallowing food......I really want to go to the restaurant with the other people but at the same time Im afraid to eat something....I was thinking about saying that I was not feeling so good and that I would prefer not to eat anything but then again it will be awkward if I'm like the only one not eating anything.....so I don know what I should do : order a pizza but basically make a fool out of me trying to hide the fact that I can't swallow right or just say I don't feel right and not eat anything.What should I do ?
@LoveCabelloCane29 I am understanding a little, Cane. You want to join them and share a good time, and at the same time, you are afraid that you are not as comfortable with swallowing food as they are.
I have no idea how they would feel about it, but to me, it feels that it is just a problem you carry, not a fault of yours. Your friendly heart and good nature matters.
Hope you come to feel better about it. And wish the problems you carry get better. : )
@LoveCabelloCane29
I can understand a little too. I also have trouble swallowing food but due to a constriction in my throat. The endo doctor doesn't know for sure what causes the constriction, but he thinks it's an allergic reaction. He put a camera and balloon down my throat, but that didn't help. So, it's difficult when I go out to eat as well. I have to have constant water, tea or other liquids to push down the food. Sometimes, it's very painful to have food stuck in my throat with me trying to push it down.
What do you do? Hopefully, there is therapy that can help ameliorate some of the conditions with the syndrome. There are going to be many other situations in your life coming up where you'll have to eat with other people. So, you could miss out on this one, but you won't be able to miss out on them all.
Pizza in particularly is problemmatic for me because it's a popular thing at work. This is one of those things where you have to build a strategy to manage social situations. My recommendation is get the biggest soft drink, tea or water and whatever looks like it's going to be the easiest to eat. Then, casually without drawing attention try to eat the food with a lot of liquid. If you can't, then don't make a big deal out of it. Simply smile, drink the liquid, and don't eat the pizza. If someone asks, then you might say that your stomach is acting a little funny, and you're going to eat it later.
@Darkseed For me it always feels like that the food is getting stucked in my throat and I can't swallow it,I know this probably sounds stupid but what helps me is making certain movements like for example moving my chair or acting like I accidentally drop my napkin so that in case anything happens like I have the situation where I feel like the food is stuck in my throat I can relax for a second and swallow one more time to make sure I swallowed it properly.I probably explained it in a difficult way but to simplify it I make certain movements that my brain believes help me to swallow the food although I'm sure if I would just sit at the table I could also not use this movements and I would be fine,but yeah recently I figured out that this swallowing problem gets worse if I sit in between two people so that I'm blocked in both my sides by people because so I don't have much freedom of movement and that makes me nervous. But yeah the event to go pizza eating was yesterday and I was relieved that many of my classmates didn't eat anything so I joined that group and everything was fine,but you're right at some point I'll have to face this problem.....unfortunately.
@LoveCabelloCane29
No, it does not sound stupid. Please never fear that you sound stupid. You have health related issues like me, and we have to find strategies to get around things. These are legitimate and need to be addressed. The best way to find a solution to a problem is to explain it as candidly and creatively as you can. Congratulations, and please take a moment to thank yourself for getting through the social situation without issues yesterday. It makes perfect sense to me that you have move your body to manipulate your esophagus to swallow food. I'm glad to know that the social event that concerned you went okay. :)
