6 hours Ago By Prerna Mittra
"I popped the pill into my mouth, took a sip of water, and then felt my breath catch," the veteran actor recalled the horrific moment that made her feel helpless. In a social media post shared earlier this week, actor Zeenat Aman opened up about a rather horrific episode that led to quite a lot of panic and stress. The 73-year-old mentioned that she almost suffocated on her tablets one night.
"At the risk of sounding like an old lady suffocating on her tablets, allow me to share with you what happened last night," she began her post that accompanied a glamorous and fashionable photograph of hers, in which she posed in a yellow-and-grey-coloured gown with a matching cape. "It was the end of a long day of shoot at a studio in Andheri East. I had returned home.
..and.
..had swiftly gone through my night rituals.
My very last task before I could surrender to sleep was to take my blood pressure medication ," Aman wrote, adding that she was home-alone at that time. Naturally, the harrowing episode that followed left her in a state of absolute panic. "I popped the pill into my mouth, took a sip of water, and then felt my breath catch.
There it was, this little pill lodged in my throat. Too far down to regurgitate and too far up to swallow. I could still breathe, but it was restricted.
I took another drink of water, and then another and another, until the glass was empty but the pill remained stuck," the actor recalled, adding that there was nobody at home with her, other than her dog and five cats. "..
.panic began to set in." Pills and medicines can get stuck in the throat due to various reasons.
An incorrect swallowing technique -- wherein one swallows the tablet/pill without enough water, or does not wait for the pill to dissolve in the mouth before swallowing -- can cause it to get stuck. Other than that, it also depends on the size and shape of the pill. Large or irregularly-shaped pills can be difficult to swallow and may get stuck in the throat.
A dry mouth can make it harder for pills to slide down the throat, too, increasing the risk of them getting stuck. If one is anxious or stressed, swallowing a pill can be difficult as their throat muscles are not fully relaxed. It should be noted that certain throat conditions, such as a narrow esophagus or a history of throat surgery , can also increase the risk of pills getting stuck there.
Nonetheless, it can be quite a dangerous thing, which can also turn fatal in extreme cases. The risks include choking , if the pill blocks the airway; esophageal obstruction , leading to severe chest pain, difficulty swallowing, and potentially life-threatening complications; aspiration , if the pill is dislodged and enters the lungs, it can cause aspiration pneumonia; and esophageal damage , including cause irritation, inflammation, or even perforation of the esophagus. "The doctor's number was busy, and so I made frantic calls to [son Zahaan Khan], who abandoned his plans to rush over.
As I waited for him, the discomfort in my gullet grew. I could think of nothing but that deviant pharmaceutical robbing me of easy breath. There's no dramatic ending to this story," the ' Yaadon Ki Baaraat ' actor wrote.
"Zahaan landed up, we finally got through to the doctor who said it would dissolve in time, and I spent the next few hours sipping warm water and waiting," she stated. The following morning, the actor awoke "feeling a little sheepish about the ordeal". "But, having been through it I feel the need to contrive a metaphor from the experience.
There will always be difficult times in one's life that demands less action and more patience. The pill is a metaphor for that situation. It was all I could think about, its discomfort was intense, I sought solutions from others, but ultimately all I could do was practise patience and control over my own fears.
And then when it dissolved -- it was good for me," Aman shared. var firstScrolled3 = false; window.addEventListener("scroll",(event) => { if(!firstScrolled3) {window.
_taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: "thumbnails-m", container: "taboola-mid-article-thumbnails", placement: "Mid Article Thumbnails", target_type: "mix" }); firstScrolled3 = true; } }); She concluded her post by writing that sometimes it is 'important to tackle an issue head-on'.
"To confront, challenge, change. But sometimes, a situation requires those other softer acts of patience, restraint and equanimity." It is important to minimise the risk of pills getting stuck in the throat by doing the following:.
