subject: The Relationship Between Strong Emotions And Lump That Forms In The Throat [print this page] Sometimes you suddenly have a lump in the throat and it prevents you from breathing. You want to cry out loudly and you cannot as the lump obstructs. In fact, we have this lump when we are on the verge of some emotional outburst. We have physiological explanations for such situations.
When we are forcing our throat to perform two actions at a time, it creates this sensation of a lump so that one of the actions gets obstructed. So, this is nothing real. There's no need to worry.
When we become overtly emotional, we grow the fight-or-flight state in our body chemistry. The two opposite actions are triggered at the same time and the body may choose just one. Your glottis needs to be closed but it also has to expand itself. What a contradiction!
One of the two actions happening at that time is the result of the pumping of our heart. Lungs need more air at that time and so vocal cords stretch wide open and oxygen goes inside.
Have you seen where the glottis is? The glottis is like a valve in the middle of our larynx. When we swallow something this valve closes. When we take breath, this valve opens up. This is how the glottis works.
As vocal cords and the glottis are directly related to each other's actions, when vocal cords expand, the glottis is also affected. During screaming, they get larger and during swallowing the opposite happens. This is why we have the sensation of a lump.
When we take deep breath, the glottis has to expand. So, when we are trying to stop crying, the emotional outburst also forces to have a deep breath. This is when we have a lump.
So, you have the lump when you are trying to stop crying by swallowing the tears through glottis. At the same time glottis wants to expand itself to get more oxygen so that there could be a boost of energy in the blood. So, these two opposite activities give you the unique sensation.
