Chest pain when eating rice.

Not an allergy - the glutinous rice is getting lodged in your esophagus.

Make sure you chew the hell out of the rice and eat slowly. Raising your arms vertically over your head can also help change the shape of the esophagus and help the rice pass through. Drinking liquid with dinner can help.

My older brother suffered this problem and had to have a balloon inflated and stretched his esophagus, twice. If you can't solve the problem then see a doctor about it; his was called a Hiatal hernia.

Cheers and good luck.

Cycloptichorn

Finally, an answer that makes sense. Have been dealing with this for several years. Thank you, thank you, thank you. and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I've never heard of such a thing. Have you eaten other grains or stuff of the same size and consistancy? Just asking out of curiosity, and hoping to eliminate or confirm rice as the culprit.

Yep, just the rice. No problem with anything else.

could be acid reflux.
in the past i've had a couple of painful episodes after eating white rice and washing it down with soda...

Meantime, welcome to a2k, susief.

http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/hiatal-hernia

seek professional advice from a physician

I've had the same isssue. I'm fine if I mix it with something, but if I eat just white rice quickly, I'll get that chest pressure you describe.

I too have this problem and is ONLY with rice. never have any other kind of swallowing problem with any other food, and never have heartburn. The pain is so horrible it is debilitating. its crazy.

Raise both your arms above your head - it's the quickest way to get the blockage to pass.

Cycloptichorn

There may be problem in the rice that you intake ...
Avoid having that till you gets fine ..

I also have this issue and have for years. Recently I was listening to a friend describe conditions she had that lead to a simple blood test on levels of her tyroid production. I had the EXACT same results the biggest being weight gain and difficulty eating rice. I used to think I was just eating fast. Well I had the blood test and sure enought..I have a thyroid problem!!!

I also have that problem. Half the time I get over it in about 30 minutes, other times I actually start sweating and have to throw up. I'll try the chewing the heck out of the rice and see what happens. I can't give up my Chinese food.

OMG!!! I too suffer from this. I thought it was just another weird thing about me. I don't think anything is stuck in my esophagus cause it only happens with rice and it usually happens right after the first bite. It feels like when I'm allergic to something but if I breathe slowly I can usually get over it. I'm going to talk to the doc about the thyroid thing but I just had my annual check up and I was given the green light, so I dunno...

Yeah, I forgot to write when I initially responded to this post that I suffer from this problem somewhat too. It's gotten better over time. I'm 100% positive it's glutinous rice getting stuck - mine almost always happens after the first couple of bites as well, and there's always a moment where I can just sort of feel it pass.

Cycloptichorn

I too have this problem. My solution was to forego eating rice for a while. So tonight we had Chinese food tonight and I took some rice and chewed it extremely well before swallowing and had no problem. My other thought was that the rice that caused pain upon swallowing may not have been cooked enough. It seemed dry, as if it was trying to absorb liquid as it made its way down my throat.

I too have this problem. In fact, I just suffered from an extremely painful and scary bout of it. About 15 minutes ago, I got home and popped some left over Chinese food into the microwave. It was my girlfriends leftovers from lunch earlier in the day, which was in the fridge and cold before microwaving.

Anyhow, the rice was extremely dry and hard. I took about 5 bites and had to stop from the pain increasing. I waited and it got worse. I took a drink of iced tea and it absolutely made it worse! I assume that I ate too much, too fast and the dry rice got clogged in the bottom of my esophagus near the top stomach flap and by adding the drink of tea, it compounded the issue by filling the rest of the esophagus up with liquid.

It was so ungodly painful, I panicked, ran out on to the porch and made my self vomit whatever was in the esophagus. All of the rice and tea came out and I instantly felt better. I should note: While a lot of people don't "like" to throw up and find it uncomfortable, I have a genuine phobia of it. I haven't thrown up in 13 years yet the pain tonight was so great, I welcome it and needed it.

If you suffer from rice pre-indigestion, I feel for you!

I just had a bad attack while we were starting to have rice (with yoghurt) for breakfast. Not glutinous rice - it was Basmarti rice. It was severe enough to be a heart attack, but slightly more in the upper chest than right over my heart. It spread to my back.

I've had it before enough to clearly link it to starting to eat rice. We don't often have rice even though it is an ideal staple because I've learned to regard it with distrust without any idea why.

The idea that it is sticking in the esophagus doesn't quite ring true because it doesn't happen with anything else. Maybe something about the grain structure is hard for the gullet swallowing reflexes to handle. I'm trying to think of any other foods that have this type of structure. Thinking of nuts which we eat lots of.

It doesn't seem like an allergic reaction - no histamine response.
Definitely not gastro-esophageal reflux - not that sort of thing at all.

When it happens, quite apart from the pain, I have to talk myself through it as to whether or not it is a heart attack. Today I wanted to have a mouthful of fluid but couldn't get through the pain enough to pick up my cup and drink a mouthful. My husband was with me which I was glad of and I could tell him what was going on. My vision was also spinning somewhat.

I wonder about Chinese acupuncture - energy meridians. Far-fetched.

I do have quite a severe thyroid underfunctioning (Hashimoto's) but this links to food craving and lethargy and weight gain. You'd have to explain the mechanism.

I can relate to just about every post on this board. We all have the same problem. Rice, for me it is mainly white rice. When it goes bad like it did once again today for me ,it's bad real bad. I think what happens is the rice is sticky and starts to get stuck but before you realize it's happening you just took one bite too many and now it is all piling up. It's a log jam and liquid only adds to the problem. My natural reaction is to continue to swallow (not food,Just air) which I can't seem to stop ,it just seems like it compacts the already jammed up situation. It has always eventually passed but while I'm in the middle of it it does cross my mind that it could cause me to have a heart attack or just pass out and die. I have thrown up from it and it also seems that my body is having trouble throwing it up because it's all stuck in there. Nothing but time seems to solve the the very scary situation. I think drinking before I eat rice helps. Its the dry throat and the rice and like others it's the first 1-3 bites that starts it. It doesn't always happen though and I eat a lot of rice, I know if I would just eat very slow in beginning it most likely would not happen . I think the only real solution is just to not eat rice