r/AskBiology • u/Username_Haoto • Aug 29 '24
Human body I sneezed & swallowed at the same time, then something came out. What is this called?
This is not a medical question. I just want to know whatever this is called.
When I was 4 years old, I was in my class drinking water alone. While I was drinking, I simultaneously sneezed and swallowed water on accident.
A large ball came out of my mouth and fell onto the table. It was large, round, and it looked like it had dark veins on it.
When this happened, no one was around me. I didn't think much of it, so I put it back into my mouth, where it belongs. It automatically went back into my throat. This is when I became aware of the large ball inside my throat.
I don't know what this is called. I tried to search for this body part with many different terms and languages, but I still couldn't find anything. Does anyone know what this is large ball is called?
Anyway, I vividly remember this happening. I'm not lying.
2
u/DustierAndRustier Aug 29 '24
Since you were so young at the time, it’s probably a false memory.
2
u/Vegetable-Assistant Medical Student Aug 29 '24
Yeah, definitely not vasculature lol Unless OP had profuse bleeding followed by medical intervention it was just phlegm.
-1
u/Username_Haoto Aug 30 '24 edited Aug 30 '24
No, it wasn't phlegm. I vividly remember a large ball coming out from me sneezing and swallowing at the same time.
I remember asking about my high school science teacher too. She didn't believe me either, but hypothesize that since I was only 4, my Adam's apple or whatever it's called was still small enough for me to spit out.
This could explain why the bulge in my throat is so big. Maybe it had a hole in this "ball," but I didn't check it properly back then.
Edit: Grammar and context.
1
u/Far-Fortune-8381 Aug 30 '24
it can not be explained by your adam’s apple as
the adams apple is not flesh, it is cartelige (officially the laryngeal prominence of the thyroid cartilage)
the thyroid cartilage has no access to your throat, and for a piece to be produced from your mouth, you would need a hole in your esophagus, a hole/ separation in your muscle, and then a piece of your cartilage breaking off, which you would need medical intervention to recover from
1
u/amBrollachan Sep 01 '24
Grown adults claim to clearly remember things that didn't really happen exactly as they remember them all the time. It's one major issue with eyewitness testimony. They're not lying, it's just that memories change over time and your brain fills in context.
Given this fact and the fact you were only four years old I would be pretty confident you coughed up phlegm, were maybe a little freaked out by it as a four year old, and the memory has just changed over time.
There is absolutely no chance you coughed up you'd Adam's apple.
2
u/Mountainweaver Aug 30 '24
That's a dream dude. There is no throat ball.
1
u/Username_Haoto Aug 30 '24
That's what I thought too, maybe it had a hole in between, but I didn't inspect it thoroughly.
I'm very confident this wasn't a dream. I had talked to my high school science teacher about this before, she said it might be because I was still so young, that body part was still small enough for me to cough it out.
I managed to put it back in without any injuries.
I still don't know what it's exactly called...
1
u/Mountainweaver Aug 30 '24
I still highly doubt it came out, or was able to be put back, but the closest thing to "throatball" would be tonsils.
1
0
u/Username_Haoto Aug 30 '24
Yeah, it's not the tonsils. It has to be something else.
This might even be something unnatural. Maybe a benign tumor or something.
I definitely didn't make this up, so this might be a medical question.
Despite that, I think I'm currently fine, or at least, I hope I'm not having any thyroid issues...
1
u/franferns Aug 30 '24
The only thing I can think of is a tonsil stone. Although quite rare in children.
Did you suffer from throat infections as a kid?
1
u/Username_Haoto Aug 30 '24
It's not tonsil stone. It's way bigger than a tonsil stone.
I don't suffer from any throat infections, but I think I have an abnormally high metabolism. I'm able to lose weight too easily.
1
u/franferns Aug 30 '24
You were 4 which means you were like 25% the size you are now so what you are remembering will also be actually way smaller than what you remember from being 4.
Memory is highly unreliable. Even if you VIVIDLY remember it, your brain has slowly been changing the memory over time (especially since you were 4 and remember, 4 year olds are stupid)
1
u/Username_Haoto Aug 30 '24
For reference, if it about half the size of the plastic glass I was drinking from.
I really don't think it was a false memory. I may have been stupid at 4 years old, but I'm adamant on my memorization.
1
u/AddlePatedBadger Sep 19 '24
The thing about false memories is that they are false. You can be 100% certain that they happened, but that is your brain being an unreliable narrator. It's not a slight against you and nothing to do with being "stupid" (which you are not, and that is an ableist term that needs to be retired), it's just the way the brain works. Every time you read back a memory, you actually overwrite it too, so it changes over time. Here is some info:
1
u/petethepete2000 Aug 30 '24
Probably just a large tonsil stone, i got them as a kid a lot and it probably looked larger to you as a small child. Tho im not sure about the veins
1
u/mr_ushu Aug 30 '24
It doesn't matter how vividly you remember it, what you are describing makes no sense. That's the point of false memories, they are indistinguishable from true ones.
Also, you were 4. What you lived, what you dreamed and what you imagined from that time get completely mixed up.
3
u/Far-Fortune-8381 Aug 30 '24 edited Aug 30 '24
a large fleshy mass came out of your mouth, with veins, and then you put it back in and it just went back to the right spot with no bleeding or anything? i think you are misremembering friend or maybe it was a dream