It feels like there's a knot in my chest whenever I swallow?

Perhaps call your doctor that is the best thing to do. It could be anything I think the answers here would be guess work at this point. I hope you get better soon.

Could you describe the knot some more? My initial reaction is it’s really bad stomach acid. Have you been burping the water easily?

Also, would you describe it purely as chest pain?

Just whenever something passes it there’s a sharp pain that lingers for a few seconds then goes away until the next time I swallow. I haven’t been burping up water or anything. I don’t think it’s chest pain. It has to be in my throat because it’s only there when I swallow.

Also, I think I’ll wait a while before calling a doctor. It hurts to swallow, but I can still do it though. I’ll go if I can swallow anything. Solid food hurts it the most.

Sounds like a sore throat. Might be strep in which case you would need antibiotics. Go to the doctor.

Anything that potentially interferes with your ability to swallow or breath should be taken with some degree of seriousness. If your throat got so inflamed that it closed up you could be in a life-threatening situation. I’d see a doctor sooner than later.

Okay, my dad said he would check me out tomorrow. He’s working so he can’t do it right now. I’m going to rest right now to see if that helps.

Since this is described as an acute condition (from today), and you did pull the muscle in your back recently, I’m going to guess that these are related issues. I think I may have done the same thing a year or two ago, but the memory is hazy now. I recall having the “knot above my stomach” feeling, and I think I was dealing with a back strain at the time, too.

My guess is that in compensating for the pulled back muscle, you’ve aggravated one of the esophagus muscles that aids in swallowing, and now you’re dealing with that inflammation, too. When things like this happen to me, I just try to relax about them. (It used to be that every headache I had was brain cancer, every stomach ache was food poisoning, every change in heart rate was a heart attack, etc. I don’t worry so much any more, and problems generally go away when I relax and let them.)

If the problem gets worse, then by all means see a physician. But as it seems to be muscle-related, my own non-medical advice would be to get a good night’s sleep tonight and see how you feel in the morning. I’m betting if you get up early enough you’ll actually enjoy a good breakfast.

I had an esophageal stricture that gave me similar symptoms; I agree that you show probably see a physician.