Aspiration?

Late yesterday afternoon, I think I inhaled something down the wrong pipe.

The something was either from reflux, as I was bending over at the time, or a small piece of a white chocolate Lindt ball that maybe I hadn't swallowed. That was the last thing I had in my mouth, anyway. But bending over causes reflux and I am not sure what happened, except I choked a bit.

I coughed and coughed. Nothing came up. I went about my business. I kept coughing sometimes, but it felt funky in there, and still does.

I can breathe, and I can eat, and I can talk. I drank a cup of hot water (on the theory that if it's a piece of Lindt chocolate, the hot water should melt it, right?) and that set off my sinuses, and they drained. I coughed more. My husband beat me on the back a lot (I need the chiropractor now).

This morning when I woke up, my jaw was locked because I took the mouth guard off to ensure I was breathing ok. So, there I was with my jaw locked, hacking away, and spitting up hoping something would come out. 

But nothing did. I can't tell if it's an aspiration or if something scratched my throat. I have had a sinus infection and still have sinus drainage, so some of it could be from that. I just know I'm uncomfortable.

My jaw has unlocked, but it is quite sore. I ate a scrambled egg (something soft) and found eating made the weird feeling worse. As long as I stay quiet, I seem to be ok, but every now and then if I take a deep breathe, there's that weirdness again.

I put in a call to my doctor to be on the safe side, but I haven't heard back from her. I don't consider it an emergency, and I definitely don't want to go to the emergency room for this, but I also don't want to end up with pneumonia because something went down the wrong way.

What a weird thing to be dealing with on a Wednesday morning.