Dear Reader,

Although it may seem funny, swallowed objects send thousands of folks to the emergency room every year. The most immediate threat is that the object will become lodged in the esophagus (the tube through which food travels from the mouth to the stomach) or the trachea (part of the airway that connects your mouth and nose to your lungs), interfering with swallowing or breathing, respectively.

If you have difficulty breathing or feel as though you are choking after swallowing anything (food or not), seek immediate medical attention. The Heimlich Maneuver can dislodge objects that are blocking a person's airway. It takes minutes to learn, and even small children can use the technique to save a life.

If the object reaches the stomach without getting stuck along the way, it'll probably continue its journey through the digestive tract, leaving you none the worse for wear when it "passes" — usually in four to six days. You can monitor this process by checking your stools for the object. However, see your health care provider if:

• the object has sharp or irregular edges (e.g., pins, pen caps, or fish bones).
• you feel as though something is stuck in your throat or it hurts to swallow.
• you experience fever, vomiting, or abdominal pain.
• the object is corrosive or toxic. Small batteries (the kind found in watches and hearing aids), especially tempting to children, can cause serious damage in no time.
• a child has swallowed a foreign object — children's smaller digestive tracts have less room for foreign objects to safely pass.
• the object (swallowed by an adult) is larger than a quarter.
• you don't find the object on "poop patrol" within a week.

Less commonly, objects that fail to pass on their own, or that pose additional threats, such as infection or perforation (poking holes in the digestive tract), may need to be removed either endoscopically (with a special scope that can be guided from the mouth into the stomach or from the anus into the intestine) or, in rare cases, surgically.

Alice