Inhaled fingernail? Is it possible?

[AbeLinkedIn]

Hey everyone, it's me once again after what seems like eons since I last posted. I'm currently in a state of panic not over recent health scares in the mainstream but over the possibility I inhaled something that I shouldn't.

So earlier in the day I was biting one of my fingernails and while laughing at a joke my brother had told me, I had breathed in and the nail I was about to spit out had went to the back of my throat. I immediately started coughing but didn't see the nail, and it was a decent size. Of course I had to Google and while some posts calmed me down, I read a story of a woman who inhaled a pin and almost died, needing complicated surgery because it reached her lungs.

Now I know that sounds farfetched but to someone like me in a panicked state where I ask myself why didn't I notarize a will, I'm scared to think of it. Now I've coughed up phlegm and my chest hurts (From the coughing likely) but I can breathe and swallow just fine without feeling like there's something stuck. What are the odds this thing is either in my airways right now waiting to kill me or it somehow made it out and in my digestive tract?

In other words, how screwed am I?

 

[AbeLinkedIn]

Nothing? Should I take the lack of responses as a good sign?

 

[bin_tenn]

You're fine. People accidentally swallow all sorts of things every day, nothing to be concerned about.

 

[TruthHurts]

Nothing? Should I take the lack of responses as a good sign?

You probably didn't suck it into your lung. Let me tell you a story last month I was drinking a protein shake the powder that I have doesn't hand mix the best. I was about to finished it then noticed at the bottom of the cup there was some of the protein powder it looked wet so I didn't think anything of it and scooped it up with the spoon and put it in my mouth. I guess it was still dry powder and I breathed it into my lungs. That scared me! I could totally smell the protein powder when I would breath maybe it was in my nose I ended up trying to cough it up for like 30 minutes until my throat was hurting. Anxiety is very cruel!

 

[AbeLinkedIn]

Update: I'm still a bit worried but not as much as I was when I made the post. I've been coughing up phlegm and I feel like something's coming and going in my throat, but I can swallow, breathe, and talk just fine and no fever (Basically no signs of aspiration pneumonia). I don't think it would have gotten to my lungs but what's bothering me is when I coughed up a storm yesterday, I never saw the nail come out, so how do I know it went down my esophagus instead of my windpipe?

 

[Free angels]

Update: I'm still a bit worried but not as much as I was when I made the post. I've been coughing up phlegm and I feel like something's coming and going in my throat, but I can swallow, breathe, and talk just fine and no fever (Basically no signs of aspiration pneumonia). I don't think it would have gotten to my lungs but what's bothering me is when I coughed up a storm yesterday, I never saw the nail come out, so how do I know it went down my esophagus instead of my windpipe?

What ever ended up happening? I am currently experiencing the exact same thing. I feel like I inhaled a piece of finger nail and the last couple days I have been coughing and I am concerned please help.

 

[Free angels]

What ever ended up happening? I am currently experiencing the exact same thing. I feel like I inhaled a piece of finger nail and the last couple days I have been coughing and I am concerned please help.

Sorry nobody was able to help you. It has actually been almost a week for me and the day or two after I woke up to a sharp pain in my throat and it started producing mucus like crazy I assume to help me get it out but I don’t think it did. I’m worried I have been coughing so much I’m going to cause damage. I don’t know what to do.

 

[E.B]

If it helps any one, I've chewed and swallowed fingernails throughout my whole life and nothing has ever happened. You are ok definitely.

 

[Doug97]

I very much doubt it's got into your lungs without you feeling it. Anyway, a fingernail is nothing like a steel pin. It's made of protein that softens when immersed in liquid, so it won't stay sharp, plus your lungs have enzymes called proteases that digest protein, so it wouldn't stay stuck forever, it would gradually dissolve.

 

[Free angels]

I very much doubt it's got into your lungs without you feeling it. Anyway, a fingernail is nothing like a steel pin. It's made of protein that softens when immersed in liquid, so it won't stay sharp, plus your lungs have enzymes called proteases that digest protein, so it wouldn't stay stuck forever, it would gradually dissolve.

I felt it but it was very small. I am just worried about the immediate damage because it would be sharp at both ends initially. I’m still a little worried as it’s been a week with definite discomfort and today my voice is weak from straining to cough so much. What you say about the enzymes is comforting though. I am going to suppress the urge to cough as much as I can and schedule an appointment just in case. Unfortunately I have no insurance and I am poor. I will take the debt over further damage though. Thank you for taking time to reply with comforting words.

 

[Doug97]

Any initial damage would be tiny and would heal. It's wise not to cough to much or too hard, that itself will make your throat sore and just make you worry more. In fact, I bet the discomfort is due to all the coughing and worrying. When you obsess about a body part your brain starts to feel things that aren't there, trust me, it happens to me all the time.

 

[mollyfin]

I've accidentally swallowed weird things before. It's not in your lung; something that size and shape would keep you coughing.