Vitamin C Doesn't Belong in Your Lungs!

Every once in awhile life seems to give you a little "kick in the knee" - and, boy did I get one last Sunday afternoon. Obviously, this is a story about an event, that according to all the doctors I've spoken with this week, just shouldn't have happened!

My hubby and I were working in our home office, discussing what we wanted to do about an issue, when I decided that it was time to take my daily medications being it was around 1:00 PM in the afternoon. The pills themselves are standard sizes, except for the two "horse" sized tablets I take of Calcium /Vitamin D and the Vitamin C which were not only both large, but dry and gritty. Anyway, I put the two larger pills into my mouth at once, grabbed a swig of water and swallowed. I knew that I was in trouble the second they passed the back of my tongue. The Vitamin C pill somehow turned cross ways in my throat and the Calcium acted as a battering ram as it drove the Vitamin C tablet down and into my Trachea (or as my mother used to call it the "wind pipe"). My God - what a panicky feeling it is to have a rather large foreign body suddenly and unexpectedly enter your breathing zone.

Hubby immediately began to administer blows to my back and jolts to my diaphragm with no success. Coughs began to rack my throat and a deep burning sensation began to develop in the bronchial area of my lungs on the right and center of my chest. Lucky for me the Vitamin C pill quickly began to break up and, I thought should be dissolving, as I could now breathe above and around the pain. Anyway after an hour or two I felt somewhat OK except for the persistent burning feeling. Coincidentally I had a previously made appointment with my Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT)physician the next morning, so decided to wait to seek medical attention - what a fool!


When the ENT doctor heard my story and my symptoms he ran out of the examination room yelling over his shoulder that this was serious and that he was calling a Lung Specialist immediately; and I was to wait there. Less that five minutes later he directed me to the nearest hospital's Emergency Room (ER) as the specialist would be waiting for me there. What a shock - when I got to the ER they took me in immediately, no waiting in the waiting room for hours for me.

Within an hour of arriving at the ER, I was unconscious on a table having a Bronchoscopy procedure to try and assess the damage to my lungs and to try and remove as much of the Vitamin C as possible. Remember Vitamin C is an acid. The photos of the procedure were even clear to me, a non-medically trained person. Imagine the inside of your lungs covered in a white frosting-like material. When the matter was removed you can see the burned lung tissue under it. What a mess - so I spent three days in the hospital and had three different physicians and numerous nurses tell me how lucky I am to be alive. I've been left with the worst case of bronchitusI've ever experienced and am taking huge dosages of Prednisone just to keep the ability to breathe. Oh, and I'll have to undergo another bronchoscopy in about a month to see what other damage the Vitamin C may have caused.

Moral of this story - don't try to take two large capsuls of any kind of food supplement. vitamin or medicine at once like I did! Also, if you ever have a Vitamin C loged anywhere in your body get to a doctor immediately. (This experience makes me wonder what it does to your stomach.) Now, maybe I can be back to work by next week?