' wrong hole'

[Bazile]

When you swallow a liquid and it goes down the wrong hole - and you end up coughing like crazy - what is actually taking place in your body ?

[alijangra]

For some reason the liquid has gone down the trachea rather than the oesophagus. The coughing is initially an involuntary response by your body to try and remove this liquid from your airways and prevent it reaching the lungs as it impinges on the ability of your lungs to function properly. Aspiration of liquid into the lungs can be highly dangerous and cause chest infections and even pneumonia. Luckily most people are in good enough physical shape to remove this liquid from the trachea or bronchus before it actually reaches the lungs, however the elderly, acutely ill and people with a compromised swallowing mechanism (as a result of a stroke for instance) are often unable to expectorate this liquid resulting in a number of deaths from chest infections. Chest infections can also of course be caused by viral and bacterial infections.

Is this the kind of information you are after or are you more specifically wanting to know about the automatic response and how the brain deals with it?

[Bazile]

Thanks , very well explained

You have mention the brain - how dose it deal with it - and how does solids and liquids automatically go through the oesophagus 99.9 % of the time as opposed to going through the trachea ?

[bednobs]

when you swallow a peice of tissue covers your trachea so the food/drink goes down the right tube. This means in theory you cant breathe and swallow at the same time.
Babies do not have this piece of tissue, meaning they can suckle and breathe at the same time (do dont see babies coming up for air do you?)

[newtron]

Are you sure about that Bednobs? How do babies prevent food from going down the trachea then?

[bednobs]

http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/moments/s5082 56.htm

all explained about babies and their higher larynx'x here