by Linda Malone, health & wellness blogger, next avenue

“You’re sitting down to enjoy a nice steak at your favorite restaurant, maybe sipping a little wine. Suddenly a piece of meat gets stuck in your throat. It’s not enough to block your breathing, so you’re not quite choking —but you also can’t get it down. You excuse yourself and go to the restroom, hoping you can dislodge the food by either coughing it up, inducing vomiting or drinking water.

“Called ‘steakhouse syndrome,’ this common scenario can lead to death if you take matters into your own hands this way, says Dr. Robert Glatter, emergency physician at Lenox Hill Hospital, N.Y., and assistant professor at Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine.”

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