last night while eating an orange I started to choke.  Iwas coughing quite hard and then I could not get an air. My chest was suddenly very painful and the pain radiated down both my arms. I blacked out and when I came to the orange piece was on the rug beside my mouth and the pain was gone.  What happened to me.
Thanks for your question on Chat Doctor. I can understand your concern. You had choking and aspiration of food particles in trachea. Your symptoms are associated with eating. So by mistake when we aspirate food particles in trachea (wind pipe), it gets blocked. Due to this, we can not get air and hence we feel breathlessness. During this episode our body is deprived of oxygen and so black out is seen. To overcome this, violent coughing (reflex) is done by the body to cough put food particle. Once food particles are out, wind pipe is open, and you can breathe normally. So better to chew properly while swallowing. Do not speak much while eating. Hope I have solved your query. I will be happy to help you further. Wish you good health. Thanks.