*nods* Do not fear disclosing too much to me - I am a staunch believer that the human body can, with the proper resources and care, recover and rebuild itself from just about anything. It is the quintessential self-healing, self-replicating machine
As for association of the epiglottis - I can't say I've dug that deeply into it, but that may change; it sounds fascinating!
And I was... hm... when I first noticed Him, I was around 13 or so... it was actually because of a fight.
I had been picked on a lot going thru school due to being ADD/ADHD, socially awkward, and incredibly intelligent (though lacking in common sense). I was also the typical twig-nerd... tall, thin (5 foot 8 and about 90 pounds) and unwilling to fight back...
The neighborhood and schoolyard bullies had a field day with me... one day in, if I recall correctly, 7th grade, one of em followed me off the bus at my stop. Now, by this point I had come off my ADHD medicine (by my own choice, I was determined not to let medicine dictate how I acted) and had started to finally bulk up a little. The interesting thing about the three main bullies I had to deal with were they were shorter than I was, by about 4-6 inches on average, and of no "bigger" a build than I was... it was just they were willing to be assholes and I wouldn't fight back.
Well, this kid comes up behind me and punches me in the back of the head and grabs my bookbag. I spin around, losing the bag in the process, and receive a fist to the bridge of my nose for my trouble, knocking my glasses off. Thankfully the guy was as dim witted as he was cruel and he didn't know how to throw a proper punch, so it didn't break or damage my nose, but it did hurt like hell. I don't know anymore what he said to me, but he hit me once more, again in the face... and I blacked out.
The next thing I can remember is that I had him held up against a nearby wall by his throat, my fingers on either side of his trachea. I told him "Did you know it only takes a few pounds of pressure to crush the human windpipe? I've always wondered if I could do it myself..." and the next thing I know, He was telling me not to do it, somewhere between demanding and begging. It was enough to snap me out of it, and I dropped him to the ground, not able to hold him up anymore. Looking around, though, nobody else was there... and He kept talking to me, coercing me to pick up my things and leave.
Several times I have gotten into fights where a near-feral instinct has taken over... but He has always been there to help me keep myself, or to stop me from doing something I would regret.
Looking back on it, I'm sure He's been around longer than that, but I think coming off the medication finally cleared my head enough to listen... Adderall and Ritalin and other ADD/ADHD medicines are horrible... they leave you... I don't want to say fuzzy, but you aren't you!