@Lemontree & @ectocake - I also had that suffocating/strangling feeling after my first ES surgery when sleeping. It felt like my throat was closing or there was a wad of something blocking my throat & would wake me up. That symptom has never gone all the way away, but I only feel it now when I sleep on my back. If I get my head in extension (i.e. kind of tipped backward - chin toward the ceiling but not to the extreme) by wadding my pillow up under my neck (it’s a down pillow), I don’t get the choking feeling, but if I lie flat, w/o neck extension, it almost always happens. I think it’s because my neck goes into slight flexion (chin tuck) when I’m relaxed on my back & that causes my throat to close a bit or my tongue to slide back into my throat or both. I try not to sleep on my back very often because of this. What you’re both experiencing could be totally different &/or nerve related, but I wanted to share my experience.
There’s been recent info posted about clicking larynx syndrome which involves the hyoid bone. @ectocake - you may be interested in this: