Bearded Dragon 'Choking' on Food

Hi! I have a female bearded dragon who is at least eight years old. I got her five years ago from some bad conditions, but not as drastic as a rescue. She's been breathing heavily and opening her mouth when eating, as if she's choking, no matter how small I cut her food. Worse with greens, but still happens with bugs. It looks like an ri but only when eating, she sometimes makes wet clicking noises when gasping, a bit like if you smack your lips together. Any other time she is perfectly fine. Sometimes there's food at the back of her mouth but not down her throat when she does this. She swallows it eventually. A few time she's thrown up what she's just eaten, nothing digested though. Everything happens within ten minutes of her eating, no symptoms afterwards.

She's been to the vets twice. Both diagnosed her with an ri. First one gave Baytril for two weeks. Didn't clear up. Second one is a specialist and she's had six injections of ceftazidime every three days, her last one is defrosting now. She's had x-rays, ruled out pneumonia or a blockage. I should be taking her back tomorrow, they said they want to do bloods if she hasn't improved. She's gotten a bit better; not breathing as heavily, less time 'choking', doesn't go bright yellow anymore. But it's still happening.

Has anyone ever dealt with something like this? I've dealt with an ri before and it doesn't seem like one, but I can see how it might be one. I've heard of nebulizing for stubborn infections, should I ask to try that if nothing new shows up in bloods? Another round of injections? Any ideas?

Does it look like she is getting food caught in her beard? My dragon does that and will smack his mouth and click his tongue to free it a bit but it eventually goes down. If you look in her mouth do you see any sores or anything along her tongue or back of her mouth that may be causing irritation? That might also cause some odd behavior while eating. As long as she is eventually able to swallow the food, that's good.

Her beard doesn't swell like my others do when they store food or anything. Food just sits behind her tongue, over her throat until she eventually swallows it. Water used to help it go down but it's not really working anymore.

I haven't seen any issues in her mouth, other than an old lump in the front of her mouth which is unrelated. She has some plaque but the specialist vet said that shouldn't be an issue, I've heard lots of plaque can cause issues chewing. Not sure how accurate that is though. Other than those two things her mouth is normal, no sores.

She does eventually swallow except for a handful of times she's thrown it back up. I'm just worried about not being there and something going wrong.

Yeah I understand the concern. Water not working aside, does it appear to be getting tougher for her to swallow? If it's not related to a wound, I wonder if the issue is a muscular problem in some form.

She was getting worse before any meds. Baytril didn't do anything. This week with the new antibiotic she's been better, but it hasn't stopped. She does have good and bad days, not sure if she's just having a good week or if it's the antibiotics. I was worried about something like weak muscles too.