diff --git a/activemq-core/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/ActiveMQMessageConsumer.java b/activemq-core/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/ActiveMQMessageConsumer.java
index 52aa3a9aa3..02fb3fc959 100755
--- a/activemq-core/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/ActiveMQMessageConsumer.java
+++ b/activemq-core/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/ActiveMQMessageConsumer.java
@@ -856,6 +856,9 @@ public class ActiveMQMessageConsumer implements MessageAvailableConsumer, StatsC
 	                }
 	            }
             }
+            // yeild here so that a thread trying to stop unconsumedMessages has 
+            // a chance of getting prioritized head of this thread that is in a dispatch loop.
+            Thread.yield();            
         } catch (Exception e) {
         	session.connection.onAsyncException(e);
         }