Over Active Gag Reflex when swallowing anything, even water!

I feel like you are talking about me! I am having the same exact problem and I am very depressed about it. It started a couple of years ago, but it wasn't that bad at first. Now I an lucky if I can eat any solid food, so like you, I am on mostly a liquid diet. And at times, that is difficult. I was told by one doctor that it is from stress and all in my mind. Regardless, I am still very upset. And as a result, I have lost a lot of weight which I can ill afford to do. I feel a bit reassured that its not just me and that someone else can relate to this.

I'll check back in with you later.

Hello-, I came across this website on google search. I have a 5yr old that currently has this problem where he gags on everything. He will only eat baby foods and yogurt. I'm extremely concerned about his nutrition and he is very thin too. I was hoping that by now he'd outgrow he certainly has not. He's choked and thrown up on a grain of rice.
Any help??

i have exactly the same problem. and i'm only 18. i shun alot of dinner dates and eating out with anyone is a very much quite impossible now. I have my good days where the problem is not so rampant, and I can prevent the gagging by eating slowly, but this almost always attracts stares and questions from my friends about my eating speed.

I've actually had a history of not being able to eat under stress, from young till about 16 years of age, that is if anyone stresses me while I'm eating I'd be unable to swallow and would have to rely on water to help me wash the food down. However so I was still relatively normal as there was no symptoms of such a problem at all. But when i turned 18, there was one time where I was having lunch at school and I suddenly turned sick and had to puke. At first I thought I was not well and had to rest, but from that day onwards I had a very active gag reflex and felt like puking everytime I ate. It took me quite a while to overcome it (bless my willpower) and I gradually was able to keep my food down with really tiny spoonfuls or at snail's speed. It happened so suddenly!

The funny thing about the problem is that it evolves as well, it started with gagging with every single little crumb that entered my mouth, until today where I usually have to put some food in my mouth, chew and spit abit out, in order to prevent myself from gagging. ( I've read elsewhere that this action is actually symptomatic of a certain kind of anorexia, but I can swear I am NOT anorexic at all because the last thing I want is to get any skinnier, in fact i've been trying to gain weight all my life). I've endured this problem for 2 years now.

This is definitely affecting a huge part of my social life, as I avoid going out to eat with my friends and family and eating is definitely a major form of socialising. I definitely want to get this cured, if there is a cure at all, but I've hesitated consulting a doctor because I'm afraid they would just classify me as anorexic, as I am on the underweight side. I am not anorexic, to reiterate, and the underweightness is not due to this problem. I have been skinny all my life and that explains my trying to gain weight.

I really hope someone has an answer to this and solve my biggest life crisis now.

I have the same problem. I force food down because I refuse to be super skinny ever again but the problem is always there. I can chew for a while but before I swallow I start gagging I have to push the food to the front of my mouth wait for the reflex to chill out then take a sip of water and force it down. I have managed to gain like 30 pounds doing this going from 6' 3" and 160 pounds to 190 pounds. I just force feed my self and make my self lift heavy weights like 4 times a week.
I recently read an article that you can train the reflex not to react sword swallower s do it. You just use your tooth brush and trip the first spot on your tong like ten times every tight until it stops then move further back and do it again until it stops. I'm going to start doing that because this gagging thing is terrible to deal with.

hi! i think i have the same problem as you do and i try my hardest to force food down cos i hate to be skinny! i also chew for a while but have to either push the food to the front of the mouth or sometimes even worse i have to push it out onto my spoon to wait for the reflex to subside and its so unsightly esp when i'm eating out! (which doesnt happen very often anymore since when i'm out i have a tendency to gag even more)

does the toothbrush method work? pls keep in touch here so we can work together?

Hey, yeah, I recently discovered my gag reflex too. I'm a male, 17. Last summer I was about 5' 8" 108 lbs and decided to bulk up during the summer. I got to 130 lbs before school started again, but the hardest part was eating. Early on I had decided I had to eat alot more than I was accustomed to, and in practice it would sometimes be hard to swallow when trying to eat alot of food.. If I force it down I have to be completely relaxed (or completely tighten my abs) or else my stomach will tense up on its own and shoot everything back up.

What works for me is chewing near the front or the sides of the mouth and when ready to swallow, swallow quickly before your throat can start the reflex.

I look retarded when eating with my friends because sometimes I have to make a weird face and they're like wtf are you doing?

My brother (late 30's) actually suffers the exact same as what all of you are experiencing. But he has been diagnosed. He has a problem with his throat closing up to where food and liquid can barely go down. Every now and then (once or twice a year maybe) he has to go to the hospital to have them widen it. I can ask him more about it if any of you want to know more.

Jenny
_[removed]_

Hello,

I have a problem very similar to all of you, however it doesn't sound quite the same. I am 16 years old, and have been gagging for only a few months now. For me it's not only when I'm eating, but just about all the time. It's not as strong as you guys are explaining either, I can almost always eat.

It all started a few months ago. I was laying in bed, when out of nowhere I sat up. I thought I was going to throw up, but i felt completely fine. Since then, just as i was falling asleep I felt like i had to throw up for absolutely no reason. I thought that my mind was associating sleep with throwing throwing up for some reason, and i thought i was going crazy. One night (July 5th), I was sleeping over at a friend's house. At exactly 2:30 AM, i had such strong gag reflex that i grabbed a pot and walked home, trying my hardest not to puke. For the next 4 days, I would get these 2 hour gag attacks, from exactly 2:30 to 4:30 AM. They got more and more intense each time, with sub attacks starting before and after each main attack.

I began taking antibiotics, which i believed is what stopped the attacks. I took a quarter dose of ammoxacillin, and one other antibiotic that i can't remember off the top of my head. I also went out camping with my friends. That night for the first time, I slept through 2:30 AM. The next night, i skipped my antibiotics, just to see if It was the fresh air or the anti-biotics. That night I was a bit worse than the previous night.

We talked with a special, somewhat underground doctor, who was very knowledgeable. She said that the gag reflex is a very common symptom of Lyme disease. My family and I have never been bit by a tic, but my while family has been diagnosed with Lyme disease. We all got Lyme symptoms within 24 hours of eachother too. About a week ago, we found out that sewer gasses have been leaking into our house, causing us all to be sick. I am wondering If maybe other people are experiencing these problems from similar circumstances.

If any doctor ever tells you that it's in your head, or from anorexia, make sure that you don't listen to them. If I've learned anything from this experience, it's that You know you're not crazy, if you think you're crazy.

I have been reading a lot of your responses and just am curious if you have any idea what is causing the problem. I am having the exact same symptoms as you all and have been going on for about a year. I just saw my doctor and he thought it was not a GI issue and that it must be psychological....I don't think it is psychological but wanted to brain storm with you what you think might be the cause of this situation.

Hi, I'm 19 Years old, Male, and prior to reading these posts, I seriously thought I was the only psycho in this world who had this eating problem. The anorexic term has flown my way a few times, but I do not stare in the mirror and think I'm "overweight" .. No.. I think I'm as skinny as a rake, and long to just be able to sit, relax, and not have to think about how Thin I am, and just be the same weight as all my friends/family.

I am going to try that toothbrush technique...as silly as it sounds. But I suppose we have to look at it this way, in general.. How far will you go to change? Things like love interests, eating with friends, even being active.. have all been hindered because I can't seem to get over this. On top of that, I couldn't bear to drop back down to 120 lbs again ( I'm 135 lbs now). I also love sleeveless shirts, and all that, but I can't even wear one of those because I feel "Vulnerable". I'm not sure if anyone gets what I mean by this, but you just don't have that manly reassurance when your this thin.

I've had friends/family tell me that gaining weight won't solve any psychological issues that I have with myself, and that I should just get with the program. I beg to differ. no one said being obese was fun. But being skinny and perhaps weakened by the lack of nutrition isn't fun either. It's the same thing, it's just that obesity is the more common, hot topic of the world.

What is more sad is when people that are younger than you have either filled out or grown WAY more than you, part of that's genetics, that's life. But another part is the lack on your behalf of eating.

As an incredibly skinny guy, I will have my final say. Someone who is a perfect or relatively normal weight doesn't think about how much he or she has eaten (unless were talking about obesity), because he knows he/she eats well. Relax, and bear this in mind, because there's ONE HUGE advantage of being very thin than very fat:

YOUR THIN! You can eat whatever you want! you don't have to worry about being overweight, because there's alot more crucial symptoms for being on that side of the spectrum. You dont have to think about your calorie intake, Overweight people DO! Think about the ratio of people in this world who wish they could have that extra bit of chicken, or that slice of cake, to the amount of people like us who can't fully eat the cake. probably like 100000:1, on a realistic level.

And I know like me, that all of you will finally be at peace when your able to just walk around like a perfectly normal, average weight Human Being.

what he or she is talking about is desenisitisation and it should work although u dont have to use a toothbrush u can use other objects to desensitise your gag refex if haveing food in your mouth makes u gag period try sucking on candy u will be activley using your oral skils but it is not an object u have to swallow whole and easy to spit out.

i kinda have the same problem as you lot, several weeks ago i started gaggin, nothin ever came up i would just gag and since then almost every day it happens at least once, then i ended up with tonsilitus and thats gone now but i still keep gaggin, its not just when im eating tho i start to gag from just doing anything, wether its shoppin in town or watchin tv it just starts up, im under weight like most of you here because i cant eat much, but i was wondering if any of you have had you tonsils removed? ive tryed the tooth bush thing and its still the same i'll keep doin incase it does work, and im getting depressed by it all, not to the point i want slit my wrists but to the point where i wont go out, i dont want class myself as a nut case as i dont think its all in your mind, but has anyone over come the gagging feelin yet?

Hi I am a 28 year old female who experiences similar problems. Mine is mostly, though not exclusively, related to eating. Almost every time I eat after I eat a small amount I feel kind of nauseous and will start gagging. I don't know how to describe it except to say that my stomach does not feel full, but it's like my throat feels full. I feel like I am going to throw up and occasionally I will gag up spit. Most of the time though, I don't throw up, I just feel extremely nauseous and like I am going to throw up and so I stop eating because I can't stop gagging. It usually persists for about 5-10 minutes once it begins. I am not sure if it is my tonsils, esophagus, or stomach? I know that I have a serious back condition that causes my diaphragm and lung to press against each other, could this be the cause? Any hints or suggestions would be great. I'm seeing a new primary care doctor on Tuesday, should I mention this?

Another one.... Its gotta be stress, anxiety, excitement. I go through "phases" where a certain "thing" will be my gag-puke trigger for a month though.... The reason i write this is because lately, is been COMING HOME FROM WORK, that makes me ill. And i live alone... But its almost as if I'm so excited to get to my house... that it makes me randomly gag the closer i get to my house, and i even occasionally puke when i get inside... I have to wait an hour or 2 before i can eat or drink... so i try to have dinner before i get home. but at certain times i just have random gags, and i cant eat. It always seems to chance with the environment. Like it may start when i go on vacation, or if i change jobs, or a new quarter starts at school.... but it always seems to be at the start of an environmental change that will be lasting.... so it HAS to be mental by virtue of the fact that my mind is really the only part of my body that knows when an environmental change isn't strictly temporary, with the exception of seasonal changes which don't seem to affect it much