I've always had a hyperactive gag reflex
ever since I was little. I have really bad
allergies and constant post nasal drip. I
am in karate and I used to do track. The
problem is whenever I running or doing
something physical, I cannot do it to my
full ability because my gag reflex
triggers and I have to stop and suppress
it. What triggers it off is the post nasal
drip. I figured that when I am exercising
I am breathing in more quickly and harder
which causes the mucous to drip down
faster. Once it gets triggered off I
usually have to swallow hard to push all
that mucous down. This is really a big
problem because in track I could barely
run two laps without that kicking in and
causing me to stop. Because of that, I
could only do the 100 yard dash because I
couldn't do anything else that involves me
running in a longer amount of time. Same
thing happens in karate when we are doing
cardio.
I've taken swimming lessons a few months
before to learn how to swim and it gave me
a problem there because when I breath out
underwater it get triggered to. I've never
been able to swim completely across the
pool without having to continuously stop
because of this. It also made it difficult
learning how to properly do the different
strokes because I'd have to keep stopping
and grab the wall so I don't gag
underwater and drown.
If you try to stick your finger or
something down your throat you will feel
your gag reflex kick in to avoid that.
That's exactly how it feels because of the
constant mucous dripping down. This
doesn't happen only when I am exercising.
I can still feel it when I am just sitting
but its not as exaggerated as it would be
if I am doing something physical.
For at least a year, I've been to a few
doctors. One said I have a hyperactive gag
reflex and I just had to live with it,
another doctor barely examined me and just
said it was possible that the post nasal
drip was triggering it off (all of this I
already know). I went to another doctor in
philly a few weeks ago.
She scoped the inside of my nose and back
of my throat. She saw that I had a lot of
adenoid tissue. She then suggested that
the gag reflex was being triggered by my
acid reflux instead of the post nasal drip
so she gave me another prescription for
Omeprozol and flonase for my nose.
I do have acid reflux which was determined
early this year and I understand how it
could affect the gag reflex but I do not
agree that that is whats causing it to be
so sensitive. I've had this problem longer
than I've had acid reflux and if it really
were reflux I would feel the acid coming
up and irritating my throat.
Obviously the post nasal drip is whats
causing this but there shouldn't be any
reason that my gag reflex is THAT
sensitive to where it affects me when I
exercise.
I begin researching adenoids and I have
found one post on another message board
where a doctor stated that "In children,
enlarged adenoids and tonsils are leading
causes for hypersensitive gag reflex."
When I was younger a doctor wanted to take
out my adenoids because they were big but
my dad didn't do it because he read of
some of the complications of having it
done at such a young age.
Does anyone know anything about adenoids
affecting the gag reflex like it does
mine? I've researched the web and didn't
find much about it accept one or two
places where adenoids was mentioned along
with the gag reflex. If anyone knows
anything please respond.
