Gagging : What can be done to prevent or make it easier?

[Pearl]

My friend is having trouble with "gagging" - he descibes it as the muscles in the throat relaxing and triggering the gag reflex like a finger down the throat would.

Other than Ativan (medication usually used for anxiety), the physican hasn't offered any other solutions or help.

Does anyone else have an idea?

[ronney525]

what happens to me is as if my throat muscle relaxes for a microsecond and a droplet of saliva can just start to trickle down... causing coughing, gagging, difficulty getting a full breath in because i think the throat mucles close up briefly. it does or can help of he starts to have that feling to immediatelt tilt head down ..chin to chhest.... and really concntrate on relaxing that part... doesnt always work, but it can. other than that just get the cough over with asap. it usually takes a lot out of me, but thankfully so far i am able to manage. hoping your friend has success. best wishes

[Al]

Hi Pearl. Is your friend noticing anything in particular making him gag? A smell or certain foods that trigger it. I always gag while brushing my teeth and any thing gooey like that starts me off. I think at night I swallow a lot of phlegm and it kind of makes your stomach rotten in the morning which sometimes makes me gag. It used to be not as bad when I was taking Amitriptyline for phlegm and saliva. I quit because the stuff got too thick and I was coughing up a lung trying to get the thick stuff out. Now it's not as thick but a bit more of it and it is easier to cough it up. Vicious circle. Hope somebody can come up with something that works for you. AL.