Hi, Bill ...
I seem to have lost my gag reflex, too. It was very intense for a long time after all this started ... if the doctor would put one of those little wood sticks in my mouth, I'd jump out of the chair. Dental work was impossible, as anything in my mouth would trigger it. Now, it's completely gone!
On chewing and swallowing, pull up a chair and relax ... this issue has more twists and turns than a Hitchcock movie.
6 months after the slurred speech started, I had big trouble chewing because of a constantly dry mouth.
6 months after that, my saliva returned (did it ever!), and I began having trouble swallowing liquids. (They would go down the wrong way.)
Along the way to now, I experienced a LOT of "spitting out" when I put anything in my mouth. It was like projectile vomiting, only it was just the liquid or solid I had just taken in. My conclusion is that this was part of the intense gag reflex I had at that time. Before I even had time to swallow or chew, it would spew out all over the computer screen, or the dinner table, etc. It was really hard to sneak food or liquids past the gag. This is when I gave up eating with others!
This has stopped now, and my gag reflex is kaput. BUT ...
What I have now (and have for quite a while), is delayed swallowing. It can take up to 5 mintues for me to initiate a swallow, and if I am trying to swallow a pill, the pill will usually be half-dissolved by then. Also, my mouth droops open to the right all the time, so it is hard to keep liquids in my mouth long enough for the swallow muscles to work. Making it worse, is that I have NO lip seal left ... that's the ability to close your lips tightly enough to keep liquids in. My tongue is no longer functioning, so if I want to move food around in my mouth, it takes fingers.
The last issue is chewing. Have you ever seen a dog chew peanut butter? They will chew and chew and chew ... that's me. I started timing myself, after I realized one day that it took me 50 minutes to eat two pieces of toast. I take a normal size bite, and chew, chew, chew ... and nothing happens. I have a soggy mass in my mouth, but my mouth has no intention of swallowing it. I spent 7 minutes on one bite the other night, then said "the hell with this" and spit the bite out and threw away the rest of the dish. (Except I can't spit any more ... have to just hang over the sink and let things fall out.)
But, oddly, I DO NOT have big problems swallowing water (or Diet Coke
) any more, other than the lip seal problem and the delay.
Stay strong with your neuros ... even the best of them have habits of mind and will tell patients what symptoms they "should" have. Be very explicit about your symptoms, even if the neuros want to contradict you. YOU are the expert on your body. Everyone is SO different, the cookie-cutter approach doesn't work.
Good luck. Hope this didn't gross you out too badly!