EXTREME gag reflex

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Do you have an increased gag reflex? Is this related to autism. It's no secret if I don't like a food because I will gag even if the food is just a bit disgusting.

If I go into a stinky washroom, I will gag and almost throw up. Sometimes, even thinking about something gross can make me gag.

It's no secret if I don't like a food. I mean, even if I say in the most sincere voice possible, "This is the best meal ever!". Everyone will know that I don't like because I will be gagging. Also, I kind of grimace without even thinking about it when I eat a food that I don't like. Everyone knows it, I can't hide it.

I have noticed that some people often do this "rocky" thing when they try a new food, I never do that, it's odd to me.

"rocky" thing?

I am the opposite. One thing has triggered my gag reflex in years and years (and made me spend a good 30 minutes vomiting) and that was accidentally swallowing mouth wash. There are things that gross me out (drinking sour milk accidentally when my sinuses were clogged up and thus couldn't smell it, and another time with sour egg nog), but I don't gag, just spit it out and rinse my mouth as thoroughly as possible. Strangely, thinking about it now caused more of a gag reflex than the actual moment.

I do have a sensitive gag reflex. Getting my teeth cleaned is difficult because of this. Also many smells will easily make me gag.

I have it somewhat with food, though I usually just eat food I like and I like most (vegetarian) foods.

But the dentist... When I go, not nearly as much as I should, I have to be sedated, or I went to one dentist who used a combination of hypnosis, breathing and some other things and I got through it but it was very much not fun.

I'm in my 50s and I finally am able to take normal-sized pills without chewing them. I like taking pills now. Just because I can.

Also, off topic, recently I had to have some retina examinations where they touch my eye. I try but, again, excrutiating. The yuck factor, I think.

To make a long answer short, yes.

Anytime I walk into a dentist office and bite down on those bitewings for X-rays-- can be pretty severe. I have to concentrate and focus on something else to do this.

Thinking about that "something" can also induce this in me too, and it is a little weird.

I can relate. It's not as bad as it used to be, but I think this is part of why I almost always felt ill when I was younger, especially when I had to go to school. Part of it was anxiety, but part of it might have been unfamiliar/unpleasant odors.

I remember that happening. I haven't had them done in a while, so I don't know if it would happen again. Getting braces when I was about 11...aagh.



SECONDED. I have a REALLY hard time getting my eyes dilated, too. The first time, I did throw up from it--it felt like I had a migraine. This is part of why I can't wear contacts, either.

It took me a while to be able to swallow pills, too.

Interesting, I have never had a problem at the dentist, gag wise.

There was a hygienist who used to work at my dentist and she would touch me a lot. (I would remind her, then 30 minutes later, she'd do it again, once she touched me during a mini meltdown, that wasn't very good at all)

I also don't like the noise of the metal thing that scrapes your teeth. I usually put my iPod on.

when i was a kid, well into adulthood, the xray thingie the dental people put in my mouth before they zapped me, would always make me barf at least a little.

I don't have too much trouble with my gag reflex, in general. Unfamiliar meats are a challenge for me, though.

Eye doctors used to just give up on me, and say that I was probably okay. Now that they use eye drops to numb it, though, I can handle it.

I do have a rather extreme gag reflex, but thankfully I rarely throw up. I've gotten good at keeping the vomit at bay.

I am very bad with textures. I cannot handle certain textures in my mouth such as that of runny eggs (my definition of runny isn't really runny, apparently), certain foods touching (I am not a fan of mixing textures), the bitey things for x-rays at the dentist, boiled okra (how can ANYONE eat that? it's covered in SNOT!!), cotton balls (getting my wisdom teeth out was an ordeal)...etc.

Certain sounds also trigger my gag reflex. And not sounds like the sound of someone vomiting. That doesn't bother me at all. Hearing cotton balls rubbing against each other, hearing styrofoam being bulled out of a cardboard box, etc make me gag.

Last edited by blackcat on 16 Mar 2011, 1:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

wow you must have acute hearing

Yes and no. I can hear a lot of high pitched sounds above what is considered normal (like dog whistles and some sounds that bats make that we are, supposedly, not supposed to hear), but I can't hear a lot of low pitched sounds. I can't even understand most men with lower voices. It sounds like this...rumble to me. Then again...I can't understand what MOST people say unless I concentrate on their mouths and the background noises are pretty much non existant.

i am the opposite, in that tinnitus has robbed me of nearly all aural response above 17 kilocycles. but i can hear infrasonic frequencies all the way down to 3 cycles per second, [my eardrums pick-up the pulses].

i rarely throw up, last time was two years ago. I almost did it a couple of times since then though.

The worst gagging moment for me was when an orthodontist shoved pink goo in my mouth (and pretty much down my throat) and I had to hold it there for one minute, to make a teeth mould.

5 years later, my teeth are back to their old crooked selves .

If I put a large size spoon in my mouth I will gag. But if I put the same size portion on a smaller spoon I will not gag. Weird