Morning anxiety and Gag reflex

When I am extremely anxious in the morning time, it results in a lot of flem in the back of my throat. Maybe this is because the anxiety causes that nausea feeling and triggers the gag reflex.

Brushing my teeth is a real task and for the longest time this happened every morning...brushing teeth triggers it and then the gagging starts and if that is not gotten under control then the vomiting of bile begins.

Now the brushing teeth thing has connections to pregnancy for me as brushing teeth while preggo would induce the gagging and morning sickness nausea. Then after having kids this became something that happend while brushing teeth and i realized it is anxiety.

When I realized this was part of my anxiety ...I tried to find ways to alleviate...from the type of toothpaste I use....to drinking freezing cold water slowly.

My son recently has began to struggle with this same issue. Morning time brings lots of anxiety. This produces flem in the throat. This is the body's reaction to the anxiety and stress. Maybe because we have sinus issues and this is just a way it manifests for us.

Either way I do not know how to help him when he can't get out of that gagging phase and then starts to throw up....i feel awful. It hurts my heart and mind when I cant find a solution to this thing affecting my kid. I watch helplessley and run hi back and talk calml...but that doesnt srop the phusical reaction to thw anxiety his bkdy os going through.

Does anyone else experience things like this and what do you do to help yourself or alleviate that gag reflex.....or prevent it in the first place.

We try antihistamines to reduce flem and congestion. I can try pill form of decongestant medicine but i dont know if its a splution to take every night or morning. That i have to ask the doctor...next appointment. Just looking for some thoughts and ideas.

Any thoughts welcome!

Bexsy

I had that issue for longest time and so did my son. Would start the moment I got up. I would immediately have to sip liquid and wait a bit before brushing my teeth. My son would have to take his toothbrush to school and brush around mid morning.

It stopped actually for both of us after we were both put on blood pressure med. Maybe you're right and is anxiety induced

twiigss · M

@Bexsy So then did you both have high blood pressure? I'm curious because I too have this gag reflex thing when it comes to anxiety. It's horrible, and it's even been happening at work, even though I try to hide it so no one sees me. But the last few BP tests I had done the one lady says, are you on meds for this? And I said, uhhh I didn't know it was that high. Apparently in one of my early, early posts, I talked about having pre-hypertension.

Bexsy

@twiigss yes, both my son and I have high blood pressure and on medication. And my son had a very high heart rate. He was put on a combination med can't remember what it was for the blood pressure and heart rate. But he had also later had an emergency situation with his adrenal gland and had to have one removed. So honestly not sure if those were related to eachother or not. Havent asked if he's still on blood pressure med or not ( he's an adult now)