How to supress gag reflex? (Completely non-sexual reason!)

[ShadowSabre]

Aside from hypnosis-- which I just might resort to-- do any of you know any ways of suppressing the gag reflex? (And, no, this isn't about giving someone a blow job.)

For the past few days, I've been battling a tough cold-- coughing, sore throat, fever, etcetera. This morning, I woke up with the sensation of something caught in my throat. However, I can't cough it up or swallow it, and the sensation stays in the same place, even if I eat or drink, although drinking seems to repress the sensation for a few minutes. Coughing-- which I can't help doing, despite medicine and cough drops-- makes it much worse.

I also have an extremely sensitive gag reflex. This means that my attempts to poke at the caught thing, assuming it's not just a side effect of the cold, made me gag, and the sensation also makes me gag if I concentrate on it too much or cough too much.

So I'm trying to figure out some way to repress the urge to gag when probing and/or when the thing intensifies (and hopefully this goes away on its own, if it's not something actually stuck there.)

I'm not sure why I have a feeling that this forum, of all the ones I have an account on, will be the most helpful....

[mindlover]

Try some Cloroseptic(sp) spray. A throat numbing agent is your only medical option other than forced regurgitation.

[lauramcan]

Try some Cloroseptic(sp) spray. A throat numbing agent is your only medical option other than forced regurgitation.

I agree. Totally nerdy and medical here, but there are actual irritant sensors in your trachea, bronchioles, and esophagus that if triggered, they have the ability to over stimulate the vomit centers in the brain. I would stick with drugs that numb your throat- cough drops, chloroseptic, or if it gets worse- consider going to your doc for an inhalant that will numb your respiratory tract a bit.

For this kind of issue, stick with meds. if it persists, i suggest treating the cause of the irritation instead of the symptoms.

[ShadowSabre]

It went away when my cold did, so it might've just been a side effect of the sore throat.

The cholroseptic did help, though (although it tasted nasty. Ick, medicine cherry.)

Thanks for the advice. :)