# Choking and Gagging on a Swollen Uvula **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 7, 2006, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choking-and-gagging-on-a-swollen-uvula/371780 "2006-09-07T13:53:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choking-and-gagging-on-a-swollen-uvula/371780/1 "2006-09-07T13:53:19Z")
I’m having cold symptoms right now, but this is the first time in my life that my [uvula](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uvula) has swollen up. It’s bad. I’m having a hard time speaking and swallowing. Is this something that needs to be checked out further by a doctor, or is it a side-effect of my cold that will go away when the cold does? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choking-and-gagging-on-a-swollen-uvula/371780/2 "2006-09-07T13:59:44Z")
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and suggest you see a doctor ASAP. If the swelling continues, you could require intubation (a breathing tube) to breathe. It’s MUCH safer to get checked out and sent home then to stop breathing and find out that the paramedics can’t get a tube past your swollen uvula and have to cut into your thrachea (throat). Plus, if it’s a bacterial infection that’s secondary to your cold, then you should be on antibiotics for it. Only a doctor can tell. ---
**Author:** ![Pullet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Pullet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pullet)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choking-and-gagging-on-a-swollen-uvula/371780/3 "2006-09-07T13:59:56Z")
The mods get mad at us when we offer any advice that could be construed as medical. I always get freaked out when I have trouble speaking. If I were you, I’d seek a doctor. But that’s me. Why are all the google ads for exotic mushrooms? ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choking-and-gagging-on-a-swollen-uvula/371780/4 "2006-09-07T14:15:19Z")
[QUOTE=Pullet] Why are all the google ads for exotic mushrooms? [/QUOTE] Probably because if I eat the “right” kind of exotic mushrooms, I won’t care about my swollen uvula any more. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choking-and-gagging-on-a-swollen-uvula/371780/5 "2006-09-07T14:18:17Z")
Ugh. Can we at least agree that “Swolen Uvula” would be a terrible band name? (I’m gagging a little each time I read it.) ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choking-and-gagging-on-a-swollen-uvula/371780/6 "2006-09-07T14:35:33Z")
[Alice Sez](http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/1836.html) it could be tonsillitis, or some other kind of bacterial/viral infection and should be checked, 'specially if you’re having trouble “swallowing, talking, or breathing”. [checks OP] [“speaking and swallowing”] Two out of three. Doctor up, dude. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choking-and-gagging-on-a-swollen-uvula/371780/7 "2006-09-07T21:49:50Z")
[QUOTE=Duck Duck Goose] Doctor up, dude. 😃 [/QUOTE] I did. $30 to be told I have a cold. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choking-and-gagging-on-a-swollen-uvula/371780/8 "2006-09-07T22:16:06Z")
Actually, you paid $30 to make sure it _was_ just a cold instead of something that could kill or maim you. Sounds like a bargain to me… ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choking-and-gagging-on-a-swollen-uvula/371780/9 "2006-09-07T23:36:40Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] Actually, you paid $30 to make sure it _was_ just a cold instead of something that could kill or maim you. Sounds like a bargain to me… [/QUOTE] Way to take all the fun out of being a grouch. ---
**Author:** ![Baffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@Baffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baffle)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choking-and-gagging-on-a-swollen-uvula/371780/10 "2006-09-07T23:50:39Z")
I thought this thread ‘swollen vulva’. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choking-and-gagging-on-a-swollen-uvula/371780/11 "2006-09-07T23:53:43Z")
[QUOTE=HeyHomie] Way to take all the fun out of being a grouch. [/QUOTE] Just another service we cheerfully provide! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choking-and-gagging-on-a-swollen-uvula/371780/12 "2006-09-08T00:49:02Z")
[QUOTE=Baffle] I thought this thread ‘swollen vulva’. [/QUOTE] If you’re having trouble speaking and breathing because of a swollen vulva… _get your damn face outta there!_ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choking-and-gagging-on-a-swollen-uvula/371780/13 "2006-09-08T03:08:14Z")
[You are not alone.](http://www.neillobrien.com/2005/01/08/swollen-uvula/) -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choking-and-gagging-on-a-swollen-uvula/371780/14 "2006-09-08T03:12:15Z")
[QUOTE=Frylock] [You are not alone.](http://www.neillobrien.com/2005/01/08/swollen-uvula/) -FrL- [/QUOTE] The page I linked to consists in hundreds of comments on someone’s “swollen uvula” blog entry which for the most part read about like this: > [@](#): > > Holy crap I was freaked out this morning, I coughed the thing up onto my tongue and it got mashed up against the roof of my mouth and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t talk right either, so I wake up my wife, hacking, drooling, gasping and telling her in slurred words that I think there’s something wrong with me. Then she freaks out, thinking I’ve had a stroke or something and probably not relishing the thought of wiping off my drool and changing my diapers for the rest of my life. I could feel it against my tongue so I grabbed a flashlight and got a mirror and saw my uvula like a big pink slug laying on my tongue. I promptly swallowed it and I could breathe/talk/stop-drooling again. I fell asleep on the couch watching TV last night and apparently slept there with my head back and my mouth wide open all night. I was really ready to goto the hospital this morning until I Googled “swollen uvula” and found this page. I’ll drink some water and see what happens. Thanks for maintaining this page. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choking-and-gagging-on-a-swollen-uvula/371780/15 "2006-09-08T03:17:30Z")
Also, I see, now you can buy an “I’ve got a swollen uvula” T-shirt from this guy. 🙂 Though why would you–you could just make that shirt yourself if you wanted one. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![PetW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@PetW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PetW)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choking-and-gagging-on-a-swollen-uvula/371780/16 "2006-09-08T10:37:25Z")
If it’s still bothering you, I remember this happened to my room mate. He made the swelling go down (temporarily at least) by sucking on popsicles. It was a really weird thing to see, I remember he was quite freaked out at first. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choking-and-gagging-on-a-swollen-uvula/371780/17 "2006-09-08T11:14:32Z")
I knew I shouldn’t have opened this thread. But at least I know my gag reflex is functioning properly. Does my uvula look ok to you? :o