me neither. it’s definitely a morning thing for me.
Uvula (sp?) is the right word.
There might be a connection here. I’ve woken up, unable to swallow because the thing was so swollen. My friend’s uvula doesn’t swell, it gets longer…not wider. He actually bit his. AAMOF, if he bends forward, he can make it come out of his mouth. There it is, dangling past his teeth. Crazy.
Just take an antihistimine and it goes away soon enough.
I snore…I gag…I uvulate.
Got that as well . Always gagging if I put something in my mouth ( to hold on to you perv’s ) .
Does anybody actually know what is going on ?
I always just thought it was me but it seems a lot of people have the same problem . 
You know how when you feel like you’re going to throw up, your eyes water and a lot of spit suddenly is in your mouth? That’s exactly what happened to me when I read that paragraph. ::shudder::
I can’t put anything in my mouth to hold either. If I try to bite a pen to free up my hands, I instantly start to gag. Interestingly, there are some activities that involve my mouth that do not make me gag. I’ll let you use your imagination. 
Snore, stop breathing, gasp, snore some more. This is the tale of a man with sleep apnia (sp?). Fun stuff and I’ve found that after a particularly bad night, say perhaps after getting absolutely polluted, my uvula will be somewhat enlarged and it’ll feel as though I have strep throat (ao maybe that my tonsils, but anyway…).
I never thought about it until someone mentioned it, but I do tend to gag much more in the mornings, but I still do at night too. Never threw up though.
The worst area is, of course, the back of the tongue, and then there are the top molars. The bottom ones have no effect.
I, too, thought I was alone in this affliction. I have the gag reflex from hell. I have also vomited on the dentist. Trying to get those x-rays taken where you have to bite down on those plastic things is sheer hell. It usually takes about 5 tries, unless the tech is really fast.
When I see people chewing on straws, it makes me sympathetically gag. And brushing those back molars is a daily gag fest for me, too.
Uvula… how come that sounds like something that should be part of the female reproductive system?
I only gag when I’m brushing my tongue. Brushing my teeth doesn’t seem to produce the gag response.
OH, I’ve also been known to gag when I take a really big shot of whisky or vodka. I’ve even thrown up from that, but I think it’s just my stomach rebelling… 
Do you know how hard it is NOT to start a thread titled “Have You Ever Bitten Your Uvula?” just to see what kind of responses would pop up? 
I have had bronchitis for the past 3 weeks and it has gotten so bad that I cough and gag myself. Thus vomiting 30% of the time.
Anyways as for the toothbrush thing. I want to brush my tongue but it always gag me. They always tell me to do that in magazines too. facists!
On the other hand, there’s me.
I can completely suppress the gag reflex. I’ve demonstrated this with spoons, straws, and one of those little mirror things…much to the amazement of my dentist and his assistant. He couldn’t believe it and asked if he could try to induce the reflex himself. He ran the little mirror way down the back of my throat. No gag. He was impressed.
Bad smells, though, are something completely different. Even the smell of Magic Markers can make me urp a little.
Go figure.
Fellow dopers, I too used to gag. I have ruined dental hygenists’ days and given boyfriends sexual horror stories to amuse friends with. And then, I was taught THE SECRET…
Breathe through your nose. When entering into a potential gag inducing situation, focus on breathing through your nostrils. My dentist explained that when your body notices you aren’t inhaling, it triggers the gag reflex to make sure the airway is un-obstructed. I don’t know if that’s true, but this nugget o’ knowledge has helped me (and those within a two foot radius) tremendously.
good luck,
mamapotomus
I too, have a very strong gag reflex. I really started noticing it when I got a new dentist as a child and he did twice-yearly flouride treatments. I had to beg my mother to make him stop, because sitting there with that pink goo on my palate was the most disgusting thing. I gag just thinking about it. Then I forgot it for a while, until I bought toothpaste in the US, and started gagging when brushing my teeth. Turns out I’m sensitive to flouride. The toothpaste had about 10% more flouride than my usual brand. I can only use the baking-soda pastes now.
The reflex is still strong near the back of my mouth, but I can brush my teeth in comfort.
As a child I learned how to lower my tongue and open my throat so the doctor wouldn’t have to use a tongue depressor. Every new doctor I get is amazed at the skill. The funny thing is that I just yesterday read an article about how to relax enough to deep-throat, and it’s the same technique.
God, I’m tired.
A minor detail about the story of my swollen uvula concerns the gobshite who asked me the next day, in work, in a very loud voice ‘How’s yer vulva?’. (I don’t have one by the way).
Also certain toothpastes seem to make me sneeze… Well they used to anyway, nowadays I’m too busy gagging.
I don’t have one either…I’m saving up for a BMW.
I’ve gagged while brushing my teeth ever since my first pregnancy, 10 years ago. If I’m not going anywhere, then I put off brushing my teeth as long as possible, because the later in the day I do it, the less likely I am to gag. I also gag less in the shower.
I tried the breathing through my nose thing, but it actually makes it worse for me.
According to The American College of Orgonomy, occasional gagging is good for you.
Then again, they also believe that a box with cotton-covered walls on the outside and metal walls on the inside can cure cancer.