Seeking to understand/fix gagging issue
Hi all, I hope this is the right sub for thing. I'm 18F, 170cm, 135 lbs, white and from Toronto, Canada. I take Alesse birth control and occasionally those one a day women's gummy things (I have more information in the last few paragraphs). I'm hoping to get some help with my gagging problem because it's come to a point where my quality of life is going downhill. I hate it because it's embarrassing and everyone reminds me that it's annoying because they get short with me easily. My friends and family yell at me to stop and that I'm being irritating, I've been called a baby, a snowflake, and nuisance. I've had to leave rooms because I either can't stop, don't want people to see, don't want to get yelled at, or a combination of all four. I just want it to be gone.
For as long as I can remember, I've had this gagging issue where I gag at random times throughout the day. I know some triggers (some triggers based on actual things like smells and textures, but also some mental triggers like the thought of dogs and fridges; it worsens when I'm upset or anxious), but most of the time it's just random. It was very bad when I turned 12 - around 30 times a day - but since then I'm only doing it ~15 times a day. When I start gagging, I gag 1-3 times, sometimes more if I can't get away from the trigger or can't find a safety smell (more information on that in the "ANTI-TRIGGERS" paragraph).
I've gone to the doctors many times and they run a blood test, tell me my levels are normal, and tell me there's nothing wrong with me and to come back in 6 months if it's still happening - which it does and they do the same thing every time. I'm desperate to find out what is wrong with me because (like I said before) it's embarrassing, and my loved ones get easily upset with me. I just want to be normal.
ABOUT ME: I don't know if this is necessary information but I've been diagnosed with OCD and I've previously had depression (still working on it), ADHD, and anxiety; I mentioned above but being anxious does make the gagging a little worse. I also had heart murmurs as a child and I've had diagnosed asthma since I was 14. I had an iron and magnesium deficiency from the ages of 11-14 but my levels are now normal. I'm allergic to apple juice and I have a food intolerance for fish; dairy makes me gassy and sometimes puts me in the bathroom for a bit but I eat it anyways. For exercise I just walk and sometimes bike because it's all my asthma can handle; maybe 2-3 times a week? (not lately because I'm on break from university). I believe I have a balanced diet, I don't eat like a God because I'm in university but some of the meals I make include lemon pasta, burgers, wraps, stir fry, sandwiches, etc. I have never nor do I ever plan on drinking, smoking, vaping, or doing drugs; my families have many addictions and I don't want to be like them, plus I doubt my asthma will allow me to smoke or vape.
ABOUT MY FAMILY: I don't know if this helps but I'll tell you in case it does matter. My mother has hypoparathyroidism (since 2012), anxiety (since ever), and ADHD (since ever). My father has multiple sclerosis which has basically paralyzed him from the waist down (since 2020 but he had a limp long before that from what we now know were lesions on his spine and brain). All four of my grandparents have had cancer (paternal: grandfather had prostate cancer, grandmother had multiple myeloma; maternal: grandfather passed from leukemia, grandmother has kidney cancer- no specifics on kidney cancer, she was diagnosed a month ago). Both my siblings (35F and 30M; different father) have ADHD and so does my nephew who is on medication for his. My families suffer from alcoholism and drug addictions (and others like gambling but I don't think that's relevant?); my father is a recovered alcoholic (he quit recently because it messed with his MS medications) and my mother is a recovered smoker (stopped in 2000 when her and my father wanted to try for a baby, I was born in 2004).
TRIGGERS (all of these are a combination of concrete and abstract things, so the physical manifestation of it or the thought of it will cause me to gag): dogs, fridges, animal or people breath, garbage, food, things that make me anxious, me crying, other peoples mucus, babies, pain, public bathrooms, things that are too tight on my throat, that's all I can think of off the top of my head but there is much more.
ANTI-TRIGGERS: I've tried many things over the years but if I sniff a "safety smell" it doesn't stop it completely and sometimes it won't work at all, but 70% of the time it will work. Safety smells include my chapstick, strong candle smells, my boyfriends cologne/deodorant, and sweet things like chocolate.
I don't know if any of that information helps but I just want the gagging to stop and the doctors whom I've seen don't take me seriously and just tell me to stop being sensitive about things.
Thank you in advance for your time and help.
Posted Jan 4, 2023, 6:21 PM UTC