Nausea /gag underwater??

[Nikole]

I don't know if it's from keeping the regulator in my mouth so long,l or what, but after a while, I get this huge gag reflex while I'm underwater, like I'm going to throw up underwater or something (it's not nausea, it's just a gag reflex feeling) does anyone ever get this??? It wasn't seasickness. On my last dive, I had to surface. Maybe I need a better mouthpiece? Someone told me it's because I'm swallowing air???

 

[USdiver1]

FWIW, yes you can puke through your regulator, so a huge gag reflex won't result in a canceled dive.

I have no idea why you would have such a reaction without being nauseous, or seasick. Try a different type of mouthpiece, maybe an Aqualung Comfo-bite.

 

[Donnie Strickland]

I've been diving for 22 years, and though it doesn't happen every dive, I've had that since the beginning. The dry air makes the back of my soft palate feel parched, and I usually end up having to cough through my reg a couple times. Just concentrate on keeping your mouthpiece in -- I use a custom one that you boil, and form to your bite.

 

[RyanT]

This is a little perplexing, but a couple of ideas come to mind. First, I wonder if it could stimulated by the dry breathing gas. For some folks, this can certainly generate coughing, so I wonder if the throat irritation for you generates a gag reflex. If this is true, then switching to a regulator where the second stage has some internal metal parts or something like the Sherwood Oasis might help. These regulators will condense moisture from your breath and return it to you upon inhalation. My second thought is that your mouthpiece could be generating jaw and hence throat fatigue, which is causing your problem. This scenario seems less likely, but certainly possible. You could try using a SeaCure mouthpiece that you mold to your individual teeth. This allows you to hold the reg in your mouth with less fatigue.

 

[CuzzA]

I agree it sounds like dry air. My cure for dry mouth has been watermelon jolly ranchers *pre dive. They seem to keep my mouth salivating through the course of a dive.

*Pre dive. I think it would be a bad idea to dive with hard candy.

 

[rjack321]

I would look into smaller mouthpieces to start. Its a cheap effort and may make a big difference. (larger ones cause me to intermittently want to gag)

 

[Erich S]

When the gag reflex happened to me I just swallowed a little saliva and the feeling passed.

 

[cmburch]

I have motion a sickness problem even when driving windy roads. It is due to clogging of my sinuses I think from allergies and such. I have remedied this by taking time released Sudafed and a shot of Afrin a couple of hours before diving. Before I figured this out I always barfed when I surfaced. Once at depth 45-55' I barfed into my Reg. I had scarfed down a burrito without much chewing for breakfast. A chunk of cheese or vegetable stuck in my Reg. I removed my Reg at depth and cleared it with my finger because the purge valve could not. Then stuck it back in my mouth. The Reg, not the improperly chewed food. Moral of the story.

ALWAYS chew your food and take time to enjoy it properly before diving.

I also got in the habit of making myself eat some rice cracker or low sodium saltines since I was going to barf anyway when I surfaced.

To this day I can not drink Pepsi because I barfed it up with saltines during a dive at Big Sur.

I have the Comfobite on my Regs and snorkels. It is more because I am a chewer. They only fit certain Regs. My daughter has a comfobite for smaller mouths.

I have gotten a gag reflex at the dentist if water is at a certain location at the back of my mouth and also when snorkeling if saltwater at the back of my mouth.

 

[Nikole]

I would look into smaller mouthpieces to start. Its a cheap effort and may make a big difference. (larger ones cause me to intermittently want to gag)

I agree... My mouthpieces are like the football player sized ones... Kind of. After a while I'm like of I have to gag. I have seen divers that have some type of regulator or mouthpiece that loomk like it fits your mouth, like how someone would press their mouth while playing a flute. Know what I mean??? I think those would be better.
I actually do not eat very heavy before any type of dive.. Which is actually a bad idea, during my ocean dive a few days ago I barely had the energy to kick back to shore.

 

[frndrfoe]

I got the aqualung comfo bite for one of my kids and I liked it so much I got one for each of us. We also eat a menthol cough drop before diving to help clear sinuses. You cold also be having drip from your sinus that could be helped with some sudefed