I have a grotesquely swollen uvula. (Not for the squeamish...)

[TXlib]

I have a stomach bug, or food poisoning.

It hit me at 4 this morning, ran to the toilet and heaved up everything I'd eaten since kindergarten.

Very acidic, and it really tore up my throat. I felt swelling to the point of making me gag, but didn't look until after the second time I threw up, at 10 am. (BTW, do you know you can still throw up remnants of dinner 15 hours after you ate it? You learn something new every day...)

Anyway, I looked at my throat with a mirror and flashlight. My uvula (that's the thing that hangs down in the back of your throat, for the pervs who were thinking something else) looks like an engorged pink slug. It's 2-3 times its normal size. I can feel it touching other parts of my throat. It looks like it's about to burst.

I've got a dr's appt at 3:30 pm today.

Anybody have any ideas of what I could do to try to reduce the swelling before then?

[AlCzervik]

1. i wouldnt take anything

it might interfere with your doc seeing exactly whats going on. try some tea and honey, and make sure your brush the acid off your teeth.

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

2. I don't know if Benadryl would work

DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor!!

[Misunderestimator]

3. Chloraseptic Spray... maybe even a Benadryl

[MuseRider]

4. Chipped ice?

Salt water gargle? Damn, that has to be really annoying and painful. Sorry I have no other solutions but be careful and get to a doc quickly if you start to feel swelling in your throat and you start to have trouble breathing.

[BurtWorm]

5. Did you try sucking on an ice cube?

Just an idea. Maybe that would lower the temperature all around inside the mouth? :shrug: But don't listen to me. I'm not a doctor. And please don't sue me if you suck on an ice cube and your uvula grows legs and arms!

[Lin]

9. Could you be more specific? j/k Please feel better + good luck <eom>

[leftofthedial]

6. gargle with a warm saline solution

should reduce imflammation

[supernova]

7. Chew on some ice cubes

It'll help the swelling and not interfere with whatever the doc wants to do later.

Also eat some ginger. It'll help settle your stomach.

:hug: Hope you feel better soon. :hug:

[PCIntern]

8. Not to be concerned..

It is really just a small muscle which has gotten stretched during your puking. It'll shrink. Ice chips are good to re-hydrate.

Good luck.

[AlCzervik]

10. Just curious

What was it that you ate?

[TXlib]

12. fried chicken

it had been out for a while. Everybody in my family ate it, but I ate the most and got sick.

It might be a virus, though.

Just to be safe, I'm throwing the rest of the chicken out...

[AlCzervik]

14. Probably good to throw it away

i'm sure just looking at it makes you sick.

[cjbuchanan]

11. I had a similar experience a few months ago

I drank some Lemon Ginger Echinacea Juice and that helped.

I still went to the doctor, but the juice helped calm it down.

[supernova]

13. Ginger really does work for upset stomachs

it's been used for that purpose for eons.

Oh but, skip the Ginger Ale, unless you are drinking some local, gourmet ale. There is NO GINGER in mass marketed ginger ales, like Canada Dry, anymore. You can drink it for liquid of course, but you won't get the healing properties of the ginger.

I found that out last year when my stomach was upset... for four months. :P

[cjbuchanan]

15. Oh yes it does

Ginger beer is another good drink.

If you don't mind me asking, why was your stomach upset for so long?

[supernova]

17. I had a UTI

that went amok, and why yes it DOES back up all the way up your aliamentary canal, into the intestines, into the stomach. :P

Took me 30 lbs, 4 docs, and two courses of antibiotics to figure it out and get well.

I'll add that I think constant reuse of water bottles did me in too. I studiously reused water bottles all the time. But doing research while I was sick, I learned that the #1 PETE bottles are unstable. The chemicals eventually leech out into the liquid. So you don't want to keep them or reuse them. Just throw them away after one use, as wasteful as that sounds.

[cjbuchanan]

18. Glad you got better

Hope it does not come back.

[SarahB]

16. I agree with the ice

Feel better. :hug:

[Tom_Foolery]

19. I had a canker sore on my uvula once...

and it swelled up quite a bit. All I could eat was Jello. I lost about 15 pounds during the time it took for it to heal. Try anything cold.