I am just wondering if anyone has had a problem with putting pills into your mouth, it causes a flashback that makes e throw up. It has been okay for a while since my meds were all small. But my Dr. just changed my medication, and one of them is a big pill that is not supposed to be cut up. Yet unless I cut it up, I can't even put it in my mouth.

I also haven't been to the dentist in a while, for the same reasons.

I can't get the medication in smaller pills, and my Doctor thinks theis new medication will be very effective.

don't know what to do

Yes Waif.

I hear what you are saying and i'm the same.

I'm ok with pills though but whenever I brush my teeth I either gag or am sick. This has happened for the last 12 years but I only found out why once my trauma came to light 8 months ago. So I only brush my teeth once a day. It is something I hope to work with my new counsellor on - if she is able to.

I have also avoided dentists at all costs. I decided to go once because I had a filling that I needed done and realised it needed to be filled. I had to have the filling done without any sort of numbing or anaesthetic at all. I then needed another one and I told her that I would rather have all my teeth taken out under general anaesthetic or let it rot than go through with having anaestic needles in my mouht. Now she has refered me to a new dentist who deals solely with people who have a phobia of dentists, although I had to tell my original dentist why I had this phobia so that she could refer me. She was so understanding - she was great. Actually I'm not scared of dentists - just scared of them putting things in my mouth and of injections (especially in my mouth). She should be able to do my filling without any needles going in my mouth - she will use gas. I still have to cope with them working in my mouth but the injections were my biggest phobia. So please dont feel you have to avoid the dentist - there is help out there for people with this phobia.

If you want to talk about things you know whare I am.

Take care

I go thru times where I wake up and feel like I am choking, and cough to the point I throw up. I know what the problem is, I had socks or large items shoved down my throat for the thrill of seeing me suffer.
I keep saying the day and the date and the year over and over, telling myself it is not happening now.
Dentists are also very difficult for alot of ptsd sufferers to handle. I myself hate them, even though they are there to help and I am a medic. Still hate um. lol
Alot of my vietnam vet friends are also proned to waking up choking and have bad gag reflexes to the point where they cannot eat large items, they chew everything til its very mushy.
Hope this helps ya, Donna-Lynne

Hmmm,

I have this irrational fear concernig choking! Sometimes when I am eating I feel like the food is going to get stuck and that I will choke to my death.

When I eat and feel this is going to happend I have to cough real hard until the food comes back into my mouth (yukky eh?). My ex would so often grab a hold of my plate if we ate on the sofa for a treat! It is embarassing. If I eat in public I have to have a drink with me so that I can swig it I feel the food is not going down properly. Better than making that awful hacking sound.

dljwihtewolf - the dentist! I told my last dentist that i suffer from anxiety as I was so worried I would freak out. I had two wisdom teeth removed. I had endured so much pain until I could not take it any more, to avoid going! Choking feeling is awful!

I wonder where this comes from?

Thanks for reminding me, I will discuss wiht my T. :-)

Spirit x

I have not been to the dentist in 5 years. Luckily, I have healthy teeth. Can't stand anyone to lean over me and put their hands in my mouth. The last one offered ear phones, but that was worse. I think with me it is an issue of feeling trapped. I have to feel like I have an escape anywhere I go. Sitting back in a dentist chair with someone leaning over me makes me feel very vulnerable.

ALL OF THIS HITS MY INNER CORE! I worked on my dentist phobia for five years and finally gave up. To much energy with no results. Every time I go to the dentist I have multiple flashbacks and nightmares for weeks. I get anticipatory anxiety for three weeks prior and nightmares and flashbacks to follow. I avoided the dentist once for 8 years resulting in 37 cavities (unfortunately I have soft dentine). OK, here's what I did.

I found a sedation dentistry practice who specializes in phobic patients. I identified what the specific things were that put me on the ceiling - full blown panic and communicated them to the dentist. I printed out and shared with the dentist information regarding dental phobia and childhood sexual abuse so he understood and was sensitive to what may trigger me.

I only wear slacks to the dentist. I take diazapam before I go, use nitrous oxide for all procedures (even a cleaning) and while there try to use mental imagery meditation.

My T wants me to begin using the klonopin or diazapam three weeks prior to the dentist so I don't get so wound up. I usually don't and pay for it. The whole staff realizes my stress and anxiety just being in the building and are very supportive. The key I have found is communicating what you need and standing up for yourself when it is not being done.

I also have a gag reflex and can't stand anything in my mouth other than liquids. This has led to an eating disorder which is stabilized. It always seems like such a mind game to keep this all in check where I am controlling it and it not controlling me!

Cindy

I havnt been to the dentist in about 3 or 4 years. I hate it when they take the xrays and jam those things in your mouth- the ones you hold with your teeth and its kinda t shaped. ?? I always feel like puking when they take the xrays. especially the back teeth. yuck!

Resurrecting an oldish thread:

This has given me hope I'll be able to get to a dentist sometime. I think I will ask around and try to find someone who will do this when I can face making myself go. So many triggers, stuff in my mouth, the pain from the needles, the pain from the local anesthetic not working, the pain after the anasthetic wears off... I have never had a pain-free filling. And since the last time I went, all the memories of sexual abuse have come up.

I'm currently working up the courage to get my regular blood tests taken. Takes me a month or so to get up the courage. If they get the vein first go, minimal pain, I'm only a wreck for the next day or so. If they have to take it out of the back of my hand and they screw it up, I'm a mess for days and weeks/dissociated/scared. I'm gradually getting better though, now that I've had a couple of low-pain experiences. The other one is working up the courage for my OH to cut my hair. Ugh. It needs doing but I pay a high price each time.

I can relate to a lot of things in this thread.

I had a fear of taking pills for YEARS but have finally gotten over it.

I haven't been to the dentist in a VERY LONG time, maybe 15 years? So far, so good. Brushing my teeth also makes me gag so I don't brush them as often as I should.

So foods trigger me be it their color, their texture, or something else. For a while I couldn't even watch people eat certain foods or I'd gag.

I choke on foods often. I have no idea why. I've had to leave the table in the dining hall to go to the bathroom just in case even though I've never gotten sick.

The mere act of eating is triggering because I was "punished" in various ways for eating. That lead to an eating disorder that is under control so long as I keep myself SUPER busy. I have to do things to "allow" myself to eat or something like that.

I hope to be able to eat normally one day and maybe even go to the dentist.

Gosh i cant believe imr eading this post .. this is so weird.. because I also have such a really sensitive gag reflex..i gag at the slightest thing in my mouth, and taking pills has always been a problem . i find it really hard to swallow them.

I also freak out at the dentist, but i dont like gas either ( feel suffocated with anything over my face).. i was forced to have it when I was a kid...fortunatly I havnt had to go to the dentist in a VERY long time.