My 6 year old son has sensory processing disorder (along with adhd, ODD, and autism). We recently started noticing that he gags a lot. It started a few weeks ago with just a random gag once in awhile, but now it is a constant every day/all day thing. Sometimes he throws up, but has no other symptoms (no fever, cough, etc...) so I am assuming he just gags so hard he pukes. The main time of day he gags the most is when he sees food. Any food. He can eat it after he stops gagging, and has a good appetite. He's not a picky eater by any means. I just read that this gagging is normal for children with sensory processing disorder, so my question is (if your child has spd and gags) what do you do to help your child? Have you found anything that works to stop it? Therapy? Meds? Anything else? He's constantly crying and irritated because the gagging pretty much takes over his whole day. He wakes up, gags til the bus comes. Bus ride, fine. He comes home, gags while looking for a snack. Eats the snack just fine. I start dinner, he gags the whole time I'm cooking. Eats dinner just fine. He plays with toys, gags. Runs, walks, basically just moves period, gags. Watches tv, fine. Bath, fine. Getting dried off and pajamas on, gags. Bed, fine. I thought maybe motion sickness but in a car he's fine. I made him a dr appt for it but it's still 3 weeks away (they were super booked up). He gags so much now that it now has me constantly gagging. HELP!
We can't help you with this. You have to work with your professional medical team. The person who works with him on his sensory processing disorder should be able to tell you who can work with him on this. It's usually an OT who works with food disorders.
My grandson, now 12, had been diagnosed with those disorders. He saw an occupational therapist about that issue and others when he was 5. He still gags every once in awhile and it's not a problem.
It might help to keep a food diary listing the foods that cause him to gag. Then stop giving them to eat.
Note: we found that he had learned how to make himself gag and vomit while at school so he could go home. Kids will manipulate. He could do this just thinking about it. So he was able to gag because of how easy it was to gag. We never accused him of doing this on purpose. We did work on dealing with him not liking school.
Even as an adult I will gag on certain foods that have odd textures. One of the more recent ones is Greek yogurt. Even though it is clearly not harmful to me my reflexes react as if it is protecting me from something dangerous like normal folks do. My son is the same way. Sensory processing is 100% about senses but you would be hard pressed to find someone that the sense is sight.
I would have to wonder if he had a very bad incident recently that is causing him to have a reaction not based on what he is feeling at the moment but what he felt then.
The only example I can give you is with my older daughter I had morning sickness. Every time I brushed my teeth I gagged. Ever since, and she is 26 years old, I always gag when I brush my teeth. This is psychological, not really part of the disorder but it is worse if you have the disorder. Since it is just brushing my teeth I work through it like a big girl :) but if it was something as major as all fool I would be seeking out the help of a psychologist. That is what I suggest you do.
Good luck
You might want to speak with a speech pathologist who works with swallowing difficulties.
