So OK I am getting better from the cold or virus (virus or bacteria click to read) I developed, with runny nose, sore throat, and a thick head. But, last night it felt as if I had something stuck in the back of my throat, a pocket type thing, hanging from the roof of the back of my mouth.
What was it?
Had I eaten some strange food that got caught, had I scratch the roof of my mouth?
On looking inside the mouth, I saw the uvula the small finger like thing hanging at the back of the mouth, between the tonsils, if you still have them.
It was inflamed and swollen. It is highly infected.
It seems that an infection can be caused by a number of things, including dehydration, well I am drinking a lot so it can not be that, smoking, I gave that up 30 years ago and no-one smokes here, or allergic reaction, it could be that as I have no idea what I am eating, or snoring, I know I do not snore even though people say I do, I know they are lying, or a viral or bacterial infection (click to read Virus v Bacteria).
They say the best thing to do is to gargle with salt water. Well I will give it a try.
As I had no idea what the purpose of the uvula is, I researched I found some interesting information. I know why we have legs and arms, but this thing hanging from the top of the mouth, the soft palate?
It seems it is used to stop food going the wrong way down, in other words down our wind pipe, it is also useful for making sounds.
For a few years I had taken participants learning English in Turkey (click on the Category Archives on the left hand panel “English Courses” for more information), who were on a nine day course from 9am until 9pm, and three times a day, I would teach them some skills using NLP, some relaxation and memory skills, and during the sessions I would teach that language was a whole body experience.
It seems that the uvula plays an important part in language and talking.
When making sounds with the air coming from the lungs, the uvula is used along with the tongue, in English to make guttural sounds, to stop air passing through the nose to make sounds like my wifes family name NG. Different languages use the uvula to make different sounds.
Ok another piece of useless information to add to my collection.
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