Involuntary swallowing while holding breath?

[MermaidDalni]

So this sounds like a strange question, but has anyone else experienced involuntary swallowing while holding their breath and swimming underwater? I was practicing swimming in a local pool and every time I held my breath and started to swim, my body would start involuntarily swallowing and then almost every time I surfaced I had to burp. It's not like I was swallowing air while/after surfacing. I was actually swallowing the air I was holding in my lungs. Does anyone know what I could be doing to cause this or how to fix it? Thanks!

[MerShellly]

I think I miigghht experience that as well. Have you googled it? I'm always afraid to google anything having to do with the body and health though because Google'll always come up with worst-case scenario diseases. :P

[Saren]

Is it your diaphragm reflex? When your holding your breath in or out of water, when your diaphragm will start twitching or spasming, telling you there's a build-up of CO2 in your body. To me it feels like I'm swallowing especially if the spasms get stronger.

[Mermaid Jaffa]

I stick my tongue to the roof of my mouth, it helps. And when about to surface, near the actual surface not as you're swimming up from the bottom, I blow nose bubbles, so I don't swallow water. Also whilst tongue is on the roof, when I dive or swim underwater, I breath in some water and hold nose bubbles at the same time. Its kinda hard to explain!:lol:

I think its just a reflex action for swallowing water, once you get used to it, you won't swallow as much.

[MermaidDalni]

Mermaid Carly haha exactly! If google were a doctor he'd be telling all the patients that they were a week from dying haha when I googled it all it came up with was a disease where people have trouble swallowing, complete opposite of what I'm experiencing! Fayrn, that could be it! I was about 2 hours into my swimming which includes breath holding so there could have been a good build up at that point even though I surfaced often for air, I can only hold my breath for 2.5 minutes at the longest so I was really trying to work on that. Mermaid jaffa, thanks for the advice! I'll definitely give that a try next time I'm at the pool! I was using a sinus saver so my nose was blocked