I Have a Cautionary Tale

I have a cautionary tale to share regards a seemingly harmless bottle of mouthwash. I have used mouthwash in my dental regime thousands of times, never a problem until the other evening.

Rightly or wrongly I gargle first with the liquid then swill my mouth out. But somehow the gargle part went wrong, a part of the liquid entered my windpipe, I instantly couldn’t breathe and felt a burning sensation.

I spat out what was left in my mouth and proceeded to cough uncontrollably and splutter making a whistling, braying, gasping sound, as it felt like my windpipe had closed up to a tiny hole. This only went on for about a minute, but because I was choking and was hardly able to breathe it felt like ten minutes.

My eyes were streaming tears and I was sweating profusely, I realized I’d had quite a funny turn. I was left with a really sore burnt feeling in my throat.

My days of gargling with mouthwash are over, strictly swilling only for me from now on.