I haven't seen this mentioned, but for myself, I have a problem with food particles getting stuck within the layers of the uvula. I have this problem about twice each year. The food will cause an infection. Getting it out is not an easy task, but once I do, the pain and swelling go away within a few hours.

To Melissa, I would certainly consult another doctor, if an Ears Nose and throat (ANT) specialist does not help, get a doctor who will test you for allergies ( you may have food allergies) or the immune system. You may have an underlying chronic infection in your system that can be treated. A doctor trained in Integrative medicine may be the answer to find the cause and treat the condition. Gracie

Not 100% sure the cause of mine, but I have been waking up with it swollen off and on for a few months. I have noticed that in my case it is usually accompanied by dry mouth and a stuffy nose. The only thing that seems to tackle it for me (uvula only, other symptoms unaffected) is Alieve or other NSAID. I hate just popping pills to control it but my Dr has so far been quite unhelpful on this.

If you just wake up with a swollen uvula, but there is no infection, pain, soreness, etc, it was probably caused by snoring. Snoring can be caused by deep sleeping, such as that caused by going to bed drunk. Snoring can also be caused by stuffy nose, being overweight, sleeping on your back. Snoring also dries out your mouth. So all in all, something causes snoring, and the snoring causes the uvula to be sucked on through the snoring and this makes it temporarily swollen.

Woke up at 5am couldn't breathe speak or swallow, my uvula was the size of a grape. I used a litre of icy water and cool pops, the swelling came down a bit but the honey really soothes it gonna try the rest of the home remedies now

My uvula swells frequently to the point where I often wake up due to lack of oxygen because it hangs down my throat. I don't know what causes it exactly but I do know that sucking on peppermints instantly starts soothing it and reduces the swelling fast. "C.m.J"

Hi I'm 51 year old male. I'm a bit of a big baby when it comes to stuff like this but I had a few drinks last night I snore and when I went to bed last night my mouth was real dry. when i woke up my Uvula was swollen after gagging for about 20 minutes straight I was finally able to get the flashlight and see what was going on. Scared the crap out of me. I found this discussion and I want to thank everyone for there comments made me feel a lot better. I'm going to drink lots of water and Ice. We will see what happens. Check back in a couple days I will post results. Thank you every one

I observe this condition especially when I get exposed to cold conditions, but not in every such occasion. As a quick remedy I rub pepper powder on Uvula and swelling reduces instantly. I had consulted an ENT specialist, he felt this could be due to allergy to cold conditions and prescribed anti-allergic tablets. But I don't much of improvement. I feel in my case this could be viral infection.

I woke up feeling like I had something in the back of my throat and looked and mine is the circumference of my pinky. So very annoying!

Rough oral sex can damage your uvula as well. Not usually a crisis..just folllow others' advice for swelling and redness.