Blood in mucus

[joshb]

Hello,
I've been having streaks of blood in my mucus almost every night or morning since April.  It's usually just one or two spits either before i go to bed, or right after I wake up. I have also had on and off mild chest discomfort right behind my breast bone.  

My primary care physician sent me to an ENT for evaluation.  I was given a endoscopy with biopsy that came back negative.  He did say my vocal chords were slighty swollen and there were signs of acid reflux and put me on Prevacid 30mg twice a day (before breakfast and dinner).  He could not find any source of bleeding and told me not to worry about it.

I've taken his advice and haven't been worrying too much about the bloody mucus.  My slight chest discomfort continues on and off, along with the bloody tinged mucus, so my ENT keeps having me in every 2 months for a check-up and keeps coming up with nothing.  I only worry that I or he might be missing something since my symptoms are presisting.

I have another follow-up in a few weeks and was wondering if there's anything else that might cause the symptoms I've been experiencing that I might be able to ask my doctor about.

If he's correct in that my chest discomfort is caused by acid reflux, is it worth trying to switch to a different medication if Prevacid doesn't seem to be stopping my problems?

I am a 27 year old male, non-smoker, and very very light drinker.   I do have a history of lung problems (pneumothroax with corrective surgery and asthma when I was a kid) and some allergy problems.

Thank you for your time.

[National Jewish]

Your doctors are probably right about the likelihood that the cause of your bleeding is nothing to worry about.  However, if you haven't had a CT scan or MRI of your nose and sinuses, you should ask your doctor about it.  You might also ask the ENT if you could switch to a different medicine to see if that would stop your chest discomfort.  Finally, you and your doctors should not assume that the blood is coming from the upper airways.  It could be coming from your lungs.  After 6 months, this possibility should not be ignored.

[joshb]

I forgot to mention that before sending me to an ENT, my doctor had me get a chest x-ray when my problems first started occuring that came back normal.

I have also had on and off anxiety since my problems have become persistent.  I can imagine axiety might make the discomfort in my chest worse, but I don't think anxiety would explain blood in the mucus.

[ch98]

My husband may have the same thing you are referring to.  He has had GERD symptoms for a couple of years now.  Prilosec, Pepcid, etc. meds are not effective for him.  His esophagus muscle does not work properly to move food and liquid down to his stomach, thus causing regurgitation. The acid backs up into his lungs. The irritation and immflamation from that causes him to cough up quite a bit of blood on a daily basis throughout the day. I should also mention he has bronchiectasis, which is a lung disease. We go back to the pulmonologist in a couple weeks for another ct scan, bronchcoscopy, and to meet with a surgeon to talk about his options. I hope some of this helps you on your quest to find answers for yourself.  Good Luck!