Could not sleep last night-mucous

[michelle23]

Hi,
I had a terrible night last night. I do have problems with excess mucous, but last night was terrible. I went to bed and felt like I was drowning in my mucous. Sorry to be so gross. I felt like I could hardly breathe at all, breathing was so faint and shallow. I breathe through my nose at night. I have a pulse oximeter machine and checked to see my oxygen levels while laying in bed-sometimes it was 93, and went to 91 at one point. I went to take a Sudafed and did not fall asleep till 5 a.m. I am not sure when to be worried about the oxygen levels, and what can I do to get rid of the mucous. I was so scared I was going to choke in my sleep. Anyone have any advice??

[aaagg]

If you have an oximeter at  home then surely you have other respiratory problems eg asthma etc- or else why would you have one? So this problem could be causing the mucous eg asthma, allergies etc

[Evie1963]

Sorry I don't have any advice for you, I was looking for a similar post for my neighbour. She has exactly the same symptoms as you and has had for at least two years.

She's 41, a smoker and an x-ray found she had hyper expanded lungs. She's looking for answers too as she saw a lung specialist this week for possible emphysema and once he knew she smoked he dismissed everything she said. He even told her that her hyper expanded lungs are just showing up like that because she's skinny. Well I burst out laughing at his absurdity - I'm skinny and don't have this condition.

The emphysema testing machine was not working so all he did was test her oxygen levels. When she told him that at night she wakes up drowning in mucus (her husband likens the noise of her to someone blowing through a straw into a thickshake) he asked about post nasal drip and she said no it definitely comes up from the chest. At the end of the consultation he said it's post nasal drip I'll send my report to your GP!! Huh??

I've told her to see another specialist in the meantime. So I hope you don't mind me adding this post to your original Michelle since my neighbour and you are looking for answers to the same symptoms. :)