Excessive Phlegm

[Springs]

My husband, 37 years old, non-smoker, and in excellent health has been suffering from excessive phlegm in his throat for about 6 weeks now.  It started as a cold and cough, but now he just has the excessive, clear phlegm.  At times it impedes his talking and in the night it completely clogs up his throat and he wakes up gasping for air - taking several minutes to be able to breathe again, nearly passing out each time from lack of air.  His nose tends to get plugged up at the same time at night and he has been using mentholatum for that.  He has been to a Dr. and the ER and he was prescribed cough medicine with expectorant, inhalers and antibiotics but nothing has helped.  It isn't in his lungs, nor is it an infection.  He has used both a warm air and cold air humidifier in his room but still no relief.  We just want to know what to do or take to clear it up.  Thank you.

[annie1951]

A related discussion, excessive mucous was started.

[aiyume]

A related discussion, Too much phlegm was started.

[mybrain]

I was surprised to finally find someone that has what I've been experiencing! Mine lasted from late November to now, late February. I never experienced a cold, sore throat, or flu or anything that could have brought this on. I went to an ENT, cardiologist, GP, lots of x-rays, CT's with contrast, blood work, you name it, no-one could pin it. Until I spoke with a pulmonary specialist who asked if I was on a regular med. I mentioned I was taking 60mg of Inderal for migraine prevention (20mg x 3 per day), which is in the beta-blocker family. I was having an allergic reaction to it! My body was being "tricked" into thinking it had severe asthma, therefore the swelling of the bronchial tubes and excessive lung mucus secretions, constantly. I was choking on mucus every hour. I slowly weened off of Inderal (10-day process) and am close to normal. But if your husband is on some type of beta-blocker or other regular med, go see an allergy specialist and don't waste time dancing around with all the others. I swear, they were all baffled to no end, so I'm going to call all of them. Good luck...

[Concerned lady]

Sometimes the viruses from a cold, can migrate over to (and damage) a nerve called the Vagus nerve. When this happens, this can cause a person to get gastric reflux, where liquid backs up from the stomach, up into the esophagus. This irritating, burning, stomach liquid, can cause excess mucus, and can even cause laryngospasms (also known as "VCD"/Vocal Cord Dysfunction), which feel like choking (throat-closing) episodes.

Dr. James A. Koufman, M.D. (ENT/Ear, nose & throat specialist) and other docs have written about this. I have a link to an article they wrote, on my website, at http://cantbreathesuspectvcd.com  The article is about this "Post Viral Vagal Neuropathy". (Post=after, Viral=viruses, Vagal=Vagus nerve, Neuropathy=nerve damage).

This "high up" type of gastric reflux, that can cause choking episodes (VCD) is called LPR (Laryngeal-Pharyngeal Reflux). See "some Gastric Reflux tips" on page 10 of my VCD website. Run the "tips" by his doc first, to be sure they're OK for him.

This type of gastric reflux is called LPR, and usually doesn't cause "heartburn" symptoms, so LPR is one of the "silent" types of GERD (Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease). LPR means Laryngeal-pharyngeal reflux. Laryngeal=larynx (voice box, behind the "adam's apple", which contains the 2 vocal cords). Pharyngeal=pharynx=throat. Reflux=abnormal backup of corrosive stomach liquid, back up into the esophagus.

Sincerely,
Concerned lady
http://cantbreathesuspectvcd.com

[National Jewish]

These types of symptoms can be related to a couple of different causes.  The first is that there is an inflammatory reaction lingering after your husband