Green Flem(phlegm) in upper Airway

[CmExpert183]

Hi,

I have a chronic cough with Green Flem (phlegm) in my upper respiratory tract, and my question to the reader is what exactly is causing it.  Is it fungal, bacterial, or virus?  Try to be as specific as you can after you read my history below.  Then please suggest what I should do to get rid of it if it doesn't go away with mucinex, licorice root, Zinc, Vitamin C, and antibiotics and all of the other things that I have tried so far.  Please REFRAIN from telling me to see a doctor because I have been seeing many :=)  I need all kinds of hints that I can get, NOT references to doctors.  So, answer my question like a psychic if you can.  I can distinguish a bad answer from a good one, so give it your best shot.  Tx.

  Since it is causing bad breath (I floss and brush my teeth immediately after eating) and I remember getting it many years ago at summer time when I suddenly became ill from indoor mold with rash and allergy in my nose, I suspect that it is a fungal infection that is coming from mold or some other kind of fungi.  When the allergies started during the summer of 1996 I didn't have any infection.  I visited an allergist and got diagnosed with pollen and dust mite allergy.  Then I started taking allegra and claritin and nasal cortesteroid that he prescribed.  After I developed the infection several years later, my allergist didn't notice anything because he was looking for breathing irregularity noise in my lung (that technique alone overlooks upper airway infection), and I visited several other doctors with no results other than just getting allergy medication which I consider to be wrong diagnosis.  They see my "allergy" history and forget and ignore the fact that the irritant has been causing an infection because Lab tests came negative.  People in the medical profession have done a very sloppy job for me so far, and every time they look at my medical history and notice that I have dust mite allergy and have been diagnosed with Allergic Rhinitis, they give me cortesteriod nasal spray and antihistamines which make my infection worse by suppressing my immune system even more instead of telling me that I need to use my dehumidifier 24/7 and keep my Hepa filter ON 24/7 as well or even asking to see if I'm already doing that before going further.  The short term anti-biotics that I was given and didn't work at all were cypro, augmentin, amoxyciline.  The ones that I bought over the counter without any doctor advice and have been working somewhat are goldenseal and oxydrops.  Both of these work well in alleviating the infection but don't make the infection go away completely.  The reason that I don't take them regularly is because I already have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and they make it much worse.  Taking oxydrops gives me bone pain too in my hands, feet, or legs.  My CFS started one year after I came to America in 1993 with flatulence and feeling ill being part of my life since then.  Changing my diet hasn't done much for my CFS symptoms and the nose rash that started during the summer of 1996 may have simply been allergy that made my previous systemic infection that caused CFS worse, especially after taking the dangerous antihistamines and cortesteroids that profoundly messed up my hormonal balance and caused insomnia as well plus forgetfulness.  So, both of my infections that may be two overlapping infections or being the first one developing into my upper airway as well started in very humid states.  When my allergy started in the summer of 1996, my father used to nickel and dime me before I was allowed to turn on the A/C and the dehumidifier.  We didn't use either of these two during summer time and I had to pay him in advance before they got turned on like a vending machine, and I was the only one in my family who reacted with disease to the mold and dust mite in the house.  The rest of them were fine.  So, what do I have, and what should I do about it?  What other kinds of lifestyle changes should I make and what medications should I try?  I think trial and error is my best option now, so please be divergent in you thinking.  It won't hurt to try something that doesn't work.

[Victoireh]

well, I have gone through very much similar things too, and now I"m doing pretty good, thanks to proper medical intervention. For starters, any time you have foul smelling breath or odours in your nose, you've got a bacterial infection, especially if the is green! Did your doctor sample your green mucous to see what bacterial type it is? Some of the strains show resistance to certain antibiotics, so it's important to know which one to give. Secondly, if it goes chronic as in your case ( I had this too), then you can have it turn acute every once in awhile. This means the bacteria have taken over your sinuses in greater numbers. I was one of those people who showed a clear CT-scan and don't respond the normal way to allergy tests, and so I was declared as having non-allergic rhinitis, how do like that one for starters?  Well, after many rounds of antibiotics and very bad asthma, my pulmonary specialist was the one who pushed to get something done about my sinuses as it was ruining my quality of life. So the ENT decided to go ahead and do the surgery. It turns out that during the surgery, my sinus tissue was full of infection and I had a very deviated septum that was not obvious from just looking at me. The other problem with the ENT doc, was that his equipment was out of date and so when he looked up my sinuses with one of those scopes he wasn't able to see the infected tissue. To make a short story short, I in the end saw the guru of sinus specialists where I live, and he had a an endoscope that uses fibre optic cable...wow was that ever cool. The images of my sinuses were so clear, in colour and like I was looking directly into my own head. Could see me brains even behind the membrane. He did some touch up surgery and now I'm pretty good. Oh and I did get allergy tests by another doctor. and the results of that were all the usual suspects, mold, cats, feathers, dust mites, etc. Another tid bit of info, I knew of a colleague who had sinus infections he couldn't get rid of because of fungus residing in his sinuses and a deviated septum. He also had surgery and that fixed up his chronic sinus issues. I would suggest getting yourself a good ENT who has access to fibre optic endoscope to get a proper image of what is going on in your sinuses. My guru specialist of sinuses said that he basically is busy fixing up the botch up jobs of other doctors and was the one who informed me of the older equipment that doesn't allow for good imaging. Hence why it was all missed until I had my first sinus surgery. Sorry for the long response, but sinuses can be a complicated mess, if not treated right by the right doctor.

[CmExpert183]

Thanks for the encouragement, but the strategy that I have formulated in combating my problem is paying off.  My dehumidifier has been working 24/7 for a month and half now, and I'm beginning to notice results because the dust mite and mold problem is diminishing.  I've also done a lot of house cleaning of course.  The reason that Coffee and tea and large meals made my symptoms worse was the increased insulin in my blood that is associated with mocus.  The word of wisdom of Mormons is worth much more than seeing an ENT.  When I urinate after drinking coffee it smells like sugar because caffeine gets the glucose from the liver back into the bloodstream.  Both sugar and insulin are associated with increased mocus in metabolic endocrinology.  I'm proud to say that I'm now able to gradually get off mucinex without having lots of mocus before I get another health problem that I will regret as a side effect of it.  I've been taking pills long enough, and my strategy is gradually eliminating the dependency.