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Respiratory Disorders (Expert Forum)
Too much mucous in the throat
Answered by
This forum is for questions and support regarding lung and respiratory issues such as: Allergies, Asthma, Bronchitis, Colds - Flu, Chronic Cough, COPD, Cystic Fibrosis, Emphysema, Fibrosis, Lung Abscess, Nasal Polyps, Pleurisy, Pneumonia, Sarcoidosis, Sinusitis, Tuberculosis.
Too much mucous in the throat
by honeycomb, Aug 02, 2005 12:00AM
I too have suffered in the last 5 years from too much mucous in the throat. I am doing a good deal of research and I am now trying a holistic approach - Apple Cider Vinegar (must be unpasturized/raw/unfiltered/). The dosage is 2 tsp. before each meal or diluted with water and drank during the meal (you'd have to love vinegar to drink it during your meal - o-o-o-o-o no, not me). Anyway, I am giving it a try and will keep you all posted on how this works. I do know that dairy products product excess mucous so that might be part of the problem. I have also read where the processing of milk (pasturized/homogenized) may be part of the problem. Of course we all know about the problem with these cows receiving anitbiotics and hormone injections. Perhaps we should all become vegetarians we might live a longer life. I am wondering if the byproducts in foods and even the processing of milk etc.. doesn't all this have a strong effect on our systems. Are we suffering because we're not eating the way people used to eat 100 years ago? Could this be the reason why we have these problems, too many additives,preservatives, byproducts etc...?
Doctor's Answer
by National Jewish, Aug 11, 2005 12:00AM
, Aug 11, 2005 12:00AM
Here are some other ideas that you may find helpful in your holistic approach:
· Generally dairy products do not cause more mucus. However the fat content in dairy products can cause mucus to be thicker so it feels like there is more. Eating dairy products with a lower fat content can be helpful.
· Drinking plenty of water will help to thin the mucus so that it moves more easily. As long as you are not on a fluid restriction you should be drinking 6 to 8 8-ounce glasses of non-caffeine non-alcoholic fluid daily.
· A nasal wash helps remove mucus and germs from your nose and sinuses. This can decrease the amount of mucus in your throat. It is most helpful when done daily. This mucus could be dripping from your nose and sinuses down the back of your throat. Please read our information about nasal wash treatment at http://www.nationaljewish.org/disease-info/treatments/alt-ther/nasal-wash.aspx to learn more about this technique. Share this information with your doctor to see if you would benefit from this daily treatment.
· Generally dairy products do not cause more mucus. However the fat content in dairy products can cause mucus to be thicker so it feels like there is more. Eating dairy products with a lower fat content can be helpful.
· Drinking plenty of water will help to thin the mucus so that it moves more easily. As long as you are not on a fluid restriction you should be drinking 6 to 8 8-ounce glasses of non-caffeine non-alcoholic fluid daily.
· A nasal wash helps remove mucus and germs from your nose and sinuses. This can decrease the amount of mucus in your throat. It is most helpful when done daily. This mucus could be dripping from your nose and sinuses down the back of your throat. Please read our information about nasal wash treatment at http://www.nationaljewish.org/disease-info/treatments/alt-ther/nasal-wash.aspx to learn more about this technique. Share this information with your doctor to see if you would benefit from this daily treatment.
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Good Luck to you I hope you get some results.
I too have almost given up! After no help from doctors.. off I went to the health food store. "Slippery Elm Bark" Tea and cough drops. They give me some temporary relief!! Good luck to everyone.
I see everyoe is suffering as much as I am with the secretion of too much mucus in the throat. I never used to expeerience this until one day I had something in my throat that was almost stuck in there. Anyway I went to an ENT in Houston, and he inserted the scope, his explanation was:
Some people experience allergy/sinus symptoms in different ways, my congestion happens in the throat, others in the nasal passage and others have watery eyes, needless to say, he prescibed FluNase or FluNose, with Zytec. This really worked for me althugh I used it just during the allergy season, when I experienced the congestion.
Since I did not want to rely on this medication, I resolved to find other ways to curb this problem, so when I experience this congsetion, I usually go to the steam room for about 10 - 15 at least two or three times within the week I am experiencing the problem, and this works pretty good for me. I have not been there for a while and today has been a nightmare for me with this mucus, so I have to visit the steam room this week.
thanks y'all
Still this is not the biggest problem. I have a bad breath and i think it might have something to do with the too much mucous.
ANyone with the same thing?
I hardly dare to breathe in presence of other people,i even avoid being in someone elses presence.
I am a otherwise healthy 33 year old. I can sympathize with all of you with this throat clearing issue. I have been clearing the right side of my throat for 3 years and no one has figured it out. I only feel the mucous draining on one side of my throat and I have an expiratory wheeze on the right side as well as globus. I have been to 4 ent docs, gastro docs, pulmonary docs, endocrine surgeons and have has ct scans of chest and sinuses, mri of throat, chest x-rays, ultrasounds, 2 24hour pHprobes, 3 bronchoscopies, thyroid nodule biopsies, upper gi endoscopy, methacoline breathing challenge tests, laryngoscopy etc. I have been to top docs in Laryngeal Reflux and Cough have been told that symptoms from this usually present from both sides of the throat. I am so frustrated as I feel like I can never fully clear my throat on the one side!
The only thing they can suggest is antireflux and post nasal drip meds. Does anyone else out there only have these symptoms on one side of the throat only???????
Please let me know, I am considering having the thyroid nodule removed because I am wondering if this is causing me to feel the sesations in my throat worse than they actually are....
snicss
I also have a one sided problem with mucas in throat. When I wake up in the morning there is loads of it in the back of my mouth, and depending on which position i sleep in, sometimes it is in my lung as well. My right side is unaffected completely, but my left side is never free from it. It started in june 2004, and it also affects my left tonsil. They are swollen and have those nasty smelling white/cream lumps on them. If i manage to get out the mucas before is slides behind the tonsils too far then it is clearish and does not look infected, but once it has gone past a certian point in the back of my throat it then becomes very difficult to remove unless i tilt my head and neck at an unusual angle. When it does finally come out it does have brown spots in it. Ihave no chest pain or breathlessness, but chest often feels tired from all the effort. I left side of my face feels very clogged up, but not painfull, although i get earache and sore throats on the affected side, and have experienced at least one cold a month since it started, whereas before i would have two colds a year if i was unlucky. So glad to hear someone else with a onesided problem. P.S mine is thick like glue - it dosent drip at all -post nasal slide perhaps?
I still have not found any permanent solution to the excessive mucus but i've found some things that help relieve my symptons.
When the sympton first appeared my sinus was a mess (could not breathe) and i was coughing constantly due to post nasal drip. I started abusing over the counter "Duration 24" i used this for 4 months plus everyday. i then finally decided that if i continue doing this i will eventually find myself having cancer of some sort relying on this chemical. the lable says clearly do not use for more than 7 days.
While not a fan of doctors, I went to see a ENT and an allergist. The ENT was pretty much "useless" as far as identifying the problem. the allergist decided to cut a piece of muscle from my thigh to do more testing and turned out i was allergic to rabbites. whatever. it was a waste of time and insurance money.
I then did some research on the web and found out a list of drugs i would like to try. I went to my family doctor and convinced him to get me the following medicine: flonase, nasalcrom(recommended by doc/over the countr), claritin D12 (the one without D doesn't work. this is now over the counter as well), and Singular (my latest finding that works well) -- but still these are all drugs. and i'm all about not taking the drugs if there's a natural way to drain these annoying mucus.
Someone introduced me to Yoga. I don't really care for it but this one basic stand if you give it a few minutes, will completely drain out your sinus. this acutally works and i do this once in the morning and once at night. this is about the only 2 times in a day that i can breathe with both of my nostrils. here's the link... for all those looking for a non drug temporary relieve, this is it!
http://www.sivananda.org/teachings/asana/shoulder.html
remember, you have to give it at least 3 minutes to work it out of the system. i don't actually follow the instruction to keep my legs straight. whatever is comfortable, the trick is you form a L shape with your head and chest. might seem hard to breathe for awhile and blood kinda rush to your head but it definately completely drains out all your musus/sinus problems.
For awhile, it helped to mix Mylanta and Children's benadryll 1/2 and 1/2 and take a teaspoon of it as needed. But lately that's not working as well. There's a pill you can buy at the health food store or online that decreases mucus...N-acetyl cystein. I haven't tried it yet but it worked for one person I know. The last remedy I know of is Thayer's Slippery Elm Lozenges. Slippery Elm is supposed to thin out mucus and singers use those lozenges when they get colds, etc.
Hope something in this post helps someone.
I stumbled on this thread and must say i am also suprised that so many suffer the same. I have been running around many doctors, most dont care, others dont know whats the problem.
My throat problems started after severe angina, my sinuses* were very big and stayed like that many months after angina. They are scheduled to be cut off next year as doctors simply did not know what to do.
I too could not sleep well, In the morning I had to caught for 30 minutes to get it all out and going to town or somewhere was followed by caughing and spitting every 5 minutes.
Its been a year that i suffered...At this hard time, help did not come from doctors, but a close ones who had the same problem.
I want to share some tips that have helped me alot, reduced my mucus almost to nothing. I only have it when I have caught cold:
- Part of this problem for me was weakening of immune system. I feel It went worse after stressful days or hard physical work ( for example at gym). So I tried something called "interferon". It is very cheap medication around here, its basicly antibodies that more or less directly attack the problem(virus?). I put it in my nose 3 times a day and after some time I can already feel relief.
- The other thing that really helped me was chewing PROPOLIS. This really did the miracle, my sinuses are normal after a month of chewing it, I feel relief as I put it in my mouth, I feel there is no flow what so ever, its contrary/opposite effect to when you eat sweets or diary products your saliva turns gluey, thick and you want to spit. Its a great thing, cheap to get and very very effectful.
I use natural propolis even though have tried it in chewing gum and also some pills. I find natural to work the best and it lasts the longest. Only negative effect is that sometimes it may get stuck on teeth and if you go out and smile, alot of people may get scared. In that case chewing gum of propolis would do better.
PLEASE TRY THIS. IT HELPED ME ALOT AND I TRULY HOPE IT WILL DO THE TRICK FOR YOU ASWELL!
I have had this problem for 3 years now which started off as a bad cold that never seemed to fully go away. Every morning without fail I wake up with thick flem (phlegm) from my throat that makes me choke. This happends for about the first 3 hours then im ok durng the day.
Alot of people told me its milk but I rekon it just brings it on more and not the cause. I bodybuild and find this very hard to deal with being I have to eat so much in the morning which always icludes milk. 9 egg whites 1 yoke 100g oats in milk, protien shake, 2 peices of bread while choking in between.
Im hoping there is a way to get rid of this.
I went to ENT, allergist etc. No use, took allergy medicines, injections .. still no use.
Then turned to HOMEOPATHY. It seems to be working!
The homeopathy medicine for this is
KALI BICHR
The potency for this is important. You can order in 30X potency and take 4 of these small globules 3 times a day.
Within 7 days you should feel a relief. After 2 days of taking the medicine, your symptoms may get worse, but do not worry, this means it is working.
After 7 days if you feel that it worked but still the mucus is a little thick and not completely trickling down, u can increase the potency to 1M and take 4 globules 3 times a day, but only for 2 days and then repeat this every week.
You can order this medicine at www.arrowroot.com.
Also HOMEOPATHIC medicines do not have any side effects, they are completely made of natural extracts.
I am at the stage where i completed the 30X potency of this medicine, where there mucus is still a little thick and it is leaking into my mouth due to which i have horrible bad breath.
So i just ordered 1M potency of this medicine. Will keep everyone posted on my progress.
I have a HOMEOPATHIC doctor who is my friend who suggested me this medicine.
Feel free to ask me any questions that you may have. I have been through this horrible experience and am still going through it. The worse thing is the bad breath!
Is there anything I can do to stop this from happening? It has been about 5 years now. And I don't see it abating.
These are some simple solutions that you can do reduce or eliminate your excess mucous.
SOLUTIONS
(1) take the milk, cream and half & half out of your diet. Yeah, it's a real drag at first but do it for a week and then see how much less mucous you have. Alternatives are Silk Soymilk Brand - Very Vanilla Flavor soy milk. (It's actually not that bad!)
(2) replace your cream, half-half & yes, even your "non-dairy" creamers with Silk Soymilk French Vanilla Creamer. Non-dairy definitely does not mean that the product is milk-free. FDA regulations specifically allow the use of caseinates (and casein is one of the major milk allergens) in non-dairy products. Read more here: http://www.farrp.org/articles/dairyfree.htm
The above will probably drastically reduce your mucous. If you are still having problems you can go to the more advanced program:
If you've had mucous for a long time, you're going to need to clean up your post nasal drip & mucous a little more aggressively.
If it's not the milk causing it (which quite often it is and you won't know until you go cold turkey for for about a week) then you have something else in the air/environment that you are sensitive to and breathing that is contributing to this condition.
As a defensive action and until you locate what it is, you're going to need to clean out the shnoz and the sinus area to get rid of the drip!
The best site on the net I've found to provide instructions on how to clean this up are found here:
http://www.jalanetipot.com/index.html Take your time and read the whole site, especially on drying and proper salt solution mixture. If you don't get the salt ratio right, it will burn a little, otherwise it won't at all. You want to do STAGE 1 AND STAGE 2. Stage 1 alone won't do it.
You can make your own "neti" pot if you have an old 1-liter Gatorade bottle with the nipple-type, screw cap. Just discard the rubber gasket in the screw cap (it regulates the flow) and add an air intake by puncturing the bottle near the top. Or just spend a few bucks and get a proper neti pot.
This is going to clean out the areas that have accumulated whatever... that is triggering your body's natural method of removal (mucous). Try doing this once in the evening before you go to bed. Close the door and don't let your significant other see this! :D
If that's not enough, try it twice a day. More than likely that's going to handle most of your condition.
If you want to eliminate all other possible culprits that are contributing to your mucous, you can also do the following:
(1) eliminate/reduce cheese & cream cheese from your diet
(2) get a decent HEPA based air filter for work area and bedroom
(3) gargle before you go to bed with warm water and salt solution
(4) get an oral irrigator. They are something like this: http://www.justnaturalstuff.co.uk/ishop/1013/shopscr37.html Google around for the best price. HYDRO Pulse is supposed to be a good one, developed by an ENT.
(5) seek out environmental conditions, dust, dirt, airborne particles, foods, etc that you think could be contributing to this and eliminate them. Ask yourself, when do I notice this most? Is it after I eat? After I drink something? Is there a time I don't have this? When is that? Look for what could be triggering it and handle the source by eliminating it or reducing it.
(6) see an allergist and get thorough spectrum of tests.
(7) get any teeth issues handled (infections, cavities, etc)
ADDITIONAL ORAL HYGEINE SUGGESTIONS
(8) try the Thera-breath solutions or any similar sulphur reducing mouthwashes and toothpaste products. Available at CVS or online. They work awesome and totally eliminate bad breath by getting to the source. These products are slightly expensive in my opinion though but do work. Price should come down as more competitors enter the market. They will also help you clean up your overall oral hygeine. Stop using alcohol based products. Studies show they don't actually handle the source (the sulphur causing bacteria) and only handle bad breath for about :10 minutes.
(9) use a tongue cleaner. Sounds weird but there is a lot of bacteria that gets lodged below the tongue... and the scraper gets rid of it and helps clean up the whole oral environment.
It stinks to have to deal with something that others don't have to contend with but such is the case with bodies. Every one responds differently to different things. If you want to try to rid yourself of this embarrassing and annoying condition give my advice a shot. Maybe the solution is in one of the things I suggested.
My Best To You!
I know everyone on this comment board having the common problem as I do have this same problem. It is totally frustrating and pissing off all of us that we knowing there are NO doctor that cares would do some research testing, experiment to cure this ****** hacking problems.
I start to having this problem; when I first ate tuna from the canned; it all suddent stuck in my throat, afterward I eat anything else, it build up. I do not understand becuase I have always drinking water; chew it until it was all solved before I swollow, all my food goes on the another side. Seems the right side of my throat is blocked with food. Frustring I agree, and then it stays overnight, I wake up smell so horrible breath, I can smell it, nasty especially I am freak on neat hygine. I have found out few method would possible works. If you guys would like to try go ahead ;)
1) cut lemon into wadge put little salt on it then bite suck the lemon juice to your throat (that will kills the bad baterica and the breath from onion; garlic stuff like that.)
2) now if all of you are very creative; why not try this.. collect ALL herbs tea you see in the store. ginger *it may taste nasty but helps*, green tea, honey with lemon tea, chilomile tea, all brands from Tazo tea they have about 10 different kinds of tea use it all, chinese teas.... now you take one tea bags from each boxes you collect it may be 15 bags of teas, remember this one thing; Herbs can help your body, it is good for your body though; if only one kind of tea would only help one part of body, so when you get variety kind of tea bags *LIPTON NO GOOD not good for you do not use this brand*, they have different kind of herbs would work your entire body organs to keep it healthy means it could help you with the throat problemss. It does help me out alot it works. BOIL it all bags in the HOT WATER, *Heats kills the baterica* ;)
3) Vinger; add lemon and salt, put in microwave, until it gets very hot, drink it. ;) it will kill the baterica also.
4) Austrila's finest tea tree oil, you can add this medication to your tea, any kind of drink you drink but important that your drinks are very hot. Tea oil tree may taste awful and it would numb your feelings for temperarity it is truely POWERFUL kills all germs outside and inside, amazing medication. just put ONE drop, if too much you would not like it but just one drop, is good enough. ;) It works on me too.
5) this is most important; I know most of you guys may already know but when I read some post; some people wondering why they get bad breath sometimes etc... first have to know this have to have a good oral hygine; means brush your teeth; clean your tongue; clean your gums; floss your teeth that would helps A LOT to less baterica; you also can add little tea oil tree to your toothpaste just alittle, that would helps kills most the baterica in your mouth even the back of your throat; can less the odor; then you floride your mouth. Then you can do something else. ;) (this is to less the bad breath that food has left on the back of your throat. so it wont bother your family, people that have been around you.
I guess this is enough for right now and I Hope everything above would be able to help some of you. good luck. ;)
Blue Sea
I've seen ENTs, Allergists, a Naturopath, even a Chinese Medicine guy, but no answers. The naturopath found that there was definite allergic reaction in my body, and that I had severly low Zinc and stomach acid levels. Diets and medication haven't helped one bit though. My Dad suffers the same problem, but to a lesser degree.
The problem is 24/7, but gets worse in the morning after I've been up for an hour, or after eating/drinking anything. Tried Nexium and other reflux meds, but no help. Doctor thinks I'm nuts. They almost think that if Western medicine hasn't solved it by now, it must be in your head.
Ah well, good to know that I'm not alone... I might try some of this Mucinex.
Besides the annoying and constant throat clearing, the biggest impact is on my voice. Constantly hoarse, irritated, strained. I feel like I sound like Katherine Hepburn or a 90 year old smoker. I may have even developed a dysphonia that overly compensates for this. Not sure if others on this forum have the same impact with their voice, but I would be interested in hearing that I am not alone and any additional suggestions.
Based on everyone's feedback, I am absolutely pursuing the following: Mucinex, no dairy in the diet, and a herbal spray called "Clear Voice" that singers are supposed to use. And, I am also going to try the vinegar solution. I love vinegar, so I have no issues doing that. I'll keep you posted. Any other thoughts comments would be welcomed.
I have have been dealing with this throat clearing situation for 8-10 months and saw and ENT who suggested it is acid reflux and prescribed Previcid, which did nothing to help. Another doctor suggested trying Sudafed and/ or give up dairy products for a week. I did both for over 3 weeks and neither helped.
I am now trying Mucinex and I think I will try the Propolis gum and I'll let you know how that works. Good luck, everyone!
Anyway lets get to it. I could, while up and moving around, breathe just fine through my nose, no 'congestion' so to speak, but the CONSTANT drainage into my throat. My upper sinus (upper respratory I guess) was packed with mucus too.
At night the **** would drain down into my lungs (my lungs still ache some) and I would sometimes be stuffed up when I woke up and have to clean it all out. Most often I would have infected mucus too, yellowish green or the like instead of clear.
I have gone through boxes and boxes of tissues cleaning this junk out.
So after months of this and thinking I should have gotten over this sinus infection or whatever it is I finally broke down and went to the doctor. He told me that I had some water on my ear and it could be an infection and explained a lot about it. Then he told me that while he could give me a shot with anti-biotics and some other goodies and a script for a z-pack of antibotics to fill several days later that it could be VERY difficult to get the problem solved as there really isn't much blood flow in the upper cavities.
So two shots and a script later and several more weeks I've still got the problem. Now it's time to start doing some googling on the subject of homeopathic health!
Geez the HUGE PILE of information out there! Lots of good stuff too, interestingly a lot of stuff the pharm. companies would just as soon you not know about I suppose. (keep ya sick and dying till your bankrupt) ...anyway I'll stay off the soapbox.. (meds have their place)
So I found a website talking about washing out your sinus cavities and cleaning out the junk...
I went to Walgreens and bought a device that looks like a small plastic teapot and comes with saline packets to rinse out your sinuses and that helps to get a majority of the junk out in the mornings / evenings. The thing is called a SinuCleanse kit:
http://www.walgreens.com/store/product.jsp?CATID=100095&navAction=jump&navCount=2&skuid=sku399136&id=prod399135
Dunno if the links will post but you will know what to look for anyway.
Then I was doing some other research and somehow came across an article on 'zapping'. I won't go into depth but it's basically a simple circuit device (bought one off of ebay for like 13 dollars, easier than getting out the soldering iron!) that is hooked to some contacts (copper tubing or something) and you hold one in each hand and it puts a tiny amount of DC voltage (5 to 9v) in you (can't really feel it) and it kills the parasites in your body.
Anyway I have a Tens unit, which is a medical device that is similar in function but for other uses, and I fooled with it for a day or two until the ebay item showed up.
In somewhere between 3 and 5 days I went from going through boxes of tissues to virtually none! Mind you I was taking lots of vitamins to help my immune system too. My sinuses are still draining down the back of my throat (and God only knows how much gunk is in my lungs because of this) but it is MUCH more manageable.
Let me explain how drastic of a change it was. I work graveyards and my work week ended thursday morning. I knew I only had 4 saline packets left for my sinus cleanse thing so I went straight from work to Walgreens and bought a 100 pack.
They had a 40 pack but I had no inclination that I would not be using the thing a couple of times a day any time soon. Between using the devices from thursday till monday or so it was a dramatic difference! I've used maybe 6 or 8 packets in the last few WEEKS!
I've been having some problems the last several days so am going to try the saline solution with a small salt mix that I was reading about on another website.
Now before you go screaming 'hocus pocus' or 'quack medicine' I'll post a link to one of several books written by the lady who came up with this device. The book is called 'The Cure For All Disease' and she does sell it but also GIVES it away for personal use. Here is a PDF link, right click on it and save it to your desktop. It's about 5 meg so will take a while. I've only read about 200 of the 600 pages or so but this lady explains a LOT about why we're sick, how we get sick and how to prevent and recover from this.
It all makes good sense too so far, doesn't require much faith the way she expains it. Anyway here is the link:
http://www.royalrife.com/cure.pdf
On another website I was reading that some doctors (still the minority I think) say that you don't catch a cold or get an infection from your mouth or nose but only through your ears. Do you put your fingers in your ears a lot or have other ear problems?
A little over the counter hydrogen peroxide will kill the infection (germs bugs etc) in there. If you don't have metal dental work (and if your careful if you do) you can get off of toothpaste and mouthwash and brush gently with a mix of that and water (I just use it straight 3% and avoid my 2 fillings)
This will help knock down the smell problem that you might have too, you can gargle with a hydrogen peroxide and water mix to kill the germs. Most germs are anerobic and don't live well in an oxygen rich enviroment and hydrogen peroxide is just oxygen and water (well basically).
My sinuses wre doing pretty good up until a few days ago so I am going to try some peroxide in my ears and try and remember what I've ate the last several days that is different from the past few weeks. (well besides the chocolate chip cookies, not giving those up! hehe)
...but the thing is I still need to narrow down and figure out what is CAUSING the problem. Is it just an infection that I still haven't managed to get rid of yet? Is it something inviromental? Until I figure that out neither drugs nor surgery will be of much help.
This forum is definately a place that I will be keeping up with though!
in a closing note (need to get back to work!) the only thing I recall being different around the time all of this started was my wife had bought a bunch of those battery powered, oil fragrance devices and has them all over the house. I've disabled them about a week ago but doesn't seem to make a difference.
I wonder if we could all compile a list of foods we eat, products we use and other items and see what comes up in common? Might be worth building a website with 'radio' buttons to choose from and see what comes of it.
M@