Excessive phlegm or Saliva after Eating/Drinking

[JoeBorp]

I am a 23 year old and I have had excessive phlegm or saliva every time after I eat or drink anything from the time I was about 10-11 years old. It always causes me to produce a "wet" cough (just one) after I eat or drink anything to clear my throat and then several times of just clearing my throat without coughing for roughly 30 minutes. There is no stopping the cough unless I want to choke on the mucus. The excessive mucus affects my voice as well and is really annoying and extremely embarrassing. Everyone always thinks I have some kind of horrible cold if I eat around them, which makes me not want to. I have never met anyone else with this going on with them so I don't know where to begin to seek help. I don't have heartburn, I don't smoke, I don't work around harsh chemicals all day, I've lived in 3 different states (WA, FL, NM) in many different cities in the suburbs and urban areas and no matter where I have lived the problem remains which makes me think it's not environmentally related or climate related. Does anyone out there suffer from this and know what it is and how it can be treated if that is even possible?


This discussion is related to Excessive coughing/mucus after eating.

[HannaLynne]

I too suffer from excessive phlegm and wet coughing after eating. This has been going on for about a year now. I am curious - has anyone else experienced having an issue with eating nuts? I find that any time I eat nuts of any kind my skin breaks out in red blemishes that last for about 24 hours. The bumps aren't hives - they're more like painful pimples. The reason I ask is that many of those that have posted here have indicated having an issue coughing after eating fats and I've suspected that my issue with nuts is actually a problem with inflammation and digesting fats.  During the past year I've also had the severity of my other allergies (mostly environmental) increase ... suspecting a congested liver is at least in part the culprit.

[SueBearRN]

I read that eating the same food choices repeatedly can also make that worse, because it is a respiratory plus digestion inflammatory response and the likelihood of it happening increases when you don't have a lot of variety in your diet. For instance, instead of always having a boiled egg and toast for breakfast, mix it up so you have a variety of different food items for breakfast alternating days. Do the same for lunch choices and dinner choices. If choices are limited, alternate at least every other day or every third day so you're not eating the same choices within 48 hours repeatedly. I read somewhere that this is a great plan if the elimination diet has not identified any obvious problem with you. I personally think that unnatural food additives preservatives and pesticides in produce can also be a cause. When we grew up eating fresh fruits and vegetables, and more fresh local and home grown sources of protein like fish, poultry, beef, no one ever seemed to have the chronic acid reflux and excessive mucus and respiratory reactions with eating.

[Dana60]

I have always had to deal with a lot of phlegm throughout my entire life. When I was a baby, I could not digest milk. It took me until I was a teenager to stop eating dairy products and that helped for awhile. In my 40s, I started suffering the same distended stomach that so many other posters have mentioned, so I tried to cut out all sorts of foods. I now rarely eat dairy, have gone gluten-free and eat a largely paleo diet.

For a few years that helped with the phlegm but not the distended stomach. Sometimes it sticks out so much that people think I'm pregnant. But recently, the phlegm has returned and I have a wet cough after every meal. No doctors have been able to help me.

I think that the way food is genetically modified and farmed is at the heart of the problem and all of us sufferers are the canaries in the coalmine to alert everyone else to a huge problem that will soon affect everyone.

[AdaraZ]

sometimes the problem is low stomach acid which makes it hard to break down proteins. The food stays longer couses mucus. Ask your doctor for an acidity level check

[16lundqju]

Hi I have had this problem going on for a few months now.. Seems like everytime I eat, basically no matter what I eat I start to cough after about 5 minutes of being done.. I cough and clear my throat to get the feeling of mucus in the throat out but nothing really ever comes up..
Sometimes I will get it during the day for no reason but that doesn't happen too often. I don't go out to eat anymore because I don't like having these attacks in from of people because it is embarassing and unpleasant. I have a bad gag reflex (gag a lot even just after getting a throat swap for strep) and when these coughing attacks occur I cough and clear so much that I start to gag a little and in my more serious attacks I gag a lot and in a sense dry heave and retch.
I am hoping someone out there can tell me what I can do to stop this!
And I have lost weight because I have recently been afraid to eat and when I do I only eat very small amounts because of the fear of having these coughing attacks

[karzazen]

Hi Gary,

I read your post about using Chinese medicine and exercise to help get rid of the mucus  production after eating a meal. Could you please give me the formula for the chinese medicine herbs?

[karzazen]

Hi Gary,

I read your post about using Chinese medicine and exercise to help get rid of the mucus  production after eating a meal. Could you please give me the formula for the chinese medicine herbs?

My email is ***@****

Thank you,

Kara