I have spells where I have to constantly clear my throat!

[DeebellaNY]

I don't know how to explain whats going on with me, but i'll try.  I'm 25 years old, 130 lbs, at a healthy weight for my height at 5'5".  I have a history of Acid Reflux, also Post nasal drip, which i guess could be classified as chronic since the times I have it are prolonged and not just when sick. After a short of breath spell I went to the walk-in clinic and was told I had Rhinitis as well, I was given spray steroids and sent home.  The spray steroids by the way made my nose dry, so stopped taking them.

Anyway, Acid Reflux since December of last year, around the time I started my new job....but the symptom I have of clearing my throat didn't start until Septemeber of this year.  I have had an endoscopy done and everything came back normal, just a note of gastritis was made.  I am currently on no medication, just occasional tums.

I have these spells, every day now, that i feel sticky mucus in my wind pipe, and i have to clear it out or I feel like I won't be able to breathe! Or the sensation feels that way.  Eventually after hacking and hacking, with a dry forced cough or clearing of my throat, I get out a small amount of sticky clear mucus and feel better until later in the day or the next day, and then it continues.  I find most of it is in the morning, whether or not I have coffee, and before I even eat.

I drink 4 bottles of water a day, and try to chug water when I have these spells, sometimes it relieves the sensation but it'll start back up.  Ive hacked so much a few times that I actually feel dizzy to the point where I could faint if I wasn't sitting down.

NOTE: not sure if this matters, but the symptoms started on a day after I was at a waterpark, and inhaled a small amount of water from the water slide.  


ANYTHING? Please, i'm too young and active to worry about this stuff.  The clearing of my throat is starting to annoy my boyfriend and family members!  

I can go a day or hours and hours without anything and then it appears......

Thanks to whoever reads this long question!!!!

[DeebellaNY]

Thank you guys, you're right M, i have no other abdonminal issues, its just the mucus, so i highly doubt celiacs.  Don't have CF either, i'm sure my GI would have told me, plus like I mentioned the mucus is coming from my nose to the throat in most cases, other times i just feel the need to clear my throat and i'm clearing what I think is mucus but could very well be acid, due to my reflux issues.  My cough doesn't produce anything and my chest is clear.  


I'll keep you guys updated.

[shoflakes]

just wondering if you ever found a reason or cure for this?  I'm currently dealing with the same issue.

[M_Pounce]

I doubt it is Celiac disease - celiac disease has a ton of associated abdominal symptoms, up to and including bloody / watery stool.  Many individuals who are diagnosed with celiac disease are dangerously underweight and malnourished by the time they are diagnosed.

Honestly, it sounds like a combination of allergies and excess acid (whether GERD or LES).  Thick mucus in spite of hydration could also be Cystic Fibrosis, but you have no other respiratory symptoms, so it is unlikely.

Follow up on the suggestion of being testing for food allergies.  Also, consider tracking your intake and compare it with your symptoms. You may identify what is causing excessive buildup in your throat.  I tend to have worsening (similar) issues the day after I do a thorough cleaning of my house. Either the dust I stir up, the cat hair or the amount of bleach I use irritates the linking of my nose and throat and causes excessive thick mucus.  ~shrugs~  It happens, but it's passing.  See if you can figure out what is causing your symptoms specifically.

good luck, and keep us posted!

[Caryopteris]

If you don't get relief from treating this as common GERD, it could be caused by Celiac disease.  I know everybody thinks they know what that is, and maybe you read a list of 10 symptoms of Celiac, but there are 250 possible symptoms for the condition.  Unrelenting, horrible feelings like GERD/acid reflux are some of them.  One piece of toast is a million times more than you'd need to cause symptoms if you were allergic.  A coworker's only symptom was heartburn, and she has Celiac.  

Hope it's just acid reflux/GERD or hiatal hernia causing your heartburn.    

[Londres70]

Well, you have mentioned the diagnosis of "Gastritis" was made after your endo.  You should have been prescribed something for that.  In my opinion, your symptoms sound like GERD.  Uncontrolled GERD can cause the symptoms you are describing.  You can try an OTC medication such as Prilosec or you can obtain a prescription for another medication such as Protonix or Prevacid.  

I would recommend cutting out the coffee, tea, soda, chocolate (food/drink with caffeine).  Avoid alcohol and dairy.  Eat in small portions. Avoid spicy, citric foods.  Do not eat 2-4 hours prior to bed.  Exercise.  

I have this myself and it is a nuisance regardless of your age.  My problems come and go.  I will be okay for a couple of months and then it will flare up.  

I really don't see a connection with the "waterpark."

[caregiver222]

Whoa Nelly...Let's not follow the advice of drinking "all the water possible".

This is not your problem. It may exacerbate the issue by causing the stomach to overflow.

There is a high liklihood your difficulty is caused by regurgitation of the acidic contents of your stomach through the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). There are many reasons for this. Sometimes it is due to a small stroke. Sometimes there is a genetic componant.

This is not exactly GERDS.

It can cause difficulty breathing when the contents ooze upwards and end up in the trachea. The co-factor is sensitivity to antigens (non-self-substances).  People with this problem can develop difficulty breathing is a small droplet of water goes in their lungs.

You should not have coffee or anything containing caffeine, because this causes relaxation of the LES, resulting in failure of the one-way valve. Chocolate and chocolate drinks contain substances called methylxanthines, which relax the LES, so they are a no-no.

Go to pubmed, the national database and look up laryngopharangeal reflux. Treatment and evaluation. Instead of me seeming intelligent by copying this and posting it you and look it up for yourself. The treatment protocols there will provide dietary recommendations, such as not eating tomatos.

You should not eat within two hours of lying down, not eat except sitting (no floor munching!) and sleep with your back at a thirty-degree angle.

[ready2groove]

That's good drinking all the water you do, as even very moderate dehydration can dry out  the mucous membranes of the sinuses, throat, vocal chords,upper airways and lungs and those membranes do help protect from infecton as well as keeping them moist. I just recently read that even mild dehydration causes the mucous membranes to produce a thick,viscous mucous that will protect from further drying of the surface, hence, that tough rubbery phlegm that is almost impossible to hock up (as guys call it, hocking up a luger..eeewwww). Also, infection can cause a very sticky mucousy pus. My youngest son had a chronic cough, no other problems, Doctors would see him and say he was fine, finally one looked in the back of his throat, showed me this thin layer of greenish phlegm coating the back of his throat, said it was infected and bacteria laden, was irritating his throat causing him to feel he needed to cough. He gave him antibiotics and it cleared up and the cough never came back. NOw I would do it different, instead of antibiotics, I would try having him gargle with peroxide diluted to about 1%, or salt water, but more likely good old iodine and then if that didn't work, antibiotics.
   Because of the diuretic qualities of some beverages like coffee (which I love!) one cup of coffee can cause your body to rid itself of more water than you would get from the water used to make the coffee. If I drink 8-8oz cups of water, and also drink 4 to 6 cups of coffee, I may not be getting hydrated quite enough. A very good book to read on water is 'The Water Cure" by Dr. Batmangeldgji.
   A recipe for instant heartburn for me: Coffee whitener/coffe mate in my coffee, I like the tase of it, but boy oh boy it does something to my stomach. Fruits of any kind together is fine, mix fruit with toast or  anything else...indigestion...heart burn. Combinations of food may affect you, check out food combining. General concept, eat fruit alone as a meal, don't mix starches with proteins, no starches and sugars, no proteins and sugars, no fats and sugars. It's very interesting why some foods should not be mixed.
  Anyway, I'm not sure exactly what I did to get rid of my phlegm, or what I did to stop heart burn, all I know is it is gone after years and years of putting up with it. I never ever used to drink water, the last 3 years I drink 8 to 10 a day, more if I drink too much coffee (with real cream in it).
   I eat 80% fresh fruit and vegetables, I take nascent iodine and selenium, magnesium, Krill Oil, vitamin B complex. vitamin D3, mineral drops (for trace elements).
   A couple other things I did/quit: I don't eat commercially grown meat (possible growth hormones, antibiotics and high protein diets given to animals who should only eat grass and/or bugs and water). I am very blessed that my husband hunts and we eat 100% moose, deer and elk.  
   I quit dyeing  and perming my hair, quit almost all my bath, beauty and cleaning products due to dangerous chemicals, especially the estrogen mimicking ones that are wreaking havoc with women and men (women being hormonally imbalanced, abnormal periods, heavy bleeding, uterine fibroids etc, the feminization of the male species (men growing breasts and the smaller and smaller penis size of boys since the 1950's and other creepy stuff like that).
   I hope some of this info helps, take care, if you want to contact me feel free, April

ps The water you inhaled at the water park, you might want to be a bit concerned about that, I don't know if they chlorinate it or not at water parks, if it's re-circulated you'd think they'd pretty much have to, so if it was chlorinated, the chlorine could have really irritated your uppe airways, if it's not chlorinated, goodness knows what kinds of bacteria could be in that water of shoes and feet and peoples body's etc etc.
   Incidently, iodine is very active in the body in helping fight off infection when there is enough to go around, but when people are deficient, whatever comes in to the body in the form of food is directed to the thyroid, if ...if there's any left over, other organs and body functions might get some. We don't get enough in salt, it can actually evaporate right out of the salt box while it's sitting in your pantry... .if it's even a bio-availble iodine.

[DeebellaNY]

I dont eat tons of dairy, only have coffeemate with my coffee and no yougurt or cereal or ice cream, i eat wheat toast in the morning as well, but my diet has been the same for over a year with no issues. this has only been the last 3 months.  I looked up celiac disease and I don't have any of those symptoms.  Thank you though!

[Caryopteris]

Hi

You need to consider food allergies.  I'm sure you don't want to hear that.  It would not hurt to be tested for Celiac disease, which would be a wheat allergy that you need to know about if you have it.  You should not stop wheat without getting tested because then the testing doesn't work.  But you could try stopping milk and yogurt.  When I stopped drinking milk, even though I still used other dairy products some, my mucus production problem went away.  It was years later before I found out I was allergic to wheat too, but at least I got rid of that mucus early on.  

[DeebellaNY]

By the way my lung sounds are normal, and I do feel the mucus draining from my nasal cavity.