2 years of throat clearing, thick mucus and post nasal drip sensation (allergy/reflux/nerve?)

I wish this post was my chance to share the good news of a solution for you all, but it isn't.  This is another "me too" from a fellow sufferer.  Thank you to all of you for sharing your stories and details.  There is at least some emotional relief in seeing we are not alone. This has been a nagging, unrelatable, "death by paper-cuts" to my emotional, social, spiritual, marital and career well-being for about 6 years now. If you are suffering this, you may know exactly what I mean; if not, that will sound like exaggerated kookiness. 

The one disgusting detail I can add is that the "sense" of all this garbage caught around the back of my throat is proven valid every so often by forcefully hocking until finally a nasty, tacky, rubbery, "mucous plug" ranging from rice-grain sized ( every two days or once or twice a day) to something about the size of a silver dollar five or six times a year. Obviously a great sense of relief when they are out, but all too short lived when i get back to the more routine clear to white sticky constant irritant. 

You out there: don't give up. Surely there will be relief for us. 

Jc

Hi - I have just registered in order to share some positive solutions which have helped me a lot - so maybe might be of use to other people.

The symptoms described here are very close to my own - except that I find that lying in bed doesn't help much at all, I often struggle to sleep because of the constant need to throat-clear and feeling of over-thick mucus coming from the sinuses into the throat.

I also find that the steroid-based nasal sprays help for a limited time in a way that never feels sustainable... it's worse when they wear off.  Washing the sinuses with saline - also feels good at the time I do it, but the benefit wears off quite rapidly.  Interestingly, the symptoms are at their least acute when I get a cold and 'runny nose' - and I attribute that to the fact that the mucus then is very thin and runny.  My own pet hypothesis is that I'm over-producing mucus that is simply too thick to be cleared by the normal physical processes.

Anyway - the positive discoveries - 

No.1 - purely by accident, I discovered that taking about a dessert spoon of extra virgin cold-pressed organic coconut oil every morning and evening has a distinct beneficial effect on the condition.  Don't expect dramatic miracles - but for me it's about a 30-40% improvement noticeable if I do this every day for about a week.

So give that a go - at the very least it won't have any harmful effects - might do you some good.

(I was originally taking it to try and improve my mental faculties - it did nothing for those, but the sinuses feel better - so I'll take that..!   

No. 2 - (you may want to do some research about whether this is sustainable long-term, but I have done it for a year with no obvious side-effects):

Serrapaptase capsules (80000 IU)

I take one or two just before going to bed (ideally quite a long while after having eaten anything), and find that they relieve the heavy congested sinus/mucus/throat feeling about 20-30 minutes after taking them, so I get to sleep easier.  Again the effect is subtle - maybe 20% - but put these two remedies together and you might have something that eases the condition enough to make life more pleasant.

Hope that might help somebody.

jim

I had the same symptoms, and convinced it was allergies,  I got an allergy test. The test results showed I had NO allergies to anything! I noticed that I would get congested in the mornings and about 5pm in the evenings, and also after I ate a dessert in the evening. So I cut back on sugary snacks and desserts, and felt better. So I cut way back on sugars of every kind. A daily light drinker (wine or beer with dinner), I cut that. I cut all carbohydrates (pasta, bread, potatoes, rice). It was hard to do, but for three weeks I only ate eggs, vegetables, fish and meat. No juice, no fruit, no snacks, no junk food. I took Oil of Oregano capsules (after each meal) and moved on to probiotic capsules (two with meals) and after 3 weeks, I AM CONGESTION FREE. Incredible after several years of throat clearing, and morning hacking. My case was too much sugar, which is easy to do with current food choices. In the end, I think candida was the culprit, and will now watch what I eat. It does effect your whole body.

Registered and posting because I just found this site and this post is my life. 

I don’t have any solutions which I am sorry, but I do relate with everyone. I have this thick mucus BS and it drives me INSANE. I have breakdowns at 3am frequently because I CANNOT SLEEP.  I’m only 22 and have had this problem since high school (that I can remember.)

My symptons/relevant facts: 

-Constant throat clearing (doesn’t actually clear, I just physically have to cough to ease the OCD in my brain.)

-Whenever I have a good laugh it gets much, much worse.

-I can’t actually hack anything up, it’s like it’s glued to the back of my throat.

-Gagging from brushing my teeth sometimes helps dislodge a little bit but nothing of significance.

-Can’t breathe properly. Sometimes the mucus gets so thick I can’t even breathe through my mouth and have to cough/gag like crazy to open my airways.

-Gagging. (From coughing super hard every now and then).

-There is always a taste/smell and I’m sure my breathe isn’t very pleasant. (I avoid talking to anyone up close or will turn my head the other way because of this.)

-I don’t really have allergies as I never get sick except for maybe once a year when I get a head cold and my ears get super clogged and everything sounds muffled like I’m under water.

-I live in Florida. (humidity/environment relevance)

-My nose/sinuses hurt whenever I breathe heavy from physical activity. (I have to pinch my nose together which I assume is letting moisture build back up.)

-I avoid dairy as much as possible

-I still have my tonsils and get tonsil stones.

-Certain foods make it much worse. (Citrus & sweets like hard candy/chocolate.)

-I can’t gargle anything because I will gag, dramatically. 

I haven’t been to an ENT yet and honestly I don’t even know if I want to. Seeing that no one has had a permanent solution is so disheartening and I already have a hard time trusting and putting my faith in doctors. I do plan on seeing a doctor once 2018 is here so maybe some miracle solution will fall into my arms and I can share it with all of you.

I've had this same problem for many years, and I believe I may have just cured it. I diagnosed myself as having 'un-hockable luginitis' with minor nasal blockage and constant throat clearing. Do you find it difficult to breathe out of your nose at times worse than others? For me, particularly, it was only on one side of my nose and throat. My left side. It just so happened that I could no longer snort and hock loogies on this side, It was like there was some kind of blockage in between my nose and into my throat. What I did was, and this is after trying neti pots, nasal sprays, and eventually breaking down and going to an ENT, who did absolutely nothing for me by the way, I was laying down for bed and the sensation of my throat blockage was probably the worse it had ever been, so I figured I'd attempt to clear it up before I went to bed. I started by massaging my throat til the mucus felt like it was loosening up a bit, and then i tried coughing a bit, some quick coughs, some deep breathy coughs, weird grunting, etc. Then when it felt loose and everything, I hung my head off the edge of my bed, looking straight down at the floor for maybe about ten minutes or so until I could no longer breathe through my nose at all in either nostril. I'm assuming the mucus from the post-nasal drip had accumulated in my nose rather than going down my throat like usual. So once I was at this point, I sat straight up in my bed and simultaneously snorted very hard like I used to do when I would hock loogies and IT ACTUALLY WORKED! I snorted what was in my nose and now I can no longer feel anything dripping down from that side. There is still some minor irritation in my throat but I can now smell better than I have been able to for YEARS! I applied some Vicks Vapor Rub afterwards I feel so good that I figured I'd share this information with everyone to see if it would help them, because I have been searching forums myself for many years. Although you may have a different problem than I had, I figured it was worth a shot if it could help someone else. Best of luck!

Hey Derek, I too have the same issues but wonder if the bacteria or fungus that causes tonsil stones is not causing all of our problems. I have also noticed squiggly fine black lines floating in my eyes that never goes away. I just want relief.

HI, I just just stumbled on this thread. I could have written this verbatim. I also had problems with shortness of breath, and my heart racing. This went on for about 5 years , with 2 of those being treated for asthma and such with no change in symptoms. I finally had a scan show a spot in my lungs that didn’t seem very worrisome but doc wanted to do a bronchoscopy to investigate. He was only  able to get through my vocal chords and no further because I had scarring on my trachea, or tracheal stenosis,  that left a small hole for me to breathe through. I was quickly referred to UAB Hispital in Birmingham, AL to a doctor who was specifically dealing with tracheal stenosis. He cleared this with lasers and all of the symptoms stopped, but the damaged tissue kept wanting to build back up. I went back every 4 months or so for touch ups in office and have just had a new procedure that he is hoping will be a permanent solution.  He removed all damaged mucosa and took a small skin graft from my thigh to help regenerate new tissue. I can tell you the last 3 years have been a new life for me. The office visits were just a blip in my schedule. I had my life back again! Hopefully this last procedure will be the ticket. Just wanted to put that info out there FYI. My doctor is the only one in the US doing this and one of only three in the world doing it. Sure hope you get this figured out so you can enjoy life. God Bless!

I traveled a lot over the US and always had more trouble when the haze or smog was around. Its all across the US in different areas at different times, but LA has it before and after the grapevine.

The sinus usually heads straight for the lungs. It used to go through thr front of my nose- that was s blessing. I can tell when someone else is in a store like due to constantly clearing their theoat. It builds at night and if you drink kumbucha it just pours out.

hi fir anyone on this post please lookup silent reflux!!!!! Many of you have it including me I just found out, IT MAY SAVE YOUR LIFE!!!! SERIOUSLY!!!