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

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derekjp
derekjp

Hello,

Suffering for 2 years with sensation of thick mucus stuck at the back of the nose, which I'm often able to hock up out of my mouth (clear but very "snotty" and like thick glue when it's in a tissue).

Sometimes it gets in my throat and I often clear my throat all day long too. I guess this is post-nasal drip, but not watery or thin (like you apparently get from an allergy), it's very thick and feels awful like a lump or glob that won't move, until I hock it up, but within minutes it's back again...

Tried all reflux and allergy medications (double-dose PPIs, steroid sprays, allergy RAST tests, antihistamines, singulair, antihistamine sprays, nasal irrigation, gastrocopy, multiple nasal/throat endoscopes, sinus CT scans), and they can't identify the problem... All of my symptoms disappear completely, when I eat or lay down with my head to either side (which I find very odd! Equally, if I take pseudoephridrine (oral decongestant), my symptoms go too (but I know that's not a long term option).

Anyone ever dealt with anything similar or know what to suggest next?I've been thinking of self-treating with amitriptyline (10mg at night) and gabapentin (100mg 3x per day), to see if this is a hypersensitivity/nerve issue. I have absolutely no other symptoms and can't live much longer like this, it's completely ruined my life and things are just getting worse sad

Thanks for any help at all.

15 likes, 758 replies

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  • DMZABO
    DMZABO derekjp

    Posted

    OH yeah. Big thick nasty blobs.. except mine are a green mess. Mine only happen in in the winter time when the house is very dry due to the heat. 
  • yvonney
    yvonney derekjp

    Posted

    Hello Derek.  Your post rang bells for me.  I definitely have the exact same condition as you?  I get short periods of a week or two where i only have sneezing but then it starts plugging up my airways and i panic in night trying to breath through a glue like plug right in back of throat.  There ahve been times when i had to clear every minute as it came so profusely,  Socially unnacceptable and so embarassing and very tiring.  I am convinced i have AN ALLERGY BUT ANTIHISTAMINES   only work some of the time and they dry my throat making the mucus go hard in my nose and this can give me a breathless ness which is hard to describe.  You cant swallow stuff which is forming a covering on your throat like dried egg white.  I tried PPIs for reflux but its random effects didnt convince me.  I follow a fairly low histamine diet and that doesnt do much either.  My problems disappear when i sleep so maybe position in bed has some effect upon it.  YOu posted a year ago now.  Have you found any answers?
    • barry12128
      barry12128 yvonney

      Posted

      I have been studying my symptoms for the last 2 to 3 months.  I also noticed that taking probiotics and having a bowel motion do stop the symptoms for occurring.   I have to drink at least 80 ounces of water a day.   So far, I have reduced the symptoms to once every few weeks to where I have it under control.   But yes, I do think the bowel motion is connected to it.   It almost like an alert signal to let you know that it has been too long since your last bowel motion.
    • yvonney
      yvonney barry12128

      Posted

      I have good days and bad days and definitely connencted to bowel fullness almost as if the mucus is generated to lubricate the digestive tract?  Before all this throat stuff began i had IBS for 25 years .  When i have a satisfactory BM I have instant impulse to blow my nose and the gunk which usually sits in  a glob just above my throat starts to come out  of my nose as it should.  One thing i do now is blow my nose gently but repeatedly just after a BM because it is a rare opportunity to clear the sinuses with some ease through the nostrils.  On bad throat clearing days i feel very breathless and tired too and i wondered if that was caused by toxicity from a slow bowel?  I hope a researcher reads these pages and does some study of the connection between bowels and nasal sinuses?  An attack often begins with severe acidic stinging in my eyes - quite blinding at times and then it goes to my sinuses, lasts 2-3 days.  I have a BM everyday but on days when the faeces seems narrow and finding it hard to evacuate i get the worst  throat clearing.  
    • UKLady
      UKLady yvonney

      Posted

      Your lucky yours goes away at night mine is bad in the night too. 😞

  • yvonney
    yvonney derekjp

    Posted

    Like many here i have had this for years.  I have many theories and had many tests .  One strange thing i experieince which  i have not seen here so far is that my thickly clogged sinus and throat mostly clears and flows normally when i have a bowel motion.  I have some bowel slowness from time to time and if i dont go everyday twice the tightness and congestion in my ears, throat and nose can get very obstructive to breathing.  Of someone could fnd a connection between this ENT throat issue and bowels we might see successful treatment.  I can be relatively comfortable for an hour after bowel motion and also if i eat very lightly almost to point of starvation i dont get the terrible congestion.  It makes me wonder if my glands secrete the mucus overmuch thinking it helps the process of digestion???  As for being anxious i was neurotic when young but i am 61 now have a relatively easy retired life by the sea walking and playing scrabble.  Less anxiety than i ever had but this problem only started 3 years ago anyway.  
  • tifini08972
    tifini08972 derekjp

    Posted

    I am so happy to find out I am not alone in this.  The thick mucus is annoying at best and scary at worst when it seems stuck.  People also mistake my cough for a sneeze.  It seems to happen every time I change locations (room to room - house to car).  My kids say they can find me by listening for my cough.  I hate it.  Sometimes the mucus has dried blood in the mornings.  Strangely, rubbing my lips with a rough texture seems to calm it down, which I know sounds crazy.  Sugar and carbs make it worse.  I am almost always sucking on a vitamin C drop to keep it at bay.  I would LOVE to find a solution.
    • berniel
      berniel tifini08972

      Posted

      ...I HAVE A THEORY...I BELEIVE THIS IS ALL CAUSED BY ANXIETY....ARE YOU A NERVOUS PERSON..OR HAVE HEALTH ANXIETYS?...I HAVE BOTH...I THINK IF I FIX THE ANXIETY...GOD I DONT KNOW HOW, IT WILL HELP THE POST NASAL DRIP FROM H E LL
  • covener
    covener derekjp

    Posted

    I have many similar symptoms as the folks in this thread with one major difference -- I have a sensation of mucus in my upper throat that makes involuntary swallowing 'forced" but not painful -- but there isn't actually mucus there.

    So far no GERD or allergy medication has had any impact.  Waiting on formal endoscopy results, but skeptical anything was confirmed or debunked (feel like I am being taken for a ride).

    Is anyone in this boat with "phantom" phlegm?

    • barry12128
      barry12128 covener

      Posted

      I have tried something for anxiety and the mucus is 95% gone.   Give it a shot, see if you can find something at the Health Food Store.
    • barry12128
      barry12128 PeteDam

      Posted

      I tried a product called GABA Plus 600 mg.  There are other products just talk to the person working at the Health Store and see if they can recommend other products as well.
  • jw51640
    jw51640 derekjp

    Posted

    Have you had your sinuses drained? perhaps you have a mild sinus infection in one of your sinus cavities. Your immune system might not be able to eliminate the infection completely alone. You should have xrays of your sinuses to see how congested they are. If a medicated treatment is administered you should have xrays taken to see if the problem completely subsided.
  • BadDNA
    BadDNA derekjp

    Posted

    Like many others here...I was using these search words and came across this post.

    And, like many others, feel your post could very well have been 100% written by/for me.

    The description fits me to a “T”!

    I have zero cough...just that thick (practically DRIED GLUE-like) ick that gags me until I get rid of it...and I don’t have to tell you how THAT has to happen. 😔

    I have tried most of the meds others have tried...and I have been on Gabapentin since 2009 when I had Guillain-Barre Syndrome.

    Just for the record...this “mucous” issue only started somewhere in late 2016 to early 2017.

    It doesn’t come from, nor does it ever go to, my chest. In other words, I’m not spitting it up from the chest.

    It is “created” in my throat directly  behind my nose...and that’s where it stays glued...until I have to violently hawk it out.

    It will not budge for me to swallow it.

    If I am out in public...sometimes I start dry heaving...and if I can’t excuse myself to the restroom...I can eat a piece of bread or take a soft mint to chew...and by myself some time until I can get to the restroom.

    I can remember as a kid...that my daddy had the very same thing too.

    He’s no longer here for me to ask him when it started for him...but he had it until the day he died.

    Hoping someone, somewhere, comes up with a cure someday.”

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