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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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  • nita28209
    nita28209 derekjp

    Posted

    Mine is exactly like yours, but it doesn't go away when I lie down. I am looking for what someone said about the chilliness issue that the Chinese recognize, when your body temp is lowered for awhile, because the summer before this began, I was in a cool pool daily for two hours. 

    • dougsmam
      dougsmam nita28209

      Posted

      hya NITA.mine starts when i am hot ,if i am cooking tea it starts so i try to stay cool ,but with no dairy products  and , sugar mine has become tolerable but still could do without it
  • raven0801
    raven0801 derekjp

    Posted

    Hi Derek, same symptom but suddenly got worsen since a week ago(which I described in my recent posts). It affects my eating now. Feels like my throat is closed and blocked with a blob of mucus, along with extremely dry mouth and dry throat. I also started having light muscle pain since this happened(don’t know if it’s related)

    I became really panicky and nervous and I even tremble sometimes, always scared of choking when I’m eating. ENT endoscopy found nothing...or maybe I should go do the test for silent reflux?(I don’t have typical symtoms of GERD such as heartburn...)

    Really don’t know if it’s anxiety attack or what...it’s ruining my life.

    I will be more than happy if anyone find any way to reduce the symptom and share it here...

    • barry12128
      barry12128 raven0801

      Posted

      Raven, I went through the same symptoms about a year ago.  I had the same anxiety attack and my heart start beating really fast that I thought it was the end of the road for me that day.   I have managed to reduced the symptoms.  I take 600 mg of GABA for anxiety, and I take allergy medicine just in case it is the cause,  I drink at least 60 to 80 ounces of water a day.   I take probiotics a day just in case it is gut related.  I don’t know which of these medications I take but a combination or one or another seems to reduced the symptoms to a minimum.  Give it a try and I hope it works for you as well.  Take care...
    • raven0801
      raven0801 barry12128

      Posted

      Hi Barry, thank you for your advices. Did you also find it difficult when you swallow? Feel like food got stuck and didn’t go down very smoothly, because the back throat area felt extremely sticky and dry along with some kind of mucus. Even when I swallow saliva I felt really uncomfortable...don’t know if it’s because I was too nervous which caused a tight throat...
  • clzrn
    clzrn derekjp

    Posted

    Hey everyone, I'm a male, 31 yo and I have all the symptoms described on the comments here, besides the fact that it has been like this my entire life, I mean, the first time I noticed it was bothering me I was 15, so I don't remember when it started and what made it starts, but it also never changed. Every day of my life has been this hell, there isn't any food, weather, or other condition that made it go away in the past decades.

    My throat hurts all the time, it is full of phlegm, I constantly have to clear it either by coughing, inhaling it or forcing my vocal cords. I can't speak for more than 1 minute without things getting worse, then I start to force my voice out and I start to lose it pretty quickly, then I keep forcing it even more and I have pretty bad headaches. When I eat, my nose runs like a tap, there's always mucus and I can blow my nose every 5 minutes if I wanted to, I also feel a pressure in my throat near the vocal cords, like it is always under pressure.

    I don't have problems breathing or sleeping, I think I'm a little anxious but nothing out of this world to cause so much problem. In general I'm a very calm person.

    Several doctors checked every possible thing you can imagine and no diagnostic. No reflux, no intense allergy, nothing.

    One doctor said my "turbinates" (a spongy thing inside the nose) were swollen and we had a little surgery to reduce them, nothing changed. 

    The only real thing that made a difference was pseudoephedrine, which of course, you can't take for more than a couple days. Nasal sprays fix the problem for 1 hour, so if I spray it every hour I will probably have other serious side effects from it, so it's a no for me. One doctor decided to try Amitriptyline after I insisted that people on the internet said it could help. It did help (a little) but it made me sleep 20 hours a day, I couldn't do anything.

    Even when I'm mucus free from these medications, I still feel I need to force my voice because of the pressure on my throat. My voice tone is low so I tend to speak a little louder and force a higher tone so people can understand me.

    As you all can imagine, it affects every possible aspect of my life. I don't feel confident to talk to anyone anymore, although I want to.

    I tried several diets, gluten free, dairy free, eating healthy, eating crap, nothing so far worked, but I'm willing to try paleo diet and even water fasting to see if food is the real cause of it.

    Any help? Any clue? Any advice besides of what everyone posted before?

    • tom78394
      tom78394 clzrn

      Posted

      I also have had this condition since I was a teen; I am a male and 71 . Like, you I did not have trouble breathing or sleeping until my 50's. I also would lose my voice from too much phelgm in my throat and would be uncomfortable in social situations.

      In my 50's I started having trouble sleeping and breathing when lying down.  The diagnosis I got was that 'all that phelgm' in my throat was causing my airway to constrict. Went to allergy docs, tried shots, pills and sprays; no help there. ENT docs said I had an allergy, try the sprays and pills.

      Only thing that seems to work after all these years are nasal saline/baking soda rinses (sometimes with a few drops of baby shampoo) and gargling with apple cider vinegar mixtures to loosen up the phelgm so I can spit it out.

      Some have mentioned anxiety as a cause of the phelgmy throat. For me it is the other way around: when I clear the phelgm from my throat I feel calmer and less anxious.

      The moral of all this is keep your throat as clean as possible and don't allow a phelgm build up. Over time it can cause physical damage.

  • dimuth_14111
    dimuth_14111 derekjp

    Posted

    I have the same symptoms just like you. AND doctors said that i have chronic catarrh.
  • amekami77
    amekami77 derekjp

    Posted

    I have been suffering with the same issue for a year. However, I do not cough anything up. I feel like I have to constantly clear my throat all the time and when I am out, it is embarrassing. I already take gabapentin. So I would say that doesn't help. I went to see an ENT, he is referring me to an Allergist. From there I'm not sure where to go. It may be a long shot, but I am desperate, I was reading about COPD. I used to be a smoker for about 15 years, at the end 2 packs a day. I quit in 2000. I fit a couple of the symptoms. I will check anything. I just want help with this too.

  • May77
    May77 derekjp

    Posted

    Has anyone looked into a possible link with auto-immune diseases?

    I have noticed that when i start taking supplements to help with immunity (echinacea in particular) my symptoms definitely get better. 

    Any feedback on this?

    • nita28209
      nita28209 May77

      Posted

      I am pretty healthy otherwise, although this all came on after a cold lasting 4 whole months. My daughter and grandson had it too, but their coughs went away.
    • Bongowokbin
      Bongowokbin May77

      Posted

      Yes. I have an auto immune disorder, to rid the mucus. this sounds horrible but, I lick my finger and dip it in bicarbonate of soda.  Then I stick it in the back of my throat. This seems to disperse the mucus.  Mine gets worse when I consume milk. even if it is in another product like chocolate or a coffee.   
    • barry12128
      barry12128 May77

      Posted

      Yes, I was diagnosis with an auto immune disease from a dermatologist several years ago.

    • solomon46581
      solomon46581 barry12128

      Posted

      Does anyone has mercury tooth filling? could that cause the issue. My tooth was filled with silver mercury back in 1998. But i start having this issue in 2012. I am just trying to figure out what is causing this sticky mucus in the back of my nose, which is making me snore by blocking the air way. One person suggested Modern Nose Clinic. Has anyone have any experience with this clinic?

      Thank you

      Solomon

    • BadDNA
      BadDNA May77

      Posted

      Yes....I have Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, vitiligo, cold urticaria, and have had Guillain-Barre Syndrome.

    • BadDNA
      BadDNA solomon46581

      Posted

      yes....I'm 61 years old....and since I was 16 years old I've had a mouth practically full of mercury fillings.

      When I was about 40 years old the teeth around my fillings started cracking and falling off and some of my fillings have either fell out or I swallowed them unknowingly....and the rest are partially broken off near the gumline and have stayed inbedded within my jaw bones.

      Im in a horrible mess but I cannot afford to have the fillings removed so I just have to live with it and any consequences thereof.

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