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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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  • myozen
    myozen derekjp

    Posted

    After taking Fexofenadine & Pseudophedrine, I experienced dry mouth, oily face and hair loss.

    Ipratropium Bromide nasal spray, but has no significant effect.

    After all the nasal sprays, medications in my 8 years of PND, I finally found some relief by rinsing my nose twice a day with Sodium Bicarbonate with very warm water and taking LORATADINE 10 mg.

    However it only lasted 8 to 10 hours, and then the thick clear mucus starts to flow again.

    Loratadine dosage is 10 mg a day, I am taking Cetirizine 10 mg to supplement the rest of my waking hours.

    Seeing my team of ENT specialists at the end of the month, see what other options can they propose....

  • raven0801
    raven0801 derekjp

    Posted

    Guys since there are so many posts here, just curious that how many of you have the post nasal drip sensation but with NO sinus infection diagnosed? How many of you only have post nasal drip sensation with no runny nose, no coughing, no sore throat, no other symptoms at all?

    I have another appointment coming up soon with a highly rated ENT dr(it was a long waiting). Don’t wanna waste the visit so will try to get as much idea as I can from people who’s like me. I will note down all the questions for her and hopefully I can update you with some helpful info.

    • jasmin87323
      jasmin87323 raven0801

      Posted

      Raven,

      Mine is almost like yours. I got antibiotic, per my pulmonologist,  I had sinus infection, but that was not it. The antibiotics didn't help and I didn't even want to take them to begin with. Only difference is that, my mucus goes down to my chest, and I only caught to bring it up or clear, since my chest feels heavy. My nose is open and I don't have runny nose. Let me know what your ENT says, because I don't believe they know anything. sad

    • derekjp
      derekjp jasmin87323

      Posted

      Raven, mine is also exactly like yours, just pure post nasal drip, thick gluey white mucus. No sore throat, or runny nose. Sometimes nose gets stuffy when I wake up in morning but that's it. Had 3 sinus CT scans and never see an issue. More prone to sinus infections though because of it, but only had 2 in last 4 years...

    • raven0801
      raven0801 derekjp

      Posted

      Me too most of time I can breath through my nose with no issue, it occasionally gets stuffy but there’s no snot in there at all. Obviously in our cases, there’s nothing to do with eccesive mucus, maybe dryness is what causes the issue, makes the secretion more gluey and hard to go down.

      For me in the morning it’s the worst...like right after I sit up, the glob of mucus comes right back there lol it’s extremely gluey gives me a choking feeling, I don’t know if that’s because my mouth is dry when I first wake up.

      Globus Sensation doesn’t make sense to me either...as mine is never around my Adam’s apple, it’s way upper behind my soft palate and feels just like phlegm not a ball or a lump.

    • raven0801
      raven0801 jasmin87323

      Posted

      I know I’m not counting on any cure from the ENT either...only wish to get some advices if I can.

      However, I would recommend not to take too many antibiotics since that sh*t weakens the immune system and may worsen the issue. I feel doctors just brush us off by prescribing antibiotics, even though sometimes it’s clearly not bacterial infection. They really should put more control on those drugs. Lol

    • derekjp
      derekjp raven0801

      Posted

      But can you physically hock up the mucus/phlegm in the morning? Throughout the day, I feel the slow thick dripping at the nasopharynx area, sometimes if I catch it at the right point, I can hock it up, and it's disgusting... Literally like holding glue between your fingertips... All day every day for the last 5 years, but some days worse than others.

      It's definitely not globus sensation because if it was, there wouldn't be the physical presence of the mucus that you can hock up. I've about 50 nasoendoscopies and if the timing is right when the drip is present, the Dr. can actually see it trickling down. Swalling gets rid of for a few seconds, which is what I do about 20x every 2-3 minutes.

      I even had adenoidectomy as well but absolutely no change.

    • raven0801
      raven0801 derekjp

      Posted

      Mine is at the nasopharynx as well, hard to describe, it feels like choking on water during shower or swimming, but it’s mucus instead of water.

      Most of time I can’t hock it up because it’s too gluey and the position is too high. Same as you, unless sometimes I rarely catch the “perfect” point, or right after I use the saline spray, I can suck some of it into my mouth and spit it out. Not able to swallow it down either, it just never moves. And I can’t even drink water too fast now as I feel I may gag or choke because of that sh*t...

      50 nasoendoscopies wow...and even the doctor has seen the dripping himself, he still couldn’t find out the reason why?

       And you haven’t had any nasal surgery before right?

  • elizabeee
    elizabeee derekjp

    Posted

    I have been in total and complete sinus and facial pain misery for almost two years now. It started with acupuncture in my face that hit a nerve and basically caused my body to go haywire. I had a cascade of bizarre symptoms after that trauma, including facial swelling, and rashes, flushing, but my worst symptom was this constant feeling of deep pressure and pain on the left side of my face under my eye and next to my nose. It felt like my sinuses were so inflamed and became closed. I have literally tried everything - nerve pain meds, oral and nasal steroids, oral and nasal antihistamines, and eventually surgery. Unfortunately the surgery exacerbated the issue and the pain and swelling became worse. I also developed constant dripping from my left nostril. Very very long story semi-short, after two years of desperately seeking a diagnosis and being dismissed over and over again, I was recently diagnosed with a condition called Mast Cell Activation Syndrome and also dysautonomia. Basically the cells that produce inflammation are extremely overactivated in my left sinuses, which also irritate the nerves and cause pain and swelling. There are a lot of meds you can take for this condition but baseline treatments are an H1 blocker (Zyrtec), H2 blocker (Zantac), singulair and NSAIDs. Singulair has helped with the pressure slightly but unfortunately it takes a lot of trial and error with different medications. Nasalcrom nasal spray (cromolyn is a mast cell stabilizer) can also help with  nasal and sinus discomfort. The autonomic dysfunction is probably what makes my nerves so hypersensitive. If you have weird, unexplained symptoms like this, I would highly recommend asking your doctor about these conditions. I am in no way feeling better yet, but I’m hopeful that I’m on the right path. 
    • Lurcecita
      Lurcecita elizabeee

      Posted

      wow how do they find this medical condition? Have you ever feel this sensation like mucus stuck in your throat or like hypersesitive laryngx? 
  • clzrn
    clzrn derekjp

    Posted

    I want to report an improvement I had recently in case it might help other people out there. I think I might have 2 separated issues, together they are even worse, I will explain in details:

    I was reading a lot lately about LPR, silent reflux and how pepsin can get into your airways and irritate everything above the stomach. In one of these websites they suggest taking baking soda with warm warmer to see if the symptoms improved. I drank it every morning and for 3 days and chewed some antacid gums with baking soda by the bed time with great success, my throat felt like it was moisturized and I could swallow and breathe like never before. Also my mouth felt pleasant, not with a weird pasty feeling like before.

    I was just curious why baking soda worked and PPIs didn't and the answer is that baking soda deactivates pepsin, and PPIs only act in reducing the stomach acid. Since I had no reflux symptoms like heartburn and my exams didn't show signs of acid reflux too, I can only conclude that pepsin is the cause the problem, known as Silent Reflux. The problem is that I don't want to reduce the acidic of my stomach by taking baking soda. I know how important acid is for the digestive process. Thinking about that, I started only to gargle water with baking soda and added baking soda to my nasal spray and my nasal rinse (Neilmed) since it deactivates pepsin, so it  would only kill pepsin on my throat and sinus. IT WORKS LIKE A CHARM. Again, I never thought I could breathe and swallow as easy as I'm right now. I literally laughed an entire day just because I know feel what a normal person feel when they breathe and swallow.

    Problem 2: I still feel some sort of pressure on my throat and hoarseness when I speak but it's better than before. These symptoms were eliminated when I tried Amitriptyline in the past, but I stopped taking it for obvious reasons.

    So now I can conclude I have 2 problems. Silent reflux and nerve damage. One I can control with baking soda, the other I still have to take a better look at. I might try gabepentin in the next weeks.

    I hope this helps someone out there. Try gargling with baking soda, several times a day, specially after meals. I add a lot of baking soda to a small part of water and gargle for 30 seconds to a minute. The taste is weird but tolerable. DO NOT SWALLOW IT.

    • raven0801
      raven0801 clzrn

      Posted

      Hi clzrn,

      I thought it might be LPR that’s causing the issues, but after having nasal endoscopy and gastroscopy, they both showed no signs of acid reflux. I also don’t feel any typical reflux symptoms such as heartburn, etc. They only found me having mild chronic gastritis. I’m on PPI now.

      I spent my whole life figuring out if it’s nosal problem or pharyngitis or something else...still no clue.

      So far I still have

      - gluey mucus stuck at my nasopharynx, where my nose meets my throat, which can’t be swallow down or spit out. Whenever I swallow I feel something’s there which sometimes makes me panicky.

      - I can’t speak loud now as I feel the mucus is blocking up.

      - I have very dry nasal passages with no runny nose at all

      - dry throat, my saliva sometimes feels sticky and pasty

      Before trying the baking soda, I’m curious that what was your symptoms like before? Just want to see if we have anything in common. Thanks

    • clzrn
      clzrn raven0801

      Posted

      That is the thing, Silent Reflux is not diagnosed with endoscopy and gastroscopy because pepsin enzyme makes its way to the throat as a gas, it is not the regular acid, so PPIs will not help at all and will only make things even worse. Try the baking soda as I mentioned above and let me know.
    • nita28209
      nita28209 clzrn

      Posted

      Some people have stopped mentioning the ongoing cough. I still have it. It's better, but not gone. Earlier I honestly had the sensation of something crawling in my throat. 

    • May77
      May77 clzrn

      Posted

      I think you really are onto something with the pepsin! Tank you!

      I did a search and found on another forum people with exactly the same mucus issues; they are treating the pepsin too. I am on day 2 of gargling with baking soda. Also added a little to my saline spray. Also drank a bit of it so it would go down further. I can definitely see improvement already.

      Anyone else trying this?

    • raven0801
      raven0801 May77

      Posted

      Hi May, what were your symptoms like before?
    • clzrn
      clzrn raven0801

      Posted

      I forgot to reply with my symptoms. They are:

      Constant mucus in the throat/nose/sinus.

      Hoarseness when speaking, I usually lose my voice within 5 minutes os talking, after that I have to force it and i can’t talk correctly.

      Throat ache

      Pressure on the throat, so it’s difficult to breathe.

    • May77
      May77 raven0801

      Posted

      Thick gluey mucus at back of throat. No cough for me.
    • raven0801
      raven0801 clzrn

      Posted

      I have everything you have except sore throat. Constant gluey and dry mucus stuck behind my soft palate. My throat feels dry and tight. I can’t even speak for more than 7-8 sentences continuously now because my throat gets extremely tired...can’t speak loud of course. Sometimes I experience shortness of breath because of it.

      I’ll try your method and see if it helps.

    • clzrn
      clzrn raven0801

      Posted

      Cool, let us know. Baking soda is really cheap so it’s worth trying. 
    • jasmin87323
      jasmin87323 raven0801

      Posted

      Hi Raven,

      I just want to know if you saw your ENT yet?

      Did you started using the GrapeFruitSeed extract nasal spray? does it help you?

      I have been using the Nasal Spray contstantly few times a day, it lessened the mucus a lot, but it is not gone. Some days I have more some days it is lighter. One day my mucus had some dark (black spot) in it, is it possible that is a mold?

      My chest sometimes gets congested with that mucus giving me hard time to breath till I cough it out.

      I also take probiotics daily and also oragano oil. 

      I have been doing all the above 3 weeks, and it is not completely gone. 

      I also so my family doctor, she doesn't know anything, but I asked her to give me antifungal medication which I took for 5 days (Fluconazole). Not sure if it made a huge difference.

      Any new discoveries? From  your or anyone else suffering from the same thing?

      Could this be viral?

    • perry37168
      perry37168 jasmin87323

      Posted

      Hi jasmine

      I bought both nasal sprays the plus one and none plus. I started with the none plus and it seemed to loosen the mucus then the plus one arrived this has a more funny sensation I used for a few days then started feeling un well so stopped and switched back still don’t feel to good I’m suffereing from shortness of breath now and doctor has sent me for tests etc on my heart.! Don’t know if it’s related. The spray does help but I am going to stop now to see if it was this thatsmaking me feel unwell . Any other remedies u know of that can loosen the mucus ? 

    • jasmin87323
      jasmin87323 perry37168

      Posted

      Perry,

      I do have a friend who is PA at cardiology, said it is not heart related. When you have shortness of breath, that is because your broncs are full with mucus. If you clear you feel better. It is no point testing your heart, you know it is not your heart if you already have a mucus problem.

      Keep using the spray, it will at least help you getting rid of some mucus and loosen it up and make it easy to clear. Just don't overuse it.

    • perry37168
      perry37168 jasmin87323

      Posted

      Thanks jasmine silly question but how do you clear your broncs ? 

      Have you tried the apple cider theory ? 

    • jo8888
      jo8888 raven0801

      Posted

      Its possible to have LPR because of low stomach acid also, which you can take acid tablets for

    • nita28209
      nita28209 raven0801

      Posted

      Do you still have this and still have a cough with it? I have a wet cough with it, not dry.

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