A bevy of LPR Mucus .... In a Muddle ...

Stricture ... or Anxiety? ....Certainly Mucus - Frothy white it is - a textbook definition - I’m a 63 YO Male ... and most certainly stuck ... Stuck in some rut ...

It all happened about three weeks ago. Until then I was – I thought – the very picture of robust health. Well, I might have a gentle gas release after a meal ... but nothing more. Otherwise I was fine. I had gone through the wars in about 2014 and come out the other end.

THEN – Ah, yes ... the infamous ‘then’. I was – in this instance – attempting to tackle a small case of toenail fungus. I had read on the internet that if you soaked your feet in Dettol that it could do the trick. I followed the directions. They said one cap of the stuff for every half pint of water. I was conservative. I most usually am. I put three pints of water into a basin and two capfuls. That would beat the odds I thought. In terms of the fungus it did the trick. The corrupting stuff beneath easily eased out. Sadly so too did the fumes. Soak for five to ten minutes the web instructed. I stuck it out for ten. I had placed paper towels over my mouth and nose. ‘Was the bottle left open?’ a friend asked. To be perfectly honest I don’t know.

I went into the kitchen and put the offending substance back in the lower cabinet where it sits even now. A short while later I felt a thread of tightness sow itself upon the upper portion of my stomach and a certain nausea set in. My left – and only the left mind – nostril began to slightly burn. Only for a very short while ... but still. I also perceived I could momentarily taste Dettol. Perhaps I had passed my hand over my lips at one point – but any residue there too would have been diluted. Some hours later I thought – momentarily again – my throat was sore. I kept swallowing. In fact I swallowed twice. It passed quickly. It was gone. I went out. When I came back home I ran up the 12 stairs from the tube platform to the lift area and then – as is my wont – I rang up the 79 stairs to street level. I am usually – as the NHS might say – ‘lightly winded’ – which I’m told is a healthy sign. This time it took me longer to recover. This is where I became CONCERNED.

I taught the next day and in the evening was preparing sessions that I was to lead the next two days in Hamburg. In my flat I perceived a tightness to my breathing. Not extreme – but still. I called NHS Direct – or whatever it is called now. I got passed to a nurse (I think) who told me I should go to an Emergency ward local to me. I had a lot of work to do – and an early morning flight – but I respected their wishes. I remember sitting in the Hospital lobby watching May’s monumental Bexit Plan defeat. My stats were normal; as was my ECG. My blood oxygen levels were 100%. A very kind lady doctor saw me. She examined me – went away to google ‘Dettol’ I assume – and said I could leave. ‘Don’t eat anything too spicy’ she said. ‘You’ll be fine.’ Others have told me the same. I believe them ... for a bit. Genuinely I do. Then .... Oh, yes, .... another 'then' ...

I caught that early morning flight to Germany and taught some classes on both days. One day I felt something – a residue - come back in my throat – but that too was gentle and only once. On the Thursday – the second day – I came in from the theatre in the evening and went to bed. Suddenly I felt as if I was drowning for breath. I bolted upright. That passed quickly – but it frightened me. It was cold – very cold – (even in the room) – true – but all I could think of was the Dettol. I’m good at anxiety. A record holder in that area in my own estimation.

Gingerly I went back to Hamburg airport the next morning and on to London. Again I taught, went to a Trustees meeting I was committed to and then to my GP surgery. Kindly a doctor saw me. He said I may have had a bout of pulmonary oedema. (I didn’t have it but that once. Thank heavens.) I asked for an x-ray of my chest. He kindly concurred. I had the x-ray first thing on the Monday morning. They said it would take 10 days for the results so I had one done privately the next day with the results coming back in 24 hours. Both were normal. I had a spirometry test; again normal.

Still I had this frothy white mucus at the back of my throat. I still have it. I don’t have a cough – per sey – and my voice somehow seems to hold up. The other night I went to bed – after the night before really not sleeping for worrying – and woke up three times seemingly trying to asphyxiate myself with these vicious strings of pristine sputum. I took one of those 20x mirrors (I use it to shave) and even saw a sample in my nostril.

It’s strange – if my mind is on something else – I don’t mind the stairs – any stairs – I’m great at running up them. If I am panicking – and, again, I’m good at that too – I still feel it takes longer to recover.

The worry has got the better of me. I give in. I have made an appointment tomorrow with one of those expensive (VERY expensive) consultants who will scope my nose and throat. (I have had one done once before – all clear.) This will – for once and for all – deal with the Dettol concern. That’s what I’m telling myself. I’M GOING TO BELIEVE WHATEVER I’M TOLD. Let that be an end.

I know I have LPR. I’ve seen the picture on one of those videos – and they look for the purely white from without the folds. I now have a bevy. (Does anxiety in part forge this? Anyone know?) Like so many others hereabouts I have no heartburn.

Does anyone else have the mucus? I wondered how you handled it. Any advice would be gratefully received. I am – as I say – VERY conservative. I had one round of PPI’s in 2014 and it did, I fear, naught for me. I still eat what I ate then. I have two bananas (including the skins) mixed with four tablespoons of porridge oats mixed with water and blended for breakfast and a bowl of brown rice for my main meal. If I’m hungry in the evening I will eat two or three baked potatoes (plain) and if I need a snack I eat air popped popcorn. No toppings. I ONLY drink hot water. No one would accuse me of being fat I think. I’ve tried every supplement going in the past ... and simply somehow learned to live without them and with LPR. Hopefully it can go back to that again. At the moment she – or is it he? – or is it ‘IT’? - is a VERY unruly bedfellow.

Thanks for your kindness and patience in reading this. I'm telling myself there is therapy in the writing of it.

Bless you for ALL.

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