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brown mucus in the morning from throat and occasionally mild ear pain

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louise12570
louise12570

Hi, for the last month I have been waking up in the morning with a lot of irritating mucus in my throat, I have to hack it up and too my big surprise it's brown.... Almost dark brown! Shock! it's only in the morning! The rest of the day I also have a lot of throat mucus but it's clear... occasionally I have some ear pain.. mild.. That has been going on for probably 2 months.. I have been to a ENT 3 times and he scoped me through my nose down to my throat and says everything looks normal.. He looked me in the ears and it looks fine as well.. So I'm thinking what the hells is going on?? I'm so freaked out about this.. that it might be something serious... I don't see how brown mucus is normal so there is obviously something wrong?? Has anyone experienced anything like this? 

1 like, 67 replies

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  • peter81755
    peter81755 louise12570

    Posted

    Hi louise,  Not sure you will still check this thread. If you do, I would appreciate your opinoin on my situation..  I am non-smoker, non-drinker for almost my whole life.  Was dignosed as Bronchitis 3 weeks back, after a few days of coughing, without fever. Levaquin [antibiotics] 7 days pack seemd not work. 2nd week with 5 days pack of another kind of antibiotics did not seem to work either. I am to the point to belive it's caused by viruses. Hence antibiotics does not work at all..  I got the brown phlegm/mucus after I wake up. The more I hack it up and out, the color will be thinner. By noon time it will be almost no browness.

    Doc had done a few test, include TB. NTF[no trouble found]. Next test would be CAT scan... I had tried the Nasal Irrigator for 3 nights in a row, after reading the threads here.  My phlegm/mucus had been reduced, but the browness still remain..  Perhaps my problem is not Post-Nasal Drip related???  If I can get rid of the brown phlegm/mucus, I am ready to drop CAT test and claim I am recovered completely.. BTW, sputum test did not conclude anything thing wrong.  One Q: how many days of nasal wash was done before browness disappeare??  TIA..

  • Xpact
    Xpact louise12570

    Posted

    Thanks. The same thing was bothering me for the past years. I spit brown mocus every morning. Im also certain that it's coming from my throat. I tried co amoxiclav that's the only thing that seems effective but when i stop taking it the brown mocus comes back and i know that i cant use anti biotic every time i want. But when i tried neti pot because of this forum i dont have brown mocus anymore.

    • peter81755
      peter81755 Xpact

      Posted

      Hi Xpact,

        Glad to know neti pot works for you. Again, how mant days of nasal wash had you done before the brown mucus go away??  TIA..

    • Xpact
      Xpact peter81755

      Posted

      Hi  peter81755, 

      I have been doing neti pot for a week now. I still have mocus in the morning but it's not as sticky as before, and not brown anymore. I have consulted this to some ENT's  but they never mentioned anything about neti pot. I remember the last ENT that I consulted told me that the brown mocus is due to dirt in air that I inhale in my every day work. 

      Do you only experience brown mucus in the morning?

    • Xpact
      Xpact peter81755

      Posted

      Hi  peter81755, 

      I have been doing neti pot for a week now. I still have mocus in the morning but it's not as sticky as before, and not brown anymore. I have consulted this to some ENT's  but they never mentioned anything about neti pot. I remember the last ENT that I consulted told me that the brown mocus is due to dirt in air that I inhale in my every day work. 

      ?Do you only experience brown mucus in the morning?

    • peter81755
      peter81755 Xpact

      Posted

      Hi Xpact,

      My case is like this:

        Wake up in the morning, after long sleep, got darkest brown mocus. With constantly coughing out the mucus, browness reduced. By noon, it's almost like reduced by 90%. Some time I cough out plain mucus..

      By the late afternoon, darkness is almost disappered.

        And I sleep in the same room for years, I never had this problem before. Perhaps my case is more like infection induced, not due to the air I inhale??  I will continue couple days with nasal wash. Read article says over use nasal wash had downside as well.. Might stop for a while until I really need it, such as allergy...

    • Xpact
      Xpact peter81755

      Posted

      I also experienced spitting very dark brown mucus in the morning. This is happening to me for like 2 to 3 years, it came to a point that i was just ignoring it and get tired of going to ENT's. Did you try to take anti biotics like co amoxiclav? It also helped me but the problem is when i stop taking it the brown mocus comes back in a few days.

      I was also thinking that doing neti pot every day would have its down side. I will just do it maybe thrice a week.

    • Xpact
      Xpact peter81755

      Posted

      Maybe you should also have your lungs checked. You said you are coughing up the mocus? In my case the mocus is just coming from my throat.
    • hope2017
      hope2017 Xpact

      Posted

      Hi Xpact.  Wanted to reply to you as I'm getting the brown phlem and it cleared up temporarily with the exact antibiotic you used, it's just came back after a week of not taking them.  I know it has been a few months since you last posted but was wondering if you have any answers yet?  I have some sort of viral throat infection - inflamed tonsils on both sides, a little pain(mild every few days) on both sides including the back of my throat.  Also the roof of my mouth above tonsils is bright red.  I also am getting a lot of acid reflux, especially after eating.

      This all started with a soar throat early September 2016.  Got throat swab results and I was clear(apparantly showing no bacterial infection) but apparantly a viral infection can be still present where there's no treatment.  It's confusing as antiobiotics have no effect on viral infections yet my brown phlem disappeared until today so I must have a bacterial infection somewhere, maybe deeper into my throat as they only swabbed my tonsils.

      I also have a skin tag that appeared on the skin between my tounge and inner cheek on the right which they are doing a biopsy on along with exploring my throat deeper with a camera.

      I'm so worried.  Would appreciate any reply, especially if you have any answers yet.

  • tygrus
    tygrus louise12570

    Posted

    Reflux into the bronchial(lungs) can cause mucus which is thick, sticky and dark brown (dark milk chocolate color). If you don't suffer reflux during the day then it may be "silent reflux" when laying down (eg. during sleep). You can try over-the-counter (pharmacy) PPI  medicine and talk to your GP about it.

  • sam85312
    sam85312 louise12570

    Posted

    Hi, I have the same problem when I wake up in the morning I hack up dark chocolate color Phlegm within an hour for last 8 weeks but when I went out of station I didn’t get it for 5 days once I am back home started again my GP said it might be allergies and then went to ENT he did a scope and told nothing there and referred to GI for any upper GI bleeding. I did start Neti pot from 5 days see some want less but again got the same amount as previously.

    My life style has not changed or effected by this,Please suggest if I need to any thing differently

  • connie12394
    connie12394 louise12570

    Posted

    I have had basically the same thing going on and couldn't tell sometimes if it was from post nasal drip or reflux.  It has been almost 5 years now which is the age of our dog!  My ENT said my allergy test showed reaction to dog but that it didn't show allergy to dog.  That was the only thing out of a hundred tested that stood out.

    Our dog is a short haired dog, mountain cur, and has a lot of undercoat

    hairs that fall everywhere. We have had dogs before but they had different coats so I don't know if it matters.   I worry that my lungs are being compromised over time.  

    Did anyone else have symptoms start when a new pet came into your home to stay?

     

    • sam85312
      sam85312 connie12394

      Posted

      I had this for past 2 months and did CT for Lungs, CT for Abdomin and ENT did scope and last did a GI endoscopy and had mild reflex so this might be the cause also Dr said to sleep on Wedge pillow and it reduced now.
  • nelson2018
    nelson2018 louise12570

    Posted

    Louise spitting is NOT from the lungs, COUGHING IS, coughing is the lungs mechanism to expel a foreign body or substance and it takes force>cough to do so, I know because I've had this in the past, I've woken up "spitting" a jelly like substance that brownies or dark red from the hack of my throat. Here's a few reasons of what it may be

    -sinus irritation,dryness google search it

    -throat injury

    -stomach problems

    I've also had a ent scope my throat through my nose and found nothing. Be glad its not coughing but spitting,l.

  • merit73142
    merit73142 louise12570

    Posted

    Hi..I hope you are feeling much better by now. This thread is really helpful and I'd like to share my on going experience if anybody can help or give a hint . For over Two to three months I've been having a thick mucus with blood phlegm. Sometimes I hack or it comes easily. And my chest have been so congested and tight along with other symptoms like light fever headache pain in my ear, chest pain, shortness of breathe or heart race sometimes. All these doesn't happen all often but the mucus has been. Sometimes I have to wake up in the middle of night to like cough hack it out to clear my throat . I've visited three different hospital but my test came out pretty well both X ray and BLOOD test and sputum as well , and the doctors told me I don't have any infections even TB which posses a lot of the above symptoms! I've been having sore throat and blockage in my nose with pains in my ear. It's kind of painful and unpleasant sometimes . All these actually started after I inhaled several dust particles from work. And each time I inhaled little dust or stand close to smokers it triggers more. I used to be a smokers but stopped years ago when I started feeling uncomfortable being around smokes but never noticed if it can be something more alerting. I will be so happy if anyone can share a little light or bit of experience nonetheless this article has been a little helpful cos it stated some real symptoms that have been occurring often. Thanks God bless..

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