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Post nasal drip mucous and how do I search a topic

Posted , 8 users are following.

karenjaninaz
karenjaninaz

Despite nasal irrigation I have so much phlegm in the morning I must constantly clear my throat and am hoarse. It is OK the rest of the day. I do not cough up phlegm. It seems to be manufactured somewhere in my throat. I use an inhaler for reactive airway disease and Ventolin.

i was prescribed a nasal steroid to try but that made hoarseness worse. Inhaled and nasal steroids relax the laryngeal muscles and can, inthemselves, cause hoarseness. I read somewhere on this forum about PMR and "old man's phlegm". Well I have old lady's phlegm. I don't know how to search for this particular topic on this forum without reading through all the topics. 

I have not had a cold in over 11/2 years, and I had all my pneumonia immunizations. I am on 10mg pred.

Mucous liquifiers help a

somewhat but if I take a long acting one before bedtime I need the loo 3 times a night.

1 like, 24 replies

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  • EileenH
    EileenH karenjaninaz

    Posted

    Just a thought - someone mentioned it seems worse with certain foods. If you google carbohydrates and silent reflux you will find a lot of links about the involvement of certain difficult to digest carbs in silent reflux. If there is a food that causes it - it seems helpful to identify it and avoid it.
  • robin11917
    robin11917 karenjaninaz

    Posted

    I have this problem and have had it for several years. Very annoying. I also have been diagnosed with GORD. My condition has worsened when I started on Pred but not sure that my age is not also contributing. Im soon to turn 75. Two different doctors I have seen have said the operation to help me with this is as Eileen suggests, a tightening of the sphincter at the top of the stomach to stop acid rising. But it would be a last resort for me. I take Nexium (esomeprazole) usually after dinner at night and that has been a big help.

    ?Foods do affect me and I am supersensitive to chemicals, so I cannot eat any sort of processed food where there would be additives such as preservatives colourants etc. The specialist advised the easiest way for me was to only buy fresh unprocessed food, and to increase proteins. So fruit and vegetables and eggs. I buy flat bread or dark rye both with no additives (doesn't stay fresh very long so I cut up and freeze it). I can have a splash of milk, a smear of butter (has no additives) and only hard cheeses such as parmesan in very small quantities occassionally. I also eat with 5 hours between meals and I have nothing to eat for a couple of hours before bed. It has helped also to reduce the size of my meals from largest in the am to smallest in the pm.

    ?Since doing this I haven't woken up during the night choking on phlegm (except when I have cheated and eaten something I shouldn't have). I think you have to try to fix things without drugs if possible for your own good.

    ?I hope that you get something from the site that makes your life easier and more comfortable. Take care and best wishes

  • karenjaninaz
    karenjaninaz

    Posted

    Since I first posted this, I resumed taking the antihistamine originally prescribed for post nasal drip during allergy season. I must say that it does help because it dries it.  I did consult an allergist last Fall who said I had Vasomotor rhinitis. I wonder if this is a PMR manifestation - connected to my generalized inflammatory condition. I take a half levocetirizine tab at supper. One thing that happens sometimes is the phlegm is less but hard to mobilize; then I need a mucus liquifiers. Antihistamines, by the way, tend to constrict the esophagus some and that might help with reflux.

    i am 74.

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