serious questions abt phlegm (do not read if you hate phlegm)

so since early dec ive been having to cough bolts of phelgm out of my throat. not all the time but 2/3 times a day at least; it's worst when im reading in bed.

it's not the end of the world but as a symptom i'm completely unused it is annoying (& a but distressing for onlookers). most of the waking day this isn't a problem but it is a bother last thing at night & first thing in the morning (tho curiously not at all once i sleep)

the GP ruled out lungs issues (it's NOT my asthma, misuse of inhaler, incipient emphysema etc): it's top-down not lungs-up viz my nose seems to be the culprit. i was given a steroidal nasal spray to reduce inflammation -- this it has signally not done (maybe it just takes longer?)

advice or suggestions welcome!! it's very possibly a long-lasting runny winter nose i suppose (tho manifesting in a way it never has before)

Sounds like post nasal drip…allergies?

can or dare i ask about colour

Flavor?

as i've moved into a refurbed old building in a different town, allergies is certainly very possible (though for me they usually affect my asthma first)

as for taste and look, if it isn't cured i'll set up a bespoke artisanal bottling company and you can all judge for yrselves

Twinsies, Mark! I've been struggling with these exact symptoms since late December. Was prescribed a nasal spray, which I used for a month and didn't feel did anything. Now they've got me on something for acid reflux but both the GP and I think that's a long shot. If it doesn't do the trick I'll get refered to an expert.

Mind you, I thought the spray wasn't doing anything but now I'm no longer using it I do feel like it's accumulated.

are you circumcised?

helpful contribution from ilxor pfutt 😐

deems apologies, it is normal colour as far as i can judge (in a dazzling TMI move i have to admit that after coughing the phlegm out of place i generally swallow it 🤮 but for you i made an exception)

daniel keep me informed! i will do likewise (i feel it is easier to cough it clear than it was a couple of weeks ago perhaps)

normal light or dark green, any shades of brown?

my wife says "never swallow phlegm", this is a Chinese medicine thing like only drinking hot drinks, but maybe worth a try. it does make for more trips to the toilet and going through tissues like mad, but feels right to me now.

deems id say spit colour? light not dark definitely

CaAL thank you, i will try and explore that avenue

I actually had a look into that area for my case as well, first problem is Chinese medicine means something else by phlegm so communication is difficult.

phlegmish notoriously difficult language

I usually swallow phlegm. Secret pleasure.

Why is 'phlegmatic' so called?

four humours theory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humorism

They should bring those back. Way cooler than astrology.

ulster humorism

daniel have you seen any improvement

(i have got better at hawking up gobs of it so as not to swallow but i don't think im diminishing the supply) (apologies readers squcked out by this thread but there is an upfront warning)

So since last we spoke on this it became clearer that not using the spray made it worse - so I was given nasal drops that were supposed to be stronger than the spray, to take for one month and then get back to the spray if it still hadn't cleared up. This month has now finished.

I can't say it's gone, I'd like to say it's diminished but unsure if I'm kidding myself there but can say w/ certainty it gets worse if I don't use the treatment.

ah ok, thank you -- i will maybe request the stronger drops

GP switched me onto a difft spray, said difft steroids work differently on different ppl, it needs a few weeks to take effect

a few weeks on i feel this one is really not taking significant effect tho

is it allergies? very possibly -- after all i recently moved to a new city doubltess full of fresh new dangers -- but if so it's a new distinct response to a (presumably new) new allergy (my standard allergic reaction is itching first and then asthma, and there's none of either here, in particular my asthma is fine)

nhs site suggests: sips of ice-cold water, plus gargling salt water and/or salt-water nose rinse, time i guess to embark on some of those (tiresome but can't hurt)

Hard to believe the air in Plymouth could be worse than the air in Hackney tbf.

air is presumably damper here (the sea is 20 mins walk away) but the med sites seem mainly to think low humidity is more a cause than the opposite

I've had post-nasal drip for like twenty years. None of the sprays or allergy meds have ever worked for me, not to paint too grim a future for someone else. It can be mild or it can go a few weeks where it's just swallowing phlegm every minute or two.

The nose rinses are nice for making your sinuses and nose feel less dry but don't really stop this ime.

reasonably positive update: this condition has not vanished but it has significantly diminished and seems to have stabilised at the new more tolerable level

1st: an ayurvedic-yoga-involved friend suggested i use a NETI POT: but basically you use it to pour pre-boiled now tepid salt water (exact proportions available on nhs sites etc) into one nostril to go thru yr sinuses and out the other, clearing away all that it encounters (there are less medieval torture-looking models but this is the one my friend posted to me)

https://i.imgur.com/ZZ2sQTf.jpeg

warning 1: the first two or three times you use it -- when it's all gummed up in there -- the water introduced can create distinct pressure in yr sinuses, which will be acutely painful (conbination headache & toothache) for half an hour or so, but after a few days this is no longer at all an issue. it
warning 2: some days it makes yr noses wildly runny for the rest of the day, with salt water suddenly gushing out in surprise bursts lol (so only use if this is not going to be a public concern)

i'm still using a steroidal nasal spray: more confident now thsat it's actually landing on the inner surfaces of my nose to do its work (before i felt that the phlegm was getting in the way

my GP approved all this but also suggested -- since it may well be some still-unidentified allergy in my new home -- that i take anti-histamines to counter that

anyway thanks to some combo of the above and perhaps also just time passing it is nowhere near as bad now

neti pot use: i was using it daily for a week (then a break while i was in london, it's a bit of an anti-social treatment?) and then another couple of weeks, at which point the condition seemed suddenly to diminish

now i'm just using it once a week and will; probably soon go monthly