GERD Associated With Thick Phlegm in Throat
Q: I am a 35 year old woman. I have a very sticky and thick mucus in my throat. I can’t swallow it so I spit it often and it is irritating. Now I am experiencing something like heartburn. In the morning my heartburn is gone and comes back few minutes after I wake up. What is the cause of this and how can I cure it? I am so scared, please help.
By: Dinnie
Reply:
From what you have written, it looks like that you have a condition called GERD. This is a common cause of heartburn and may also be causing thick mucus in your throat.
What Is GERD?
Gastroesophageal reflux disease is a condition where the sphincter (gate) between the esophagus (food pipe) and the stomach becomes loose. This leads to back flow of stomach contents into the esophagus. As it is understandable, the back flow is more while lying down, as gravity aids the flow in this position.
Stomach wall produces an acid called hydrochloric acid, which aids in digestion. So, in patients suffering from this condition, acidic contents from the stomach come in contact with the lower esophagus.
The condition immediately gives a burning sensation in the upper belly region, which is commonly referred to as Heartburn. It actually has nothing to do with the heart.
There are many reasons why this sphincter loosens up. You may be having any nerve issue or problem with some muscle that makes up the lower esophageal sphincter.
If you are very obese, fat may get deposited over the region, affecting the sphincter functioning. Read more on GERD.
GERD Leads to Mucus Production in the Throat
Stomach contents are acidic in nature. While the stomach wall, that produces it, can handle it well, our esophagus is not prepared to handle it and gets corroded.
The acid irritates the lower throat and an inflammatory response is elicited. Mucosal lining of the throat swells up and constantly produces thick, sticky mucus, in an attempt to protect itself from the acid. The patient feels as if something is constantly sticking in the throat.
You may feel symptoms like:
- Burning sensation just under your breast bone, or upper tummy area
- As if something in stuck in your throat, that needs to be cleared
- Constant urge to clear your throat
- Thick phlegm, which needs to be spit
- In a long run, this phlegm may cause chronic cough
- Soreness in throat, may even give throat pain
- In severe cases, change in voice may be seen. Voice becomes hoarse.
In severe cases, the reflux of stomach contents is too much, and reaches high up in the esophagus. You may get irritating cough and a running nose. Post nasal drip may be there. If even a trace of acid reaches the lung tubules, you may wheeze and cough constantly. The picture is similar to asthma.
Factors Aggravating GERD
- Obesity
- Late Pregnancy
- Having a heavy meal
- Consuming Coffee, alcohol or chocolates. These food stuffs adversely affect the sphincter muscles, allowing more of gastric reflux.
- After any surgery in the area
- Very spicy food, too much of onions and garlic
Asthma Associated With GERD
Nearly half of the patients with asthma have been seen to be having some element of acid reflux from their stomach. It’s a common observation that asthma worsens after large meals, when we expect more acid reflux due to increased chances of back flow.
How acid coming from the stomach leads to asthma symptoms can be explained in more than one ways. Firstly, the acid irritates a nerve lying close to the lower esophageal sphincter. This nerve supplies the muscles controlling breathing. On being irritated, it tightens the muscles, narrowing the breathing spaces.
So, the patient starts wheezing.
Secondly, the acid may directly irritate the inner linings of the breathing tubes. Inflammation occurs there. The tubes get swelled from inside and produce copious mucoid secretions. This narrows their lumen, giving wheezing.
How to Manage Acid Reflux At Home?
If you observe that you have symptoms of acid reflux, you may start following these general measures for relief-
- Avoid taking large meals at a time. Over filling the tummy may increase chances that the stomach contents would try to flow back. Instead, go for smaller frequent intakes of food.
- Limit to food stuff that aggravates acid reflux. These include chocolates, coffee, alcohol, smoking, too much of spices, onions and garlic, lots of tomatoes in a single meal.
- Avoid lying on bed after meals. Better to take a short stroll after food.
- Take your dinner early. Having a gap of around 2 hours between your dinner and sleeping time would give a chance for food to go further towards the intestine.
- You may raise your bed from the head side. This works well for many. It assures that your head, chest and upper abdomen is at a higher level than the rest of the body. Gravity would aid in preventing acid reflux.
- A little baking soda added in drinks or plain water works well in mild cases by neutralizing the acid coming from the stomach.
- You may also try over the counter anta acids for relief.
Visiting a doctor for further evaluation and diagnosis of the cause is suggested.
Take Care,
Buddy M.D.
I feel like something is stuck in my chest. Right behind my sternum. Keep drinking water but it’s not helping. Have heard it may be acid reflux.
If it’s an acid reflux problem, you’ll have heartburn, some indigestion, and may be a burning sensation behind the sternum.
Read above in detail about it, to see if the picture matches yours.
Every morning I have plhem or mucus in my throat I feeling like vomiting as it’s extremely uncomforable I have no problem swelling food or drinks but can’t go out for long walks as I feel out of breath. I saw a doctor yesterday she told me nothing is wrong in my throat it’s really crazy as I have had this problem many years. I don’t have asmtha I do have GERD only a few years but I would like to get problem solved so I can enjoy my life I am 65 yrs old. I appreciate any help you can give me.
Are you taking anta acids or any other medicine for your problem?
I’m at my wit’s end with this thick saliva,, started out with being two much saliva,, now this,, help me please,, tried meds and patches,, now taking 40 mg of Priloset ,, nothing works
Any associated symptoms, like headache, secretions from nose/ sinuses, heartburn, chest pain, couch, sneezes? Since when do you have this problem? Any recent change of residence?
It has been over six months ago, after light dinner
(6:30Pm) and go to sleep around 10:30 .
After sleeping as most one hour and wake up
Sever headache and burning in stomach
And blood pressure up and heart also up
(170/90:90) when set down start to go away
Slowly and before sleeping I took my BP Med
Any thank you very much
May be you missed your BP medications tat day. Your age? Any underlying illness?
There is to much saliva in my throat and every time I eat or drink I throw up
Any history of allergy, cough, running nose?
Sting pain constantly in back of throat and plenty of saliva, everyday and night.
Likely to be a throat infection. You may need to go to an ENT for check up.
I’ve had somewhat the same for over 5 years with doctors never diagnosing it properly!
Feels like think mucus at the back of my throat and I get so much air in my chest that I can barely breathe having to do anything possible to make myself gag to be able to breathe
Do you have any acidity? Have you tried anta acids? If yes, any relief?
Sound like you may have Eosinophilc Esophagitis (EOE). May be worth following up with a GI specialist. This could be due to a food allergy you newly developed or didn’t know you had and only your esophagus responds as the cells are different then the rest of the GI tract and the symptoms mimic GERD. However when trying to treat GERD symptoms nothing will help because that’s not truly the cause to your symptoms. Good luck!
Over the last 6 months I have progressed from having heartburn to a light cough with some mucus. This lasted one month. Then, I started noticing the cough to become more barking like. Now I have wheezing and extreme shortness of breath with a constant feeling of thick mucus just below my Adam’s apple.
Currently taking omeprizol to control heartburn but no improvement to breathing difficulty. Any suggestions are appreciated.
You need to see a respiratory specialist. A thorough check up would reveal the problem.
Season is changing rapidly these days. It may be some hyper response of your respiratory system against many allergens that get evoked these days.
Symptoms need to be controlled. You may also start using a humidifier in your bed room whenever possible. This is to add moisture to the air you breathe. Dry air aggravates cough.
Hi, I have been experiencing this sticky mucus in my throat for about a year or two. Currently, it stresses me out and feelings like dry throat. It really stresses me..I reported it to Dr. and nothing has been found. Please help me out.
Any history of seasonal allergies/ cough/ sneezes/ acidity or any other problem?
I’m a 54 yr old female w/allergies. Overweight, and just quit smoking in December after 40 yrs of up to a pack a day. I do have hardened thick, sticky chunks of brownish phlegm in my throat. I know I’m not imagining it because I can occasionally cough one up, which is wonderful when it happens, but it’s few and far in between and short-lived, because there’s always more to take it’s place. Sometimes it’s lodged so badly, It has blocked my airway and many times makes me sound hoarse. In the meantime, I’m constantly trying to clear my throat or making myself cough to bring it up, which seldom works and only embarrasses & isolates me. I’d love to be able to cough it up but it doesn’t happen frequently enough. Maybe like once or twice a week. And what feels like the size of a large grape while it’s in my throat turns out to be no bigger than a flat raisin when it’s out. I’m working on losing weight, but what can I do to get rid of this crap now, short of swallowing a bottle brush?! I can’t stand living this way every day!
As you may understand, long term smoking irritates the inner mucosa of the respiratory tract. The mucosa so inflamed produces mucous, which gets thick with time. The condition is called chronic bronchitis.
You are likely to be suffering from this condition.
As you’ve quit smoking, the condition would reverse back to give you a healthy mucosa inside, however, this would take time .It may take a few months. Till then, this thick mucous may bother you.
Mucous production is essential and it’s a part of body’s defense to trap and expel out allergens and toxins.
For now, you may try anti histaminic pills, which would keep your allergies at bay and alleviate overall symptoms.
Thank you for your response. Yes, I was aware there would be some mucous production; even that it would probably take more than a few weeks, before it was over. But I never imagined it would be anything like this.
Please know that you are the first to finally give me a definitive answer, for which I’m eternally grateful. But now that I have you, I just had a couple more questions, so I have a better understanding.
So how does mucous get from your lungs to your throat in the first place? Is it not necessary to expel the old, hardened stuff from your body, rather than keep it at bay with antihistamine? Not like I’m not gonna follow your suggestion. I guess I just hoped there might be a way to help my body move the process along before I lose my position voice captioning for the hearing impaired.
It’s actually not the lungs, but the mucous lining of the inner airway pipes/ ducts that produce mucous. These airway tubes are very thin in diameter.
Mucous thus produced needs to be expelled out. To accomplish this task, there is a regular sweeping done by special ciliary cells inner the inner airways. Gradually, mucous is swept and gets collected in the upper airway. From here, it may come out by coughing. To make this happen, our body may prompt us to cough.
This is a natural process. No medicines required.
We actually intervene in this process by giving anti histaminics. These pills reduce mucous production in the first place. So, there is lesser work left for the ciliary cells. However, cleaning may be compromised.
Old mucous gets hardened if it keeps lying there and is not expelled out by cough. Another reason why it hardens is dehydration. Patient may be drinking less water those days.
Hello,
I have been having throat mucus and post nasal drip for years and recently have developed heartburn. I took medicines and drank milk but nothing really worked. What should I do about that?
Are you on any medications? Any history of nasal allergies?
Hi, please help
I was working at the port when i had breathed in alot of cold air assuming it was just sickness i didnt think much of it but i started coughing up ALOT of greeny / yellow mucus… then im bringing up white spongy mucus and although my nose is constantly blocked i go to try bring up the flem or mucus and it causes severe heartburn like 15 /10 pain. Strongest iv ever experienced. Heartburn medication doesnt help and it sticks around for 5 – 10mins everytime i attempt to bring u0 flem / mucus . Im just curious am i overthinking this as iv never experienced this before? Oh and when i cough I dont bring up anything most the time but occasionally ill have a strong taste of flem / mucus and a very small flero green stick amout will come out… im 24years old male who has some
Extra weight but iv never smoked before .
This may be an infection. You may need antibiotics for this. See an ENT at the earliest.
Hi. I feel you really help me… I have been feeling not well for the last 6 months. I was cured from hpylory a couple of months ago… after that I have been taking Nexium to treat my eroded esophagus ( what the doctor says after checking me with endoscopy) he said that I have no ulcer or anything… however I am having mucus all the time That pushes me to spit… plus my creatinine level start flactuating from 1.3 to 1.5 again to 1.4 and so on).. i also get tired easily and I cannot play football or do exercises as before…my doctor now advised me to do a colonoscopy… from my side , I don’t have heartburn, only the mucus and tiredness… any advise ?? I am like 64 kg, 40 years and 1.83m please advise me on the mucus and fluctuation of my creati- nine….
Any problems with digestion? Diarrhea, constipation? Problems with urination? Diabetes? Blood sugar tests, if done?
My stool is very smooth near to diarrhea. Blood sugar level is 121 , no problem with urination but my urine color automatically changes as per my water intake.. if I drink a glass of water , it becomes white ( very white) and not it reverses to dark yellow .. and no history of diabetics
Thanks
Urine color changes are normal. Advised to drink plenty of water for better kidney health.
Smooth stools are OK, however, if they’re loose, it may be a problem. Let us know.
I have sticky saliva that stuck inside my throat for 2years, I can’t swallow it that’s why I have to spit oftenly. I have no other symptoms or pain but the only problem is the sticky saliva in my throat. I have tried 3 ENT Doctor they just give me those antacid medicines but still not working. What am goona do now, please help me out I dying since it really stress me out.
Any history of nasal allergies, coughs or sneezes? Do you feel acidity/ heartburn after spicy meals or otherwise?
Not at all
There has to be a cause why your body is producing thick mucous. This needs to be investigated for exact diagnosis and treatment.
Till then, you may try liquifying it, so that you don’t have to spit it often.
Drink plenty of slightly warm water throughout the day. Avoid fried/ fatty food stuff asd all refined types of food. Take whole grains and fibrous meals. This would help.
You may also start using a humidifier in your bedroom, especially at night times. This would keep your nasal mucosa supple and avoid production of thick mucous.
I developed this feeling of something lodged in the back wall of my throat . Feels likes it’s mucus. I do have acid reflux but not all the time and I’m not on any type of medication for it . I also suffer from allergies . Before I developed this I was outside for quite some time and later that day felt my whole body ache like I was coming down with something . What can this be ? I’ve tried everything . I can eat and drink and sleep but just the discomfort of feeling that . It’s more towards the back of my upper throat .
Could be a lump of thick mucous, lodged in your throat. Plenty of steam inhalation may help liquefying it. Or else, you may need to take a mucolytic syrup to aid liquification.
Drinking slightly salted warm water may also work in some cases.
Hi
I have below mucus on the morning and it turns clear in the day. I keep spotting out mucus. I have post nasal drip and heartburn which has got worse. I am overweight but not morbidly and I keep getting breathless. My throat and chest seem strained. I do get allergies to pollen and this results in sinus aching and earache. I have recently had a cat and realise this could make my symptoms worse. I am taking antihistamines and sat nasal spray. please help.
Since it’s pandemic time going on, it would be better to get yourself tested.
Thanks for the reply
Welcome.
I have had non stop mucus for days. I have Barrettes Esophagus, and hiatal hernia. I know it’s from acid. I take 40 milligrams of omiprozole a day. I barely eat . I follow all the dietary guidelines, sleep well my head elevated , stay hydrated. I also quite nauseous almost every day. Any suggestions to stop the mucus.
Your medical condition may be giving you this mucous. It is likely to improve as you take medications and follow dietary restrictions.
Any history of allergies, running nose?