I know we’re all zombified up in here, but I popped in to say this.
When my doc switched my blood pressure meds to a non-ace inhibitor it cleared (heh) my throat clearing problem within a week.
mmm
+1 (as I mentioned upthread).
I still grumble about my 4 months of utter misery as the doctor insisted it had to be worsening GERD, not the ACE. Though to be fair, I have to add that the misdiagnosis likely saved my life: I had finally insisted on going to see a gastroenterologist. By the time I saw him, I’d switched meds and the cough had disappeared, but he suggested that an endoscopy was appropriate anyway because I did have long-standing reflux. And I said “well, I’m 50 now, how about while we’re at it…” so I got north and south checked out that same day… and “south” turned up precancerous polyps. :eek:
For the OP (who I hope has found some relief in the past 8 years) and others posting since: my first thoughts would be GERD or sinus issues; if you have ruled those out, maybe try keeping a detailed log of when the symptoms occur / worsen, and what you’ve been doing, what you’ve been eating, where you have been. That might turn up some patterns.
Found this old thread while googling the symptoms I’ve been dealing with for about 4 years. I was sure it was cancer until I described it to my doctor he, and without hesitation, told me it was almost certainly GERD and told me to stock up on Omeprazole. I guess it helps some, but not sufficiently.
My deal is periodic flare ups or fits, usually in the morning and the evening while in bed, where I constantly feel like I have something deep in my throat. Actually, more like in my upper chest. I know it isn’t psychosomatic because if I focus and take deep breaths I can hear and feel a rattle, and when I’m lucky I get a cough to dislodge small bits of mucus. That relieves it for about five minutes before I’m right back to square one. It is very persistent and frustrating.
Reading through these posts leads me to believe I was fortunate at least to have it accurately diagnosed fairly quickly. But knowing is only half the battle. Based on some of the posts in this thread I am going to try to identify foods and behaviors that exacerbate it. My wife says it seems to be more frequent when I drink alcohol, so maybe cutting it back will help. But I’m still following the thread in case some miracle worker comes along and posts a one-and-done solution.
GERD is the first thought of many with these symptoms. Do you take any other medications? Alcohol can definitely worsen GERD symptoms, so can smoking (smoking anything).
+1 on the alcohol - that’s one of many known triggers that worsen GERD.
Unfortunately there’s no simple “one-and-done”. In my case, I’m on a stiffer dose of a proton pump inhibitor (a newer, more expensive, “right-hand” version of something currently sold OTC) that seems to be largely handling it, unless I totally eat the wrong things. When that happens, I just live with it.
Consider that as others noted it might well be related to nasal issues. Try self-care for that (e.g. antihistamines, neti pot) to see if that helps, and discuss whether it’s worth seeing an ENT.
If it is GERD, and the meds aren’t helping enough, a different / stronger med might be appropriate - and an upper endoscopy might be indicated. That is honestly overkill for must people (in my non-medical opinion) unless you’ve had the symptoms for a long time - long-term GERD is associated with Barrett’s esophagitis which is a precancerous condition that needs to be monitored. My husband has Barrett’s and has an endoscopy every couple years now.
For some people with GERD, a fundoplication might be called for (they basically take a fold of the stomach and wrap it around where the esophagus joins the stomach, which tightens it up and makes it much less likely for acid to go the wrong way). I don’t honestly know what the indications are for a fundoplication and that has its own issues.
Just out of curiosity … how does acid in the stomach/esophagus cause gunk in the lungs?
Huh - clearing out old emails and I saw this reply from last summer, which nobody had replied to before.
I’m not 100% sure but I speculate the following:
- The acid itself irritates things which makes you think it’s the chest, and therefore causes the attempt to “clear your throat”. The esophagus being sorta close to the windpipe, it could be some kind of referred reaction.
- The irritation in that general area triggers the lungs to behave as if they were being irritated, genuinely triggering them to produce gunk
- More directly, small amounts of acid might make it into the upper airways, directly irritating them and causing them to produce gunk.
The reflux can occur without any sensation of it, but it still causes irritation of tissues. My own reflux is presently “adequately controlled” but we’ll see how things look when I have my followup upper GI series in a few weeks.
The lungs and digestive system are connected in a lot of weird ways. Over 75% of people with asthma have GERD too, though as of yet doctors aren’t sure why.