How many varities of colour does phlegm come in? I have been know to ooze dark green, light green and just plain white. What determines its colour, and why does doctors also insist on knowing the colour? And why it is if it is green, then it is bad news?
And just curious - the muck that oozes out from our noses when it is running. Is that phlegm too?
A slight side track but I remember reading about a woman who had a constantly running nose and it turned out it was “brain fluid” that she was leaking. IIRC she died from it.
Phlegm or mucus as we prefer to call it is produced by :eek: mucus membranes as lubricant. When in the lungs, bacteria mixes with mucus, you get phlegm.
It is normally white to clear. Different mucus membranes produce varying viscosities and volumes as needed.
When one gets a sinus infection the color and volume change. Many different bacteria are unique colors. There are red ones , and yellows ones, golden, even fluorescent green. As they sacrifice their little bodies, your mucus may take on the color of the causative organism.
So, the answer to your questions are: A. as many as ther are strains of bacteria that infect people. B. to get a head start on identifying the organism. C. Because the green ones are bad. D. That is mucus too. Phlegm is assumed to be from the lungs.
mittu That isn’t uncommon. Very few people die from it, however, as long as the source leak is stopped before it become infected.
We are alot sturdier than one imagines
Eeek…How do we know that we are leaking brain fluid in the first place?
Its not THAT common. It can be seen in children who have malformed sinuses, or people who have had head injuries. Your central nervous system is fully contained so CSF (cerebral-spinal fluid) can’t get out, unless you poke a hole in it.
The likelyhood of an adult walking around with a CSF leak are slim to none. The patients who are most likely to have the problem are unconscious in an ICU somewhere.
Stop worrying!
Isn’t that what supposedly was going on with George Clooney recently? Terrible, horrific headaches, no diagnosis, until fluid starting leaking out?
I don’t follow celeb news, so I have no idea. If it is, you aren’t getting the whole story. Was he in a fight or an accident?
How was he walking around?
I’m sure he was hospitalized at some point.
The article says he tore his dura, referring to the dura mater, one of the three protective membranes that cover the brain.
He left out where his skull was fractured. Usually survivable CSF leaks involve a basal skull fracture.
But, Georgie porgie was one of the lucky few that woke up.