# Is there snot in my vocal chords? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 19, 2010, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-snot-in-my-vocal-chords/536668 "2010-04-19T21:34:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-snot-in-my-vocal-chords/536668/1 "2010-04-19T21:34:15Z")
So I have a cold my voice has been reduced to a quiet hoarse sounding frog noise. I’ve already been to the doctor to get a throat swab to rule out strep throat (no strep for me). This is just a crappy cold. Anyway, I’m not coughing at all and rarely sneezing (though my head feels congested). But a little while ago, I sort of sneezed, and I could feel a huge whack of goo come up my throat. That’s right, no snot came out of my nose, but I could feel a whole whack of it come up my throat! Disgusting! So is that why my voice is reduced to a faint, scratchy noise? Is there snot pooled in my vocal chords muffling my normally smooth, sexy, Chewbacca-like barritone? ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-snot-in-my-vocal-chords/536668/2 "2010-04-19T22:12:10Z")
In a word, yes. Got goo? You sure do. You have it all the time; you’d have a difficult life with no mucus. During a cold or similar illness, though, the goo increases in volume and thickness as a response to the inflammation or irritation. Even if it’s in up in the sinuses, the goo can slide on down to the ears, and more so to the back of the throat. Keep your fingers crossed that it doesn’t make its way down into your bronchioles. In the meantime, make sure you keep coughing and blowing that stuff out so it doesn’t have a chance to pool up and get even worse. Enough goo-talk for you? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-snot-in-my-vocal-chords/536668/3 "2010-04-19T23:21:15Z")
There is, of course, mucus (much like turtles) all the way down. Infection can worsen the production of mucus. It’s more likely your hoarseness in this case is from repeated coughing, which roughens the lining of the vocal folds and prevents clear tones. A small piece of inspissated mucus might do the same thing; in my opinion that’s less likely. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-snot-in-my-vocal-chords/536668/4 "2010-04-20T04:50:36Z")
My experience is that, if it’s just mucus, coughing will clear it up. If it’s inflamed, coughing will only make it worse. And your vocal chords are naturally lubricated by a thinner mucus when you aren’t sick. Singers in particular desire that mucus, to the point where some will take guaifenesin before a performance, as it can increase that mucus production. ([cite](http://www.prohealth.com/library/showarticle.cfm?id=7244&t=CFIDS_FM)) ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-snot-in-my-vocal-chords/536668/5 "2010-04-20T13:44:23Z")
> [@Chief\_Pedant](#): > > It’s more likely your hoarseness in this case is from repeated coughing, > [@BigT](#): > > My experience is that, if it’s just mucus, coughing will clear it up. > [@vivalostwages](#): > > In the meantime, make sure you keep coughing and blowing that stuff out so it doesn’t have a chance to pool up and get even worse. But this is the entire point of my OP! I **NOT** coughing. I haven’t been coughing at all. It’s like there has been no phlegm. I’m not sneezing either. My nostrils are free and clear, I could snort Pixie Sticks if I wanted to. I can _feel_ that my head is congested, so I assume all the goo has just been sliding down the back of my throat in some crazy post-nasal drip, but I haven’t coughed or felt the need to cough. That’s why I’m wondering if the goo has somehow been pooling in my vocal chords: because the one time I did sneeze, I could feel a whole whack of goo come up my throat. ---
**Author:** ![CupidoLOVE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@CupidoLOVE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CupidoLOVE)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-snot-in-my-vocal-chords/536668/6 "2012-03-12T00:37:19Z")
Perhaps it’s sinus drainage? Sometimes when Sinus drainage happens to me I never get a stuffy nose. Instead it goes down into my throat. I currently have it, and not that the sinus drainage is gone I just lost my capability to sing. I get a squeaky voice and it’s very airy when i try to make my voice go higher. I believe mine is just swollen from talking while my voice was hoarse. So, yours are probably just swollen and the mucus is another factor. When I cough I hack up some mucus, and when I sneeze I do as well. So I think we may have the same thing. I swallow and it hurts sometimes. I have been drinking clear liquids, and sucking on cough drops here lately. Hopefully it helps me. You could try it to. Or Maybe Mucinex, or Mucus Relief pills? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-snot-in-my-vocal-chords/536668/7 "2012-03-13T00:26:05Z")
You know, you can voluntarily cough. That’s what I was suggesting back then. And if that doesn’t work, then it’s probably just inflammation. BTW, a stuffy nose is caused by inflammation, not pooling snot. Infected snot can cause the inflammation, and the inflammation causes the snot to pool up, but the actual stuffy feeling is caused just by the inflammation blocking off the airway.