I had a flu-thing, and since then my nose runs every time I eat, for a while after I’m done eating.
Pretty annoying.
The flu-thing may have not had anything to do with it, but the timing was the same.
Odd salivary connections? Brain badly wired? Nose hungry?
Any ideas why it started and how to get it to stop?
Dunno, but that happens to me after sex.
Some kind of allergy, maybe? Does it happen with all food, or only hot or cold food?
In my case, I get inflamed, congested sinuses about half an hour after entering a room with wine glasses full of wine in them. If I smell wine, white or red, my nose gets me honking and blowing fit to be chucked right back out again. Only lasts about another half an hour, then I’m fine again. Never understood it, and I don’t think it always happened to me.
I’m only checking in, in case the answer is posted. This happens to me too, almost every time I eat. That means I’m one of those restaurant nose-blowers that everybody hates.
I suspect all that facial exercise combined with repeated mouthfulls of moist, hot food.
Pepper and other culinary spices may also be contributing factors.
Maybe it has something to do with the fumes/vapors coming off your food? Perhaps your nose detects it as an irritant and attempts to flush it out with runny mucus.
I get the same problem when I overstuff, but that’s the only time. However, most of the time when I actually notice it, it’s after I’ve downed a half-gallon of tea, bowl of cheese onion soup, and a large order of Outback’s Aussie Cheese Fries.
(Think I need to re-check that tonight.)
This has happened to me all my life. It doesn’t matter if I am eating spicy hot chili or a bowl of cornflakes; my nose always runs when I eat.
I always try to make sure I have some tissue or a paper napkin or something to blow my nose with (after turning away from the table, of course).
I used to think it was just me… but just this Thanksgiving I discovered that my mother and grandfather (her father) have the same affliction, whatever it is.
You’re are probably a mouth breather suddenly using you nasal passages (since you mouth is busy eating), which stimulates them and prompts them to flush fluid out that has built up.
Much like working outside vigourously, most mouth breathers need to use their nose as well, and that stimulates the sinuses, which usually sit around.
You porbably don’t notice, but you are outta shape, sigh through your mouth, and/or rely on mouth breathing when climbing stairs, talking or walking.
Philster, are you talking to me? I have a hard time buying that. I’m a little out of shape, but that hasn’t been true my whole life. I breathe through my mouth when I am out of breath, I guess, but it’s not like I jog before every meal. I can assure you that I don’t walk around breathing through my mouth or sighing. And I’d like to see you talk without breathing through your mouth.
I think it’s some kind of mild genetic quirk that I got from my mother’s side, kind of like the weird finger nails my brother has. Something about eating triggers my nose to run, but it’s not because I don’t usually breathe with it.
your salivary glands are hard wired with the mucus glands in your nose. when you salivate, your nose also releases mucus. For most people, the mucus isn’t enough to be a problem and it’s confined to the nasal passages. Others salivate a lot and the mucus overflows from the nasal passages and you have to reach for a hanky.
When my nose runs after eating buffalo wings, then I know I got my money’s worth. 
Really the only time it runs after eating is from spicy foods.
Hey, groovy, gabbyhaye. I’ve had the same thing happen to me all my life-- it’s nice to know why. Thanks for the answer (and to Wikkit for posting the question).
Interesting. It happens when I’m eating fairly bland, cold food, so that’s not it.
I suppose I am a mouth breather some of the time, since I have a cold most of the winter, but neither that nor my physical fitness has changed since this started to be annoying.
gabbyhaye, that makes a lot more sense than the mouth-breathing thing. Thanks.
The flu is a condition of the throat. Are you confusing a terrible cold or sinus infection with the flu? If so, then you might have sinuses that are/were/ battling infection.
Seriously about mouth breathing: Athletes and others who exert themselves outside don’t have the runny nose problems that most people have. Take yourself outside on a chilly day and string some xmas lights, and chances are you’ll find yourself with a runny nose. Outside, when breathing cold air, we tend to breathe more through our noses, and since the sinuses aren’t use to this stimulus, they release fluid.
I need to qualify my “outside on chilly day” comment: You must be exerting yourself to experience the runny nose.
How inconsiderate!
That comes out of the waitress’s paycheque, you know.