What bounced against the palm of my hand? I could feel it launch itself from the back of my throat when I coughed. Here I am, looking at it. It’s white and maybe the size of about half a grain of rice.
Oops, I accidentally crushed it between thumb and forefinger. Oh my god, what is that smell? It’s like pure, concentrated halitosis. I’m talking about such a potent stink that I can smell it on my fingers when they’re at my sides! It takes several sessions of hand washing before the smell goes away.
This happens once every, say, year and a half or two years.
I’m not someone who has bad breath…does my throat have some sort of stink-sink to store all the bad breath away from the rest of the world? What IS it?
If I may ask a related question . . . For about the past six months, when I get up in the morning and sometimes several times throughout the day, I feel compelled to hock up (and spit out, of course) an accumulation of mucus at the back of my throat. It’s not bloody or green or discolored or otherwise abnormal in any way, just a little clearish gob; it’s just THERE and I want to get rid of it. It’s kind of like being a smoker, only I don’t smoke. No other symptoms, nothing bothering me, I’ve never had allergies or anything like that. Certainly not anything to go see a doctor over, I don’t think; that would be stupid. Never had anything like this before.
Uh, yes I have that. Its gross as hell! This is tmi but mine IS green and it seems to be stuck at the place where the nose drains in to the back of the throat. I can’t breath well until I cough that crud up. And I can’t get it up until I drink something hot and do a lot of hacking and snorting. Its discusting! I feel like a 90 year old man(I’m a 30 y/o woman) I just make sure I’m alone before I start in!
Yeah, I didn’t mention it, but I have that factor too. Fortunately with three dogs to be walked several times a day (on our rural property), I get plenty of opportunities to gag in private. And I work at home, so when hubby’s at work, nobody to gross out. But still. Yucko.
Oh yeah. It’s sinus drainage, and that’s just where it hits. And sticks. I’ve had it since I was a teenager (back when dinosaurs ruled the Earth) and our family doctor said it was just one of those things. If it stops draining, it’s because my sinuses are clogged and maybe starting to get infected. Nice. It gets really bad when I lie down to sleep at night. Just a constant tickling right there where nothing can reach it.
Holy geez! I’ve never heard anybody else mention this problem, much less knew there was a proper name for it!
Way back in elementary school, one of these flew out of my mouth and onto my hand when I coughed. I soon realized where they came from and spent a great deal of time exploring with my tongue the little holes by my tonsils. My family noticed the really weird face that accompanied these explorations, so I told them about the little white thing I’d coughed up, which has since been referred to as my “potato.” It’s wonderful to know that I’m not alone.
They are a pain in the ass. It feels like a stuck piece of popcorn to me when I have one. I went to my doctor recently about it cause I didn’t know what they were. He said deal with it. He said the best method to remove them is to use a waterpik like device but most people gag if they do it. I have found that the pick end of the floss sticks I use is wonderful for removing the ones you can see/get at. I now have a flashlight next to my sink so I can see what I am doing. After a while the gag reflex stops happening when you go to remove them.
The Doctor said if they are real annoying or get infected/gross you can see an ENT to get your tonsils removed.