Chronic throat clearing... Not allergies

[lNlPidge]

I have gone to several doctors for this, including an ENT and none of them can tell me whats wrong. They all just tell me its allergies and give me a nasal allergy medicine (which makes it worse).

Here are my symptoms:
-Symptoms have been consistent since may '06
-I regularly feel like I have to clear fluid from my trachea.
-Happens everyday, but not all day long.
-Happens more when I eat.
-Need to clear throat is less if I am thirsty (cotton mouth)
-Need to clear is greater with foods that make me salivate (spicy, sour)
-Doesn't happen when I am laying down (night or early morning)
-Seasons dont affect it
-Only allergy is to cats, which I am never around. No pollens, etc.

Background:
-This has been a problem for about a year and a half now. I had pharyngitis (sp?) and lost my voice. my doctor gave me antibiotics to clear up the infection, but my voice never came back. After ~6 wks he gave me a steroid inhaler to heal the swelling around my vocal cords. I apparently have always cleared my throat more than the usual person, but these symptoms I have now are significantly more noticeable than anything I had before. It gets to the point now that I actually hyperventalate from clearing my throat too much, making me dizzy.

ENT:
Took a look at my vocal cords and said that one doesn't move as much as the other, and the more active one compensates by coming over further. Not sure if he thought that was a result or a cause???

Personal Diagnosis:
No doctor here, but it seems that my epiglottis is allowing fluid to drain into my trachea and onto my vocal cords, making me feel the need to clear my throat. I dont know if it is sopposed to block this sort of thing, but it seems obvious to me that it is just saliva going into my trachea that is causing the issue, since it happens more when I am eating and not at all when I am laying down.

If anybody can help I greatly appreciate it. This is not only a nuisance to me and my family, but it is beginning to make me worry that there may be a more serious problem.

Thanks,
lNl

[Eatafruit78]

This is going to sound crazy! But I am gonna tell you, because I wish I had found this info 10 years ago when I was misdiagnosed with Acid reflux.

Antibiotics mess up the Pancreas. All of that fluid that you have to clear, probably is produced by your pancreas inbalance.
Spicy food is great for people with weak pancreas...I am guessing you have the opposite problem- your pancreas is irritated. Laying back can debilitate a weak pancreas, but it just calms yours because your pancreas is hyper.

There might be periods in which the pancreas swing to one extreme or the other.

Acoording to Chinese Medicine Theory, Pancreas 'excess' can trigger allergies. But allergies are a 'symptom', not the root problem, and certainly not the last you are going to deal with.

Visit a doctor of Oriental Medicine.
It is a hard sell, but if I could only travel in time...I would have never taken all those antibiotics, acid reflux medicine, pain killers, and benadryl.
*****************

RA, dermatomyositis, polymyositis, Crohn's arthritis, fibromylagia, and SLE are all types of impediment conditions due to complicated yin fire scenarios. MS is a wilting condition (wei zheng) due to the same basic disease mechanisms minus the impediment patterns. Most autoimmune sufferers have a history of one or more allergies. They often have histories of antibiotic use, which has damaged the spleen. In China today, a popular topic for Chinese medical journal articles is post-antibiotic spleen qi vacuity or intestinal dysbiosis due to spleen qi vacuity in turn due to antibiotics. In such cases, the spleen qi has been damaged and this results in dampness, while dampness transforms into damp heat. We have discussed some of the most important causes of spleen qi vacuity in a previous essay. In the West, these have to include faulty diet, too much thinking, too much worry and anxiety, not enough exercise, and too much work, and usually there are some or all of these in significant amounts in allergy and autoimmune patients.
http://www.bluepoppy.com/press/downl...autoimmune.cfm

by the way, Spleen is Pancreas.
Dampness is all that drip that you need to keep clearing.
Fruity.

[lNlPidge]

Thank you, are there any other ideas as to what this could be???

[supertonic]

Hi,
No expert here.

You may want to see a speech language pathologist to check your symptoms out... or have another ENT evaluate you.

Dysphagia -Difficulty swallowing
Some symptoms include drooling, impaired chewing, diffculty initiating swallowing, nasal regurgitation, coughing and choking, food sticking to the throat, throat clearing and wet voice, ,and food getting stuck in the area in front of the teeth and behind the lips (sulci)

Did you have layrngitist or phayrngitist?
Because I don't think you can lose your voice with pharyngitis. Unless you had both.

If you look in your mouth and the wall straight back that's part of the pharynx.
And the layrnx is lower down the neck. You can feel your throat and swallow and the thing that moves is the larynx. The vocal cords are housed here.

As to your vocal folds- have you had a stroke or brain damage? (Don't have to answer here)
If you had, this might be the cause of one of the vocal folds working more to compensate for the other.
If you had, then this might be a cause of your difficulty swallowing.

Epiglottis- it's role is to block things from entering the air way. But it isn't like a seal, so it doesn't get everything.

Hope that helps

Regarding the first post on this forum by lNlPidge.

I have the same symptoms since one night when i smoked alot of cigarettes, i went to hospital because my throat was blocked with something that keeps coming and going up and down my thoat, just under my chin, it wasnt life threatening but i couldnt breath properly through my nose, i am a nose breather when i sleep.

It is now 8 months and it comes on and off as per the following patterns:

- After eating
- If i tilt my head forward (facing downwards)
- during workout, especially when facing downwards
- smoking doesnt increase it, in fact it makes the throat dry and reduces it
- feeling of something in my thorat, just under the chin, when i clear my throat i feel something going up and my swallowing becomes better but only until i feel it coming back again
- I dont feel it when i wake up from sleep, i sleep on my side or back

ENT doctors said its an acid reflux, i think it has something to do with pharyngitis.

I am seeing doctors all the time to find an answer, if you have the same symptoms and want to share the experience, please email me on: mohammed.sami@workz.ae

Im dealing with simlar symptoms, plus a sensation that my throat is swelling in the area where you would get some post-nasal drip - they thinkn it mya be acid reflux - try this link

http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/news/l...cts_throat.htm

Originally Posted by lNlPidge

I have gone to several doctors for this, including an ENT and none of them can tell me whats wrong. They all just tell me its allergies and give me a nasal allergy medicine (which makes it worse).

Here are my symptoms:
-Symptoms have been consistent since may '06
-I regularly feel like I have to clear fluid from my trachea.
-Happens everyday, but not all day long.
-Happens more when I eat.
-Need to clear throat is less if I am thirsty (cotton mouth)
-Need to clear is greater with foods that make me salivate (spicy, sour)
-Doesn't happen when I am laying down (night or early morning)
-Seasons dont affect it
-Only allergy is to cats, which I am never around. No pollens, etc.

Background:
-This has been a problem for about a year and a half now. I had pharyngitis (sp?) and lost my voice. my doctor gave me antibiotics to clear up the infection, but my voice never came back. After ~6 wks he gave me a steroid inhaler to heal the swelling around my vocal cords. I apparently have always cleared my throat more than the usual person, but these symptoms I have now are significantly more noticeable than anything I had before. It gets to the point now that I actually hyperventalate from clearing my throat too much, making me dizzy.

ENT:
Took a look at my vocal cords and said that one doesn't move as much as the other, and the more active one compensates by coming over further. Not sure if he thought that was a result or a cause???

Personal Diagnosis:
No doctor here, but it seems that my epiglottis is allowing fluid to drain into my trachea and onto my vocal cords, making me feel the need to clear my throat. I dont know if it is sopposed to block this sort of thing, but it seems obvious to me that it is just saliva going into my trachea that is causing the issue, since it happens more when I am eating and not at all when I am laying down.

If anybody can help I greatly appreciate it. This is not only a nuisance to me and my family, but it is beginning to make me worry that there may be a more serious problem.

Thanks,
lNl

Hye - I had problems for 3 years including - what doctors thought - post nasal drip. I was mis-diagnosed with allergies for 3 years and was on steroid inhalers etc. Went to an allergist who told me I was low in iodine. Went back to docs and asked for blood test (which they hadn't done in the whole 3 yrs!) turns out I have underactive thyroid.

One of the symptons of this is that you clear your throat - something to do with the thyroid gland -which is in your neck - being swollen.

Something for you to consider. Good luck - finding out what it is - it took me 3 years but I am so so much better now.

i dunno about acid reflux n all that. i had the same problem when i was younger for about a year. i was only about 10. no one knew what it was. it wasn't painful or anything -just annoying. but it went away...

[randomboy123]

What about chronic sinusitis.
It involves post nasal drip, where the sputum accumulates at the back of your throat, causing you to get the urge to clear it. Might be the case but I think your Dr or ENT specialist should have covered and ruled it out as it is quite common.

Hi, I,ve had a problem with excess fluid which I have had for two years now. It started with a cough and then developed from there. My fluid is constantly there but every few months gets worst and antibiotics help slightly. My symptoms include: difficulty swallowing with certain foods getting stuck in my throat, if I lie face down when I sleep I get a blocked nose and my ears are some times wet in the morning. I also lose my voice first thing in the morning and cough constantly. I also suffer from my face and throat swelling. At the moment I have a swollen throat with white blotches on my soft palete which is making me breathless and causing a restriction. I have been to ENT and had an endoscope which does confirm I have reflux however I know the difference and I know that not what this is. My doctor does not have a clue and is now senting me for allergy testing and a speak and language assessment. I am 37 years old.