Phlegm in my throat and post nasal drip after Covid

Please post your gastro consult findings.

One of many of the non-painful but annoying symptoms Long Covid has blessed me with. I equate it to a large herd of buffalo grazing in my mouth irritating my nose (Nasal Drip) tongue (Covid Tongue) and throat (soreness). The herd has been there so long, the buffallo patties has ruined both my taste buds and smell and from the current after taste - mushrooms are clearly growing. It's been 2years - 4 months they've been grazing so I expect a really good harvest.

Gastro consult is mid-October. I’ll post again then.

OK. I promised to update everyone about what happened after I completed my 5 day course of amoxicillin [500mg]. So I was taking 3 capsules per day.
To begin with after the 2nd day, my bad breath had almost disappeared.
On day 5, I noticed that the mucus production of my post nasal drip had reduced dramatically.
I wouldn’t say it has completely disappeared, but it is a lot better.
I am just wondering whether a 10 day course would have completely cleared this problem?
I will do a follow up post in another week, to let you know, if things have improved or deteriorated?

So, the reason I decided to ask for amoxicillin, is because another member was cured by this antibiotic:

connect.mayoclinic.org/comment/923616/

If this does indeed work, I will be the second person, that found relief with this medication.
One person is an exception. Two people is a pattern.

That’s really great news! I wonder how it works. I will mention this to my doctor, but without a study or some other guidance, I’m not sure my doctor will prescribe it. I don’t have a throat, head or ear infection to treat.

One thing that strikes me is that I had just taken an antibiotic capsule about 2 hours before I got hit with this overwhelming metallic taste last year. I called the doctor and they said it was one of the side effects, that it was temporary. Only, I still have it. It’s now more bitter than metallic, but it’s constant. I also had covid around that time, so……..it makes me scared of antibiotics.

Well. COVID is a virus and antibiotics only affect bacteria.
My understanding is that post nasal drip can be caused by a bacterial imbalance in the nose/throat area.
This imbalance might be triggered by COVID, influenza or the simple Cold virus. Viruses, bacteria & the immune system interact in a multitude of ways, but it seems like this imbalance causes an excess of mucus, being generated.
I guess the antibiotics help the body’s immune response to revert this imbalance back to its normal state.
At University I studied things like Zoology, Immunology, Microbiology, Molecular Biology etc and I have taken a keen amateur interest, ever since.
I must be straight with you, my day job has nothing to do with this subject.
I am a software engineer, by profession.

I am 85yrs old,got long covid 7/15/23 so week could not walk across a room. Brain fog set in, had it about 3 month was in a home until April this year. I have gotten better slowly, heart, breathing have been ok. Still very week,taste and smell comes and goes, balance still not good,but I can drive ok but must be very careful. I am not taking any meds for covid as they dont know what to give me. 10 days in Naples fl hospital ,and 10 days in chester co pa hospital, they sent we home because they didnt know what I had. Going to start rehab to gain some musel stranth , doing ok by my self, wife passed in May. I feel lucky compared to some of you. Just keep going and hope for the best that somthing new will help us all Phil Young

OK. I was going to wait a few more days, but the postal nasal drip has pretty much disappeared, along with the bad breath.
I must add this caveat.
I have only had these symptoms for about 3 months, so this may have just gone, by itself. But it seems like a pretty huge coincidence that it has gone whilst I was taking antibiotics.
I just want people to manage their expectations. I guess the longer that one has been experiencing these symptoms, the harder it might be to remove them.
However, on the surface, this is pretty good news.
Anyway good luck everyone! 🤞🏻🍀🙂

That’s great news! I will add that some days my symptoms will diminish. I’ll wonder if they are gone, but they always return the day after or soon thereafter. I hope yours is gone permanently.

Yes. I will provide another update in a week.
I guess the symptoms could return, but if we look at the facts, a coincidence here, is unlikely.
For instance, ever since the post nasal drip [PND] started, it remained at roughly the same level 24/7. I was pretty much clearing my throat every few minutes.
I then take a 5 day course of amoxicillin and on day 2 the bad breath starts to reduce. On day 4 the PND reduces dramatically.
6 days after starting the meds, the mucus has gone and the swallowing stopped.
Now, yes, there is always the possibility that this was all a massive coincidence, but there is an equally good chance that antibiotics may have a positive therapeutic effect on this condition.
I always fall back on the fact that I am the second person, in this forum, who has responded positively to amoxicillin.
If only one other person, responded well to this medication, I think we could be fairly certain that PND can be treated, at last.
An interesting idea would be to set up a poll on this forum, to see if people with PND have responded positively to antibiotics.

We could have 3 options:

Yes
No
Have not been treated with antibiotics

I wonder if the system administrator could set up such a poll?
If this is not possible, I could set up a Post Nasal Drip group on X. I could then set up the poll on there.
Or failing this, I would be happy to set up such a poll on one of my own website. And then add a link here for people to use.
This forum is great but I think it is about time we started analysing some of the data, people have been sharing over the years.
Anyway, if you think this is a good idea, let me know.