Hello @eternity. Your situation sounds familiar to my own. For an entire year I was on antibiotics because the super-glue, consistency-type mucus was trapped behind my paralyzed vocal cords (VCs). This caused constant lung infections but because I could still talk normally, I resisted the VC diagnoses. In my mind, how could I still talk normally if my VCs were paralyzed? It made no logical sense. Eventually, I could not even bend down to pick a dandelion (I like to eat the flower!) without going into a panic. This is because it felt like I was drowning. The suggested treatment was to have a Tracheotomy, which I did, but only after waiting for weeks and hoping things would somehow change. Ugh...no.
That was approximately three years ago, and now all that mucus is readily accessible. The tube feels natural, and I do not even notice it is there anymore. Our brain is a wonderful thing! Several times a day I remove the tube and clean it out. Like you said, certain foods cause a lot of mucus, so being able to remove a simple tube and clean it out, leaves me with the ability to breathe freely. It only takes a few minutes each time...I do not follow the extreme protocol, but it IS clean!
Hopefully, you do not have frozen VCs, but please go to an ENT to have the throat scoped. It only takes a few minutes to find out. When you explained how it is getting worse, it brought back horrid memories. Several times I would wake up in the middle of the night gasping for air. Before my husband could even get his clothes on, I was out the door and driving to the emergency room. The AC in the car seemed to help just enough to make it there alive. However, trying to give my name, DOB, and insurance to the ER receptionist while barely breathing was something that will always stick in my mind.
The cause of my VCs paralyzing was either radiation, having severe Covid, or a combination of both. In addition, there are many operations to help people with this condition but involve surgery. As you are probably aware, surgery on radiated tissue can cause the tissue to become necrotic, so those options are out. I barely made it to the surgical date without dying. If it weren't for a Primatene Mist inhaler and a strong saline nebulizer, I know I would have died. That is what my stubbornness to have the surgical procedure produced! You are in my thoughts.