Excessive mucus production in the upper respiratory system and throat.

Have read the exchange above and would like to chime in, if I may. O hope this helps:

Robitussin (brand name) active ingredient: guiafenensin. Properties: Thins mucous secretions so they can be coughed up. Robitussin is the syrup; look for plain-label guiafenensin with no dextromathorphen, the cough suppressant or other additive. You're supposed to cough to get rid of that stuff! Once gone, you quit coughing and can rest! And maybe after that, resume activity. The syrup goes right to the affected tissue and provides some immediate relief.

Also try Mucinex (brand name) active ingredient: guiafeninsen in big fat long-lasting tablet form; the tab does not provide immediate relief as does syrup, but is active for 12 hours.

My current bedtime treatment includes syrup-form small dose for immediate relief, and once breathing is restored, either a 600mg or 1,200mg tab, depending on severity of the cough. Result: I might get up and hack and cough only once or twice a night, or not at all!

NAC plus guiafenensin = SLEEP!

By day those coughing spells take the sap out of me. If I get right on it as described above they are minimized. I upped the dosages as far as the law would allow during COVID - and don't think I'd have survived without them.

As far as NAC and increased water intake is concerned, I've noticed that too. My sense is that I don't drink an excessive amount of water with NAC in my system; I'm just normally thirsty as I was when I was younger, and the whole cysteine-glutathione chain in my body was operating normally.

We have to remember that cysteine is a naturally occurring protien that the body makes, and after COVID, many of us aren't making enough of it any more. I haven't read anything anywhere that indicates the NAC dries you out. I do know that since COVID, I'm far less active than before and tend to drink less water.

God bless you both, and anyone else who happens on this exchange - and let's keep sharing what we know, helping each other. I thank God for what I've learned on this board.

Hi John, I have similar issues. While it’s important to cough out the mucus, are you able to differentiate when your cough starts as a spasm versus needing to expectorate mucus. I had both and have had good luck with Superior Laryngeal Nerve Blocks monthly to stop the spasmodic cough. Also, using cough suppressive techniques help me stop a coughing fit. As for the continuous production of mucus, I just live with it. Hope this is some kind of help for you. Best, Maureen.

I’m also using Mucinex twice a day! Thinner mucus is easier to cough up, so hopefully you won’t have 5 to 10 minute coughing fits.

I have similar. I am diagnosed and treated for long covid at national Jewish health. I get this same clear thick slime "like egg whites" that settles in the top of my lungs an only two things help. Liquid mucinex (not the pills) and literally coughing it up. (Think back to grandma putting vicks in a pot of boiling water and a towel over your head to breathe in steam till you were able to cough all the carp out of your lungs).
Every test shows clear lungs but no air will pass that slime...

Something to consider is that a wee bit of extra mucous, not enough to be really noticeable or annoying, can trigger the involuntary cough mechanism.

That tickly sensation in my throat that made me cough was traced to post-nasal drainage, which in turn was abated with addressing allergies, (including food allergies I wasn't aware of, and which were ramped up post-COVID) and exercise (when I can stand it) and (drumroll...) NAC.

Antihistamines, especially cetirizine (as it has a slight drying property and doesn't make me drowsy or edgy) keeps the spasm coughing exacerbated by allergies at bay.

And FWIW - I use liquid guaifenensin for immediate symptomatic relief, and once under control take a 600 mg pill to get me through the night. The two in tandem work better somertimes thgan just one. And if I haven't traken more than a measurer of liquid, I'll sometimes pop a 1,200 mg'er on top of that.

As long as we read the labels and don't overdose we can figure it out for ourselves. For me the one-two punch is often indicated and most effective.

I hope this helps - we're all in this together.

This sounds just like what I experience just about every day and night. I wake up sometimes gaging and coughing and it is so thick I choke and throw up some. I have tried all the sprays and rinses and nothing seems to work permit. So I feel I am tied to all these things just to breath. I am just starting to take mucinex tablets at night along with a good saline rinse and budesonide. I can't believe the medical field can't find a fix for this.

I bought budesonide but it doesn't spray so I'm using flonase. I hope that's as good.

Please look elsewhere in these posts for information on n - acetyl cysteine, or NAC. It has helped many, cheap, effective, replaces the cysteine that the body produces naturally but that sems to fall off post-COVID. Nor for symptomatic relief, instead it moderates mucous production before the problems arise - is a preventative.

Thanks so much! I am taking NAC now too. Have only been taking it for about a week. Over the last two years this mucus problem has gotten worse instead of better. It often affects my voice so speaking is difficult in addition to the gross continual throat clearing I need to do to breathe and speak.