Why do I cough up mucus at the end of every meal?

Oh Deb....so sorry...."makes me feel sick to my stomach".

So far I haven't had that. There are times that I have had to purposely put myself in a chair to sit and relax because the clearing of the sputum has caused me physical tension and I need to settle down and relax.

I can sleep at night with the exception of having to wake up and empty my bladder. Each time after waking I clear the throat for a minute or two before going back to sleep. In the morning it all begins, the need to clear the throat and as well with the first cup of water after exercising and then with breakfast much forms and it takes time to have it somewhat subside.

About two years ago I tried chewing on a small piece of gum to see if it helped. It did and does somewhat. So for two years now I tear off a small piece of a chewing gum stick and chew on it. I probably go through one to one and a half sticks in 24 hours. From a dental point of view it might not be the best thing to do but it does help and give me some relief. So far no dental problems. I chew on the small piece until I feel I need a new small piece.

Can you gargle it up or suck it up or are you having to cough it up all the time? For me it is mostly gargle and sucking it up. Every once in awhile I cough it up. The secondary concern with all this is the possible pressure on other parts of the body...especially the vocal cords. Do you have trouble talking. So far I haven't felt I have any vocal cord problems, so far.
Barbara

Deb- I was told to start PPI's in August 2022 however I ruled against it.
I believe you take PPI's if I remember correctly??
Barbara

No I do no take PPI’s. I tried them for a few months and there was no change.

Hello again Irene. Hope you are having some good days.
I went back into this thread.....and reread some of our posts due to forever having the throat clearing problem with the white, bubbly foamy sputum.
Did you ever find out if you had developed acid reflux....LPR, Hiatal Hernia etc.??? Are you still bringing up the white foamy bubbly sputum, annoying STUFF!!!
I am very much convinced that it is due to my Hiatal Hernia that NJH noted/diagnosed after the testing the gastroenterologist did. I truly don't know for sure but the Hernia sure appears to be the reason for it. An NJH video I had found a while back of a different gastroenterologist at NJH spoke of a Hiatal Hernia causing a throat clearing problem.
Barbara

Hello. No never did any testing for hernia etc. I am pretty sure I have silent reflux however. I do not have the foamy stuff coming up except when I do my AC in the late morning. But most of it is brown colored infected looking mucus so that is my main concern and not the foamy part. Also when I clear my throat it is usually colored mucus at issue. In my case it is all from Pseudomonas. That is my issue.

Irene The body is amazing in that it can have multiple health concerns and yet allow us to keep going. Not fun, yet frustrating quite often....but........... as you have shown with perseverance we can keep going.
In the NTM Talk episodes and as well as NJH they believe that acid reflux plays a role in contracting BE. In Episode 7 with Swenson and Drummond they indicated 50% of patients with BE have acid reflux.
Hope you have an easy day of it today.
Barbara

Yes, after dinner I usually have one productive cough.

I do that depending on what I eat. I do have some food allergies and I think it sometimes has to do with that. If I eat something that my body doesn’t like my reaction is to get phlegmy and cough up some MAC and lung junk.

I have always coughed up mucus after eating. It is embarrassing. For anyone.who has pseudemonas bacteria issues, look into the Captiva vaccine.

For all the coughing... have any of you tried hard peppermint candy? When I had all that coughing for the couple years before I got help, peppermint worked better for me than cough drops, other candies or tessalon pearls. Having one in mouth was about the only way I could be in public. Just a thought.