Phlegm in my throat and post nasal drip after Covid

@kaw359 your story sounds like me. For six years I've had constant post nasal drip. Mucous in my throat constantly and a constant cough

Has anyone had long covid that brings on excessive phlegm and nothing will help

stress, inflammation, etc., sinus infection, etc, inflammation, colds, flu, covid.

I usually get it during pollen season, and I call it post nasal drip, and although I will take claritin from time to time, I don't like to take medications, but what helps me with the mucous is those old 4-6 hour sudafed without any other medications in them; just regular sudafed. I have to get them from behind the counter from the pharmacists, but they work, and I only take one every once in while.

My ENT is insisting that copious mucus coming from nose into throat is caused by asthma or reflux bc he’s stumped for a treatment. Nothing helps. Added second inhaler and took acid reflux meds but without any improvement to post nasal drip and mucus. Covid 4 yrs ago. 7 doctors. No one knows how to treat long covid symptoms.

This is exactly my husband. Still dealing with it every day. Just went to another NP and she suggested trying a patch behind his ear that is usually used for motion sickness. It is supposed to decrease mucus. Nothing yet however. Also sending him for a swallow test. He also suffers brain fog which is so difficult to deal with

I too have had chronic congestion and a couple of heavy sinus infections during my 2 years of Long Covid. I have had some benefit from faithful nasal saline washes AM and PM and a daily spray of generic Flonase. More recently, I suddenly experienced a laryngeal spasm with airway narrowing in my throat and copious thick mucous. Just drowning in it. Elevated the head of my bed, using cool mist humidifier. Things help a little but no relief. I have been doing vein ablation treatments for varicose veins in my legs and at the same time as the sudden worsening of post nasal drainage and throat chocking, my leges became very swollen and painful. My vascular doctor prescribed prednisone for the inflammation (a strong dose with a 3 week taper).
I am just getting to the second week now but I must say that I had no idea just how much inflammation that I have been living with until now. This is the first time in over two years that my body has relaxed and my sleep actually returned and the brain fog seems to be clearing.
I don’t know what this looks like when I finish the prednisone but there has been a study of combining Valacyclovir (an antiviral that I have had benefits from for many months now) combined with Celebrex (an anti-inflammatory). Their results are promising. I may look in to doing that combination to better address inflammation.
https://respiratory-therapy.com/products-treatment/pharmaceuticals/clinical-trials/valacyclovir-celecoxib-combo-shows-promise-long-covid-symptom-relief/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41590-025-02353-x

@turandot Has your ENT recommended trying an alginate product like Gaviscon Advanced or Reflux Gourmet? I am starting to suspect this is all caused by LPR (aka silent reflux) due to vagus nerve damage from covid. I started Reflux Gourmet 2 tsp - twice the dose on the tube and more in line with the Gaviscon Advanced dosage - after every meal and before bed a couple of days ago and have noticed a drastic improvement. Let me know if you have tried either (they are OTC). I'd be curious to know .

The ONLY other user in this entire forum who has mentioned alginate is shashig on January 10, 2025. Look up symptoms of LPR. They pretty closely match what we are all experiencing.

@bentstiks2 have you tried a product called Ketone-IQ? it's available on Amazon and made my brain fog much better. It provides ready energy to the brain. It is not cheap and I think it tastes terrible but if you drink it fast with water afterwards, it's OK. It is a staple of my day now and I'm getting so much more done with less anxiety and more energy.

I had a swallow test, they found nerve damage as the sequence is now off causing food to remain longer in back of throat and not clear. Also my tonsils are now missing, guess that can happen with age. The doctors suspect the flap that shuts off food that stops food from going up in nose may be involved of which there is no cure. If that is true (which makes sense as to why eating makes more sticky mucous) then i’m stuck trying to find ways to clear it. In less I can find a doctor to help me bypass eating altogether, which i’m open to because of the insult happening to my brain with all the inflammation being caused in my head from eating and my fear of it slowly causing permanent damage.

@ccbwell maybe buy one tube of the Reflux Gourmet. try taking a teaspoon or two after each meal and before bed. I suspect what's happening is the vagus nerve got damaged and that's causing pepsin to make it its way into your throat from your stomach. It then gets absorbed by cells and when you eat anything acidic it activates pepsin, which then causes the massive mucus release in your throat. Taking Reflux gourmet (alginate) creates something called a raft in your stomach. It is 100% natural product and it's actually good for your microbiome. But it blocks pepsin from being able to make it its way up to your throat. Of course, while you're eating, it's likely some will make it up but a lot less will continue to come up after you eat if you take this product following meals. Your vagus nerve, damaged by Covid, is required to shut the esophageal sphincters correctly, and the damage to the nerve is making those not work as well, which is causing this condition known as LPR or silent reflux, I believe. Being diligent about using a Neti pot after eating also will help clear out any mucus that does get created while you're eating. You can do that after taking the reflux gourmet. Hope this helps. It's been a game changer for me.