Mucus and bad breathe when your not sick!

@capausz I had surgeries to repair the sliding hernia. I had a nissen fundoplication in 2001. It started to fail almost immediately. I had a repair in 2007 which failed and had added pain because of mesh placed in a place it should not have been placed. In 2013 I was sent to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville .. to quote this last local surgeon “the doctors there fix other doctor's mistakes”. An honest surgeon. The surgeon at the Mayo did an undo of the Nissen wrap and repaired the hernia. Another immediate failure. Dealing with insurance mess it took me another year to have surgery for repair... the hernia had pulled my stomach into my chest for the third time. The surgeon that did the first surgery at the Mayo had moved on. I was blessed to get Dr Bowers for the 2014 surgery. He decided to do a gastric bypass.. which was created for the purpose of repairing these stubborn hernias. The side effect is weight loss. During surgery my esophagus decided to shorten. It pulled the hernia and a loop of intestines into my chest. It also caused a leak. This was no fault of the surgeon. Only 1% chance of it happening. My luck .. haha. I was in hospital for 3 weeks and too weak for the surgery to repair the mess. I was put on feeding tube. I was doing better for about 6 months and two more loops of my intestines pulled up into my chest and pushed my left lung against my ribs. I managed to get back to the Mayo Clinic pretty quickly. Planning and coordination with a thoracic surgeon took place and I had open surgery in May of 2015. Not much choiice.. either take a chance on the surgery or endure a short miserable life. I had the feeding tube removed the following October. Quite a journey it has been and is still going on.

I will not recommend if someone should or should not have surgery. I can only say research your options, if surgery is the answer pick an excellent surgeon. I failed twice in the surgeon department. None could be better than Dr Bowers in Jacksonville.

@fourof5zs, thank you so so very much for your reply. Best info I have seen from a survivor of this journey. I had surgery in 2006 to repair a large sliding hiatal hernia combined with a volvulus stomach that was upside down and twisted. Stomach was also partially above the diaphragm and pressing on left lung. Surgery done by Dr. Jim Swain at Phoenix Mayo Clinic, who replaced the stomach, did a full esophagus wrap, etc. That surgery gradually came loose over time, resulting in a second large sliding hiatal hernia with 25 percent of my stomach above my diaphragm. Had surgery in July 2017 to repair. Thoracic Surgeon Ryan Macke of Banner in Phoenix decided to do only a partial esophageal wrap and repair due to amount of scar tissue from gallbladder surgery three months prior, migration of pelvic mesh from hysterectomy, etc. That surgery lasted only a year, when I began to have sudden onset horribly painful attacks in abdomen. Tests showed the hiatal hernia was back, some stomach was above diaphragm, but Dr. Macke felt the hiatal hernia was not causing the attacks. MRIs, CT scans, multiple trips to ER, could find nothing definitive and gastro specialist ruled “abnormal tissue of unknown origin” was possibly just fatty tissue and suggested wait and watch approach after I had had twelve of these horrible attacks that were so painful morphine did not control them. Each attack lasted from an hour to six hours. Last attack was February 4th, and CT in ER showed a grapefruit sized total obstruction in colon due to volvulus bowel. Emergency open surgery done by general surgeon who removed right colon, plus part of small intestine and cecum valve. After nine-day hospital stay, I am home recovering. Fearful because Dr. Macke told me another surgery to repair hiatal hernia is not an option and recommended gastric bypass, even though I am (was) thirty pounds overweight. Given my age (74) and other health issues (fibromyalgia, hypertension, diabetes, etc.) I do not like permanent weight loss surgery as a solution. Your history has given me incredible food for thought. As an aside, my sister died when her volvulus (aka twisted) stomach burst while she was awaiting emergency surgery. My surviving sister has a large sliding hiatal hernia that is causing blood loss and she is trying to determine if hernia surgery is her best option. I salute you for your incredible survival strength. Stay strong, thank you again for the good info, and please share any additional info you care to share. This site is such a blessing to so many. Best of luck to you.

It sounds like reflux which can cause post nasal drainage then the phlegm gets into the throat or more specifically maybe lpr? I have had this problem for seven months drink plenty of water keep hydrated avoid spicy food eat at least 3 to four hours before bed. Caffeine should be cut outta your diet too it's a process of elimination really. I take Gavisvon advance which helps me a bit. I'm waiting on an ent referral another 5 months to wait try to follow a bland diet i know it's boring but i got to the point where I'd rather eat a bland diet than suffer with the phlegm all the time. It's worth a try! Good luck

A lot of people that have COPD have a lot of phlegm or mucus at night I have it it is bad all the time but night it is the worse at night wakes me up all the time.

I discovered I had really bad breath in 2015 at work when Clients refused to see me, I have done every Test my ENT can think of to no avail, I have had Nasal Turbinate reduction, CT Scan does not show anything, I have had Imaging to check for reflux done dental checks, checked for Tonsil Stones, Been Prescribed Prednisone, and every allergy nasal spray to no avail, I use a dehumidifyer with my CPAP and throat is never dry.
Changed Diabetes Prescription incase it was a reaction to it all to no avail.
I still have phlegm in throat and really bad breath and feeling suicidal as I cannot earn a living anymore.
Please help as I am out of options.

@bbjaide- You must feel like a pariah. How awful you must feel, even as you understand the reason. Has a periodontist checked your gums for periodontal disease? I'm also wondering if you've had blood work to make sure that you do not have any infections.
I also think that the amt of phlegm might be a reaction to what is causing your bad breath.
I wish that I could offer more hope and encouragement but I also don't know how this can be solved. Could you be taking any other medications that could cause this?
https://www.mayoclinic.org/search/search-results?q=bad%20breath

I also found this for you: https://www.healthline.com/health/diabetes/bad-breath
Have you seen an endocrinologist for your diabetes? It may be worth a visit.
I understand that you probably sick of visiting doctors, I really do. Earlier this year I needed a break from all of my doctors that treat my lung disease. I thought that I would scream, leave me alone!

Will you please let me know if you have been to any of these specialists that I have mentioned?

@merpreb Thank you for responding, Yes I have seen both a Periodontist and I see an Endocrinologist for the Diabetes, My A1C has been stable at 6.1 for the last 5 years, I am just desperate.
I thank you for taking the time to do some research.

I went through the same thing, so you're definitely not alone.