Every day I cough up what looks like a scab with ugly mucous and blood
Every day I cough up what looks like a scab with ugly mucous and tiny amounts of blood. It seems to come from the back of my throat or nose. My doctor has seen the scab but does not see anything wrong. This, to me, seems really odd. Has anyone had this problem?
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another thought is to have your teeth and upper gum checked for infection as it is an area which is quite a lot of blood flow . a lot of open bones sacs antrums and sinus and bone is porous
Wow! Me too! I'm sooo glad I found this post. It looks exactly like what I hawk up. I hadn't thought to take a pic until now. Thank you for posting!
Hey! Did any of you find a "treatment" for these scabs? I have them too, seems no ENT can figure out why...
I have the same exact mucous “scab” problem too. It slides down and sticks to the back of my throat from my nose every day/every couple days. This has been happening for around 2+ years. It worsened after my turbinate reduction surgery. I have also previously had surgery to correct deviated septum. My ENT doctor has scoped my nose several times since my turbinate reduction surgery. He’s confirmed that the crust/mucous is forming on my adenoids. He doesn’t think it’s infected though, as the tissue underneath the mucuos doesn’t look particularly inflamed.
However, he did have me apply mupirocin ointment to the inside of my nostrils (3 times a day for 7 days to get rid of potential staph)... and the mucuos and scabbing went away temporarily... Over the past 2 years, I’ve done the course of mupirocin ointment three times. Each time, by the end of the 7 days, the mucuos eases up and I have no scabbing. This lasts for a week or two (and it’s glorious!)... but then it comes back. The same thing happened when I took antibiotics (Keflex) for a UTI— it went away during the antibiotic treatment then came back a week or two later.
Still, after all of that, my doctor does not think my adenoids are infected. I believe him, because he’s a nose expert, after all. Last thing he told me is that he doesn’t think it’s anything scary, but for him to try to better understand what it is (he’s never seen this problem before), he would have to remove the adenoids and biopsy them. It’s something I’m considering but, dang it, I don’t really want to have another surgery! I also get tonsil stones, so was thinking I could get those out at the same time if I decide to go through with it.
Also... what’s weird is that both of my brothers experience the same thing too. Such a mystery.
@beebuzz If you don’t mind explaining more, what exactly did your doctor say about the mono?
Stay strong, nose buddies.
Let us know how it goes!
@glassshark
I saw my ENT in early March … Still producing scabs every 3-days like clockwork.
He scoped me again and can see the scab right were the adenoids would be … but he says it’s not Adenoiditis. He considered that it may be a Tornwaldt cyst... stepped away to re-look at my MRI, but came back and said not that either.
He used the scope to dislodge the scab that was there, then swabbed me for a culture. He had me start taking Augmentin for 14-days, while we waited for the culture to come back.
The culture came back 5-days later. The PA called to say that it shows staph, but that staph is a naturally occurring thing and isn’t what my problem is since there is no elevated white blood cell count (i.e. Its not a staph infection).
Still no definitive diagnostic.
The Augmentin has changed the frequency of the scab. For the last 9 months, it has been a new scab every 3-days … I completed the Augmentin last Saturday, which I just had a scab today… first one in 10-days. 10 is better than 3, but I want none of this 😊
I’ll give it another two weeks to see if the frequency changes up now that I’m off the Augmentin, then will call the ENT to see what’s the next step.
Hello, and thank you for your detailed post. This sounds exactly like what I get, and your theory as to the cause is very much what I have been concluding. The most important thing that you said was that unless others get these scab things and cough them up, they won't get it. True! In my case, I think dry air has something to do with it, because I get them MUCH more often in the winter, and rarely in the humid summertime, or when I am at the beach - which is VERY humid. Moisture seems to keep them from forming into a hard scab; and since I have been having A LOT of them lately - just about every other day, for a couple of weeks - and a LOT of thick, tenacious stringy mucus as postnasal sludge rather than clear drip - I am going to try a humidifier in my room tonight. I don't have any throat pain, but more of a scratchy throat feeling. I do clear my throat a lot, and have a good bit of postnasal drip which in these past few weeks is NOT clear, but rather yellow. (General throat congestion and throat clearing runs in my family, for whatever that may be worth.) When the scab comes loose and I cough it out, it's a bit of a relief. It does not really come UP from anywhere, it seems more from where upper throat (not visible) meets lower nasal area. When I KNOW it is there, I clear my throat and cough and try too hard to hock it out that I wind up irritating the area even more. Bit of a vicious cycle at the moment. As of today, I am drinking lots of water, planning to sleep with the humidifier, and try my best not to irritate anything, but just let it run it's course. It's a CRAZY thing, isn't it? Some pocket or ledge that collects mucus and hardens and then has to come out! Ugh. Looking forward to HUMID SUMMER. 🙂
THAT is what it looks like! Sometimes more green crusty around the edges. This looks like an 'immature' one, lol.
Yes, we all have this in common. I, too, am so glad I found this thread!
I have the same exact thing! Every about 6-12 days I'll cough another one up. I have pretty frequent nosebleeds as well, so mine usually have dried blood in them as well. My throat always hurts before and after I cough it out. Is this common for anyone else? It just feels raw and sore. I want to go to an ENT about this, but I really don't want to have to go through the whole "I've never seen this before" run around stuff. I don't have time/money/energy for that.
If anyone has gotten an actual diagnosis and viable treatment, please let us know!