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. 🙂