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Every day I cough up what looks like a scab with ugly mucous and blood
Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) | Last Active: Dec 4 7:51pm | Replies (391)Comment receiving replies
Hello all, thank you for posting about this topic... I too am plauged with the crusty greenish yellow circular phlegm balls that I have been coughing up every other day. This has been happening to me for almost 3 years, but gotten much more frequent with time. My doctor cultured my phlegm and it came back as heavy growth staph areus (not mrsa) with rare white blood cells seen and many gram positive coli. I was put on 300mg of clindamycin 3x a day for 10 days. Immediately the coughing of these nasty things stopped and I could finally rest my throat. However, 6 days after antibiotics were over (yesterday) the darn thing was coughed up again 🙁 now, it looks much clearer and a little smaller than before, but still concerning and has the darker spot in the middle. It's really hard too in the center.
Today I saw my ent for a endoscopy (he saw the phlegm sitting near my antenoids near the nasopharynx far back in my nose in the center of my head.) He then did a sinus CT which he said showed nothing abnormal... He isn't worried about this ball of phlegm and said I do not have a sinus infection. He said it's common for staph to collect in the nose. I seriously don't understand why the antibiotics stopped this while I was on them if it wasn't an medical worthy bacterial infection?? He won't give me antibiotics for longer because he's afraid of side effects like c diff and said I don't need it. :/ I told him I literally cannot live with this forever, as it hurts to hack this stuff up. He then replied that he can offer a biopsy of the area that will check the cells as well as culture the samples and he will clean the area with antibiotic ointment. I seriously doubt this is going to help, but I am out of options and just want it to be over with so I agreed to do it next Wednesday.
Has anyone ever had a remedy to this madness? I am at my wit's end. To make things even more interesting, my left eyelid is dropping and started around the same time as this mucus issue. My neurologist 2 years ago said my MRI was normal and I am fine. So it's normal to cough up phlegm balls and have a sagging eyelid at age 30? Someone PLEASE help lol ........
Replies to "Hello all, thank you for posting about this topic... I too am plauged with the crusty..."
Hello everyone, thank you for the replies, I just wanted to provide an update. Since posting, I've had a biopsy of my nasopharynx where the andenoids are. I was told there is no cancer, but my tissue tested positive for a bacteria called Eikenella Corrodens. My ENT told me this diagnosis is perplexing to him because many people normally have this specific bacteria in the nose naturally, but not necessarily in the actual tissue (from the sample of skin he took out). I have already taken a round of clindamycin for 10 days due to my crusty phlegm sample testing positive for heavy growth staph areus. Now, my ENT says he thinks he'll prescribe me a second round (now a month later) because the Eikenella is resistant to Clindamycin and I'll now be taking Augmentin. I don't know if perhaps this is a co-colonizatiom between the two bacterias? Or, all part of normal flora and is just a coincidence and I just a nasal irrigation issue... or both. Since my biopsy, I have only coughed up just 1 phlegm which was super bloody from the biopsy but it's been a week and nothing since. I plan on waiting till I cough up another one and then start the 2nd round of antibiotics while starting nasal irrigation twice daily as many of you have recommended. Thank you all for the feedback, please let me know if any of you have a similar diagnosis or thoughts about the Eikenella in the nasal tissue! I am also scared to take antibiotics because clindamycin is strong and that was just a month ago so I might wait a little....
Mine looks exactly the same, shape and rounded edges too! Some mornings mine is a bit bloody or has strings of blood hardened in it. Warning, gross pics to follow! The bloody one is today & the yellowish is yesterday. Front and back images.
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I use the regular NeilMed salts with the sinus spray bottle with purified water. Pretty inexpensive. Available at Walmart and other places. It does a decent job. My husband uses his twice per day. I use it once.