Every day I cough up what looks like a scab with ugly mucous and blood

Posted by needtoknow @needtoknow, Feb 10, 2016

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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In reply to @searchingforrelief "This is what Iā€™m using." + (show)
@searchingforrelief

This is what Iā€™m using.

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I saw that on Amazon. Some of the reviews said it didnā€™t hold up so I was worried. Maybe Iā€™ll just go for it and see how it does.

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@jberrymor

I saw that on Amazon. Some of the reviews said it didnā€™t hold up so I was worried. Maybe Iā€™ll just go for it and see how it does.

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I bought mine directly from the NeilMed website. If it fails I think theyā€™ll replace it.

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@searchingforrelief

I bought mine directly from the NeilMed website. If it fails I think theyā€™ll replace it.

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Thatā€™s probably a good idea.

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Iā€™ve got it, too. For me, itā€™s post nasal drip run amuck. The only thing that helps, a little, is to use fluticosone, a nasal spray. Also to flush my nose with saline, I use Neilmed. You can buy it direct from them or through Amazon, Walmart, and most drug stores.

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@jfvero

@searchingforrelief
Depending upon your age, you probably don't have adenoids, but your problem sounds like it's in the same area as mine, which I've previously uploaded picures of the thumbnail sized "scab"

For years I was getting the scab about every 4-6 weeks until I had my deviated septum corrected by a local ENT 2 years ago.
After that I was getting the scabs every 3 days.
I had 2 MRIs and a CAT scan ā€“ I have really good insurance, but no indication of what was causing the scab.
At one point I took an antibiotic for 10-days, and the scab went away for 2 months ā€¦ then it came back, though on a 4-5 day cycle.

I had a scab extracted and sent off to pathology, which came back with ā€œHeavy Growth Staphylococcus Aureusā€
After over a year of the local ENT trying to figure out what was going on, he decided to send me to the Specialist at Penn Medicine in Philadelphia ā€“ The Dr. you go to see when your local ENT isnā€™t able to find a solution.

He looked at my scans and history, and said yup Iā€™ve seen this before ā€¦ which was encouraging.
He said that I have a structural issue with my sinus that would be repairable, but felt that correcting the problem with the growth could be done without surgery.

As @nrd1 pointed out, your ciliary function (the little hairs that sweep mucous out) needs to be properly working. In my case, hydration and moisture helped to dislodge the scab, but did not help the underlying problem, which was a staph colonization causing a biofilm to develop. Note that this is a staph colonization, not a staph infection.

The solution for me was to give my body time to repair itself by breaking down the biofilm over a 21 day period. This gave the underlying tissue a chance to repair the cilia
ā€¢ Clindamycin for 21 days
ā€¢ Nasal Rinse twice a day ā€“ Distilled water (not tap!), saline, Ā½ tsp baby shampoo, Mupironcin, Budesonide
ā€¢ Based on where my scab forms, in the upper nasopharynx where my adenoids would be, I must bend over so that when I rinse with the solution, it actually gets to the spot where the scab forms. I find it most convenient to do this in the morning when I shower. If I donā€™t bend over, then itā€™s not getting to the area.

Other notes:
ā€¢ For the 1/2 Teaspoon of baby shampoo, I measured it at first, now I just squeeze in an approximate amount. It sounds crazy, but J&J Baby shampoo is what breaks down the biofilm -- see picture of the rinse ingrediants. I also warm the rinse before I use it.
ā€¢ Be sure to rinse the sinus rinse bottle every 2 weeks with 1/3 Hydrogen peroxide 2/3 Distilled water. And never use tap water.

Looking forward to hearing if this works for anyone else. I've a long history with this, so the notes above are an abbreviation that I wanted to quickly pass on to you and the others in this forum.

Be well šŸ™‚

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Hi Jfvero, Iā€™m interested in knowing if you are still feeling recovered. Also, please share the name of the Specialist from Penn Med who was able to diagnose and prescribed you the meds.

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@nelssilo76

I had staph some years back which I treated in a local way with mixed herbs and roots, since then it seem to be ok, but recently about two months now I began to witness some rashes and boil on my private part and my lap, Base on what I have heard so far about staph, I know it's staph cos at a time my sperm became watery and I could barely have sex second time. Pls what I need now is how I can take care of this ugly situation.

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I had a strep infection in my leg(inner thigh) that had to be surgically removed.

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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 šŸ™ 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 ........

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@sarahbrhein

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 šŸ™ 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 ........

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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.

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I too have been having the same problem for two years now ,every morning itā€™s the same mucus just lying in my throat ,sometime it forms so hard and crusty itā€™s hard to hack up!Iv been to the doctor too may times and Iā€™m now only getting my ent appointment, the doctor Kept saying itā€™s possible reflux but medication didnā€™t help ,also had multiple nasal sprays ,antibiotics,antihistamines ,it always lodges itā€™s self on side of my throat ,also the side my throat always feels very irrated it seems the pain comes kinda Above one tonsil that no doctor seems to understand why ,itā€™s so frustrating and now causing problems with my eating as it feeling like my food always getting stuck with my mucus

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Hi there! Order some Ponaris from Amazon and do nasal irrigation with saline water - I have Navage and it's wonderful - this routing keeps the crusty mucous at bay for me!

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