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

Hi all, I just created an account so I can come back later and read through everything. 3-4 years ago I started getting drainage every few days that was difficult to swallow. I never had allergies so I figured it was that. It progressed to last year where I was having issues daily. At some point I realized I could see the mucus at the back of my throat: thick, white, rope-like. I get it periodically through the day now, normally a bit I’m the morning, maybe around 10, then around 2, then always around 5-6, then a couple times in the evening. Now it dries out into large circular clumps, sometimes yellow, or green, or bloody and I can feel it drying out then have to hack and snort until it dislodges and I feel it drop from my adenoids. Sometimes it’s just thick mucus and sometimes it’s dried like a scab. My ENT didn’t believe me about the drainage at first and claimed allergies or acid reflux. Tried treatment and testing for both. He then tried an antibiotic followed immediately by a CT scan. It cleared for a week or two and this the CT was clear. He finally saw it on a scope and saw that it was coming from my adenoids. “Crusted and weeping”. He was very concerned at this point. Tried another antibiotic and a steroid nasal rinse. Very mild relief. He tried to declare me healed when he didn’t see an active drainage event the next time. I kept pushing and insisted on a biopsy (he first suggested it then tried to convince me otherwise the day of the appointment). It showed tissue necrosis due to chronic inflammation and nothing else. No fungal, no viral, no bacterial, no malignancy. I tried prescription strength mucinex and it may or may not help? His suggestion is now adenoidectomy. I am 30, female, very mild allergies (according to testing), wide air passage, normal anatomy, non-smoker, rarely drink, not very active but eat fairly well (have to reduce carbs due to GI enzyme deficiency). 125 pounds, otherwise pretty healthy but history of chronic bronchitis after every cold (probably due to poor sleep hygiene and stress). Rare issues with asthma. Recently diagnosed with sleep apnea. Still have my tonsils, never had issues with them. I have some thyroid cysts/nodules but haven’t grown under observation for a few years. My adenoids are not enlarged, just inflamed.

It keeps progressively getting worse. I often can’t dislodge the mucus plug and end up gagging, dry heaving, coming super close to vomiting. I had to pull of the highway the other day because I couldn’t move my throat muscles without violently gagging. The mucus is incredibly thick and sticky so it sticks to my gag flexes.

I get married at the end of the month and will be spending the day swishing mouth wash to get rid of the mucus smell on my breath. Post wedding, I will select 1 of 2 doctors he recommended for a second opinion.

I work in a very small print shop internal to a business office and live in an 103 yo house but I think these problems first started at my old job and in my old apartment but I don’t want to rule out environmental factors either.

I was excited to see someone use the word "diagnosis" since with all these people one seems to be lacking. However, I had my adenoids removed as a child. :/

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!

Hey Everyone! I posted awhile ago about this happening to me for now the last 2 years. I as well had posted some information about Thornwaldt cyst/disease crusting type. So I ended up bringing this to my ENT and he agreed it sounded like that could be the problem. I was excited as the fix seemed fairly simple. We did the MRI and unfortunately it did not show a cyst, but my adenoids (Yes I still had mine) were inflamed so he suggested taking them out. Im pretty against removing adenoids but I went for it just bc this "thing" is literally ruining my life. Once I healed from the surgery the issue persisted and to some degree seems to have gotten worse. So back to the ENT I went... that's when he did actually see the opening (Cyst) he was able to suck the stuff "Scab" out of the hole and I had relief immediately. (I have some symptoms that dont seem to bug some of y'all with this tho.. Occasional pain in the area of the "scab", I can feel the opening, severe anxiety/panic Once the scab comes up it stops for a bit, and sometimes the "scab" will be stuck up there for weeks and I can physically feel it up there it just won't come up no matter how hard I try to get it up) He needed to speak with some other people so he put me on a steroid nasal rinse for 3 weeks and I will return on Tuesday to see what he thinks. He does not know why it didn't show on the MRI. He was a little perplexed at the time so I have a lot of questions for him on Tuesday. I'll let y'all know on Tuesday what he is thinking.

Hi to you all here, just wondering if any of you suffering with this problem of bring up mucus scabs also use a Sleep APNEA Machine? I do I’m wondering if that is causing the problem.

Hi Tykissy, all my life I have suffered with undiagnosed sleep apnea, the resulting consequences boggle my mind. In 2007, I had a sleep study and have been on CPAP and now APAP, I truly believe due to all my respitory problems it's keeping me alive.
The 1st time I had blood in the morning I cleared my throat and spit the plug in the sink I was alarmed. The next morning same thing, I went to my ENT, 1st Dr. available he ran a scope down thru my nose. no problem. I asked for a 2nd opinion, same thing. Next stop my pulmonologist and a CT scan, a mass growing on my left upper lobe , next a needle biopsy, cancer.
Your body js trying to tell you something, get help from a doctor!

Hi @momomouse, I do understand what you must be going through. I have what seems the exact same thing but only for a couple of months now. Had a bad cough the first time and ended up coughing the plug up and couldn’t believe what I was looking at. Over the next month or 2 it became less and less so I wasn’t too concerned as I thought I was still recovering until last week I got a sore throat and felt so miserable then it came again after hacking and gagging I coughed up a plug. I haven’t been to the doctors yet but I’m so glad I found this forum and I have some back up.
I wonder how you are all going now as these posts are from over 10 years ago. I hope you all found answers and that you might read this and give an update.
Photos with green ruler are from this time and the other 2 photos o are from 2 months ago. 🌻🌻🌻