Mucus plugs

How does everyone dispose of sputum during airway clearance? I rinse down sink with hot water.

I use a disposable cup for sputum, place a paper towel on top when I have completed airway clearance, and dispose in the trash. I would be concerned that disposal down the drain might affect water ways.

Been doing for over 8 years. Interesting

@lilianna I don't remember if you said you were diagnosed with having a MAC infection? When you say "dark specs" what color is dark? You did say brown, is that the color? How often do you send in your sputum to be checked and does it go to NJH or Tyler for testing? Can't remember, are you on antibiotics?
My mucus is clear and the plugs that come up are lightly yellow to near white, for now! Hope it stays that way. I have, per the last tests of sputum, MAI, low count. My 'plugs' are tiny so to speak, like specks as you said...... but approximately a couple of times a day, especially after my second nebulizing session of the day I will bring up one or two that are more than what I would call specks but overall tiny in size, maybe a quarter of a mm in size or slightly less.
Barbara

I find it very interesting how some people, (including myself) describe mucus plugs. I for one after nebulizing see little flakes in my mucus cup below the bubbles of saliva in my mucus that I bring up. And occasionally as I’m emptying my mucus cup out I see little pencil eraser shaped objects (smaller) white in color in my mucus, maybe 2-3 only. I asked one of my Pulmonologists if I had mucus plugs, and she stated “Oh you don’t have mucus plugs” but didn’t look at any sample or anything!! How does any actually determine if they are in fact Mucus plugs. Thank-you.

The sputum question is confusing. I always wondered what "part" to count as the amount of sputum. Just the colored part (yellow, green, white) or everything, as in the white bubbly or clear stuff mixed in with it also? (lovely conversation)

When this question was first posted, I searched for a quick description. Mostly, I found descriptions of mucus plugs in pregnancy.
Years ago when I was working, we considered thicker, drier than normal and usually darker in color little chunks to be plugs.
I took another look this a.m and found a paper in Chest by Panchabhai on Plugs of the Air Passages (2016). It is pretty detailed with images, photos, etc. I scanned it and found mucus plugs differ in composition depending on disease and mucoid makeup. Inflammatory and various infections have different mucus and therefore plugs.

This is from AI:
"Mucus plugs" are thickened secretions that can form in the airways, especially in conditions like asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), or cystic fibrosis. These plugs occur when mucus production increases and becomes concentrated, making it sticky and hard to expel. This blockage can prevent the clearance of bacteria and viruses, potentially leading to chronic infections, inflammation, and airway damage. Maintaining daily mucus clearance is essential for managing conditions like bronchiectasis, as it helps prevent the cycle of reduced oxygen supply and increased mucus production that exacerbates lung issues. For more information, you can visit All About Mucus -- an interesting read.

@spider109,@cwal,@pacathy,@brittany123
Yes when you google, as shown below, you can find two different understandings of where one would find what is called mucus plugs.
Ours, from the lungs.
@spider109 I would be interested in knowing why your pulmonologist said "Oh you don't have mucus plugs". It is a common known fact with having BE that we will have mucus plugs. If we have snake like tubes/airways with damages due to BE of the lungs. Mucus sits there if not cleared and forms a plug that we have to get up and out. My lead doctor at NJH and an excellent P Therapist at Tyler informed me of our having mucus plugs and I sure can see them with clearing it all out with the huff coughing.
Barbara

Each time I have boiling hot water, be it after sterilizing my neb cup etc. or other, I purposely, of course, pour it down the drain and hope it helps kill and clean out the p trap.
Barbara