Persistant Post nasal drip - eight to 10 hours a day. Any ideas? (sinuses, allergy)
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I've had this for three years. It gets worse each year. I can't work outside of my home. I can't make plans because I never know if the post nasal drip will be running - or not.
When it is running, I'm coughing, gagging and choking. Constantly expectorating. It's disgusting.
I had a blood test for allergies and it was negative. My lungs are normal as per two chest x-rays.
I had a cat scan of my sinuses and it came back "with in normal limits" although I have a deviated septum.
Seeing an ENT in two weeks. My greatest fear is that he won't find anything wrong - or worse will not believe me.
Any ideas about what this could be? I can't live like this anymore...
My take...anytime the body produces an over abundance of any fluid
it is cleansing, washing, trying to get rid of an irritant or protecting an area.
Something may be irritating you.
Me? I would eliminate all dairy for awhile, minimum 2 weeks, also white flour...which is in SO many things.
First.
Then I would snort warm salt water...in clean hands pour some in your palm , snort it up and keep
your head back...wait before you blow your nose...once a day is enuff for 5 days to see the effect.
If it was still happening I would snort golden seal, only the size of a matchhead, in each nostril.
Again, tilt head back...wait....then blow my nose.....if nothing else was working.
But, that's me.
I forgot, I would also be taking a cocktail of vitamins and min to boost or
help my immune system...you can look up those...the body
needs the strength to fight things off.
I'm no longer allergic to anything....but boy was I when I was rundown...I couldn't
have one sip of a soda without getting congested...or beer, or wine or gin or Scotch.... building up my
whole system with healthy eating...org greens, org meat, org milk,
org coffee...being more alkline than acidic,
Plenty of water with lemons and limes...and I'm great now.
I won't ask about your diet...but please don't be eating processed American
foods with 5 syllable ingredients!
Adding...this is just stuff I would do before going to a nose doc...before I get jumped on
for not saying that.
Last edited by Miss Hepburn; 02-21-2014 at 05:59 AM..
Every morning I get up and have post nasal drainage. Fortunately, it usually never gets to the intolerable point.
I just got over a sinus infection and sometimes its hard to understand when you've gotten better and when you haven't. In my case, when the mucus thins to a point when its like water it generally means I'm over the infection.
Its my observation that those of us in our early 50's go through this. Have you ever been evaluated for acid reflux disorder? Mine is definitely correlated to this problem. Aggressive treatment of the reflux disorder definitely helps with this drainage issue.
Also, do you do regular nasal rinses? I do them daily and they seem to help.
My only other advice is the use of expectorants like Mucinex and antibiotics when the mucus is thick enough you may be experiencing a sinus infection. Don't think you have to have a fever and a bunch of other symptoms to have one. If you can't seem to get rid of a cold after 10 days, its very likely a sinus infection even without other problems.
I've been through this for about 13 years. My problems usually are worse when I catch a cold that the kids bring home. I guess, though, I feel like I am gradually getting better. Its been a long slow and frustrating process though.
Try an elimination diet - especially consider the possibility that sugar or dairy could be the cause.
And see if your scan shows that you have a sinus infection. My doctor had a scan done of my nasal passages to try and figure out why I get such awful sinus headaches. There was a great deal of congestion in the scan, and he put me on a powerful antibiotic just in case I was suffering from a long-running sinus infection. We still don't know, but it cleared that mass of congestion right up.
same here Sheena. Moved from the Pacific NW to the SE mountains and have had terrible post nasal drip. Makes me choke when sleeping. And I cough from it. It's not in my lungs or bronchial but definitely is from my sinus area. Left side of my nose has bright red blood off and on when I blow my nose. I know not to blow hard and to do so gently but no matter the blood will just be there,then gone, only to reappear again.
I'm thinking if this is such an issue in winter, what is going to happen in spring when everything is blooming??? Definitely looking into allergy testing.
on a side note: on another thread someone commented that sinuses do NOT drain when we are lying down/sleeping. To that person I would like to now say, "bah humbug!!! and you are so wrong"
My "equipment" includes a neti pot (I use it at least twice a day), tissues - I go through several boxes a day, mucinex (3X a day and that worries me) salt water gargling and sniffing, oregano oil, and an array of teas.
All of these remedies work once in a while. That's about all I can say.
I can't eat much because most food triggers something. I've lost about 15lbs. now and I'm underweight.
I don't drink soda pop, eat meat and now I have cut out dairy and wheat. They really make this worse.
I think I'm only going to eat fresh organic greens, fruit and water for a week to see if that helps.
Right now I'm in my second hour of coughing, gagging and expectorating.
I think I should be taking more than a multi-vite. Any suggestions?
An antihistamine will dry up your runny nose. Try Zyrtec or Claritin. If one doesn't work, try the other, as they both have a different ingredient.
Allergy season is right around the corner! It's time to prepare! I've got my Mucinex-D, Claritin and Zyrtec ready to go!
And regardless of what you think Pippy, (and I will reword this differently than I have in the past), your sinus does not drain as efficiently when laying down as it does when you are upright! That's straight from my Doctor's mouth and I tend to believe her!
Sounds like you have multiple allergen problems. I had similar symptoms a few years ago. Finally found a holistic ENT doctor that said I was allergic to primarily dairy products and wheat. He gave me a 1 week cortisone prescription and put me on a gluten free diet. It made a big difference, within a few days symptoms became better. And today I rarely get a flare up. I try to stay on the diet, sometimes I cheat, and if the symptoms start again I have my standby Nasacort to help relieve the runny nose.
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