I had phlegm stuck in my throat for two days, i need help, i just cant cough it up

It helps if you cough it up in the shower.

I am on antibiotics for pharyngitis and on a mycolytic for the phlegm that is too thick and too much. The medication has worked so far and especially the mucus and phlegm are dissolved, more light colored and cough-able. Now my question is , why when i stand up, i get to cough lots out and be relieved for quite some time, and while i am in my bed (as prescribed) i don’t get to cough out much. And also, logically, should i be standing up more often?
Thank you.

When you are lying down your abdominal contents are closer to you diahragm, the liver, stomach, some intestines etc. When you take a deep breath to cough the excursion of the diaphragm is restricted to a degree. This has the effect of lowering how much air you can breath in and therefore out. When you cough there is less air behind the mucous to push it out.
On the other hand, while standing, there is no restriction placed on the diaphragm and you can get more air in.
Most people the reverse is true because gravity assists in the drainage of the mucous while lying down. Your congestion is higher up. Sitting up on the side of the bed may be enough. Or standing with assistance(I don’t know your situation) when you need to cough.

I know this is going to sound disgusting, but every time I drink cold drinks after a meal… I get a cough with phlegm like if I was dying of a very bad cold, when I am not. After a few minutes the cough and phlegm are gone… I have had this since I was a teenager (I’m now 30) and I have always wonder why this happens to me. I have never consulted a doctor.
What could be wrong with my throat?

This happens to me, and it’s because I have asthma. I’ve had asthma ever since I was 11, when I got a very bad bacterial infection in my lungs that almost killed me. I was hospitalized for two weeks, and have had asthma ever since. Certain drinks (milk) and certain foods (especially like ice cream–cold with milk, lol) can trigger it and I’ll get a coughing spell with phlegm. Also physical exertion can set it off. Many other things can trigger it. I am not sure if you have asthma but maybe you should look it up. Ask the doc.

For the past 2 months, i seem to have been constantly producing phlegm which i am forced to swallow (what feels like) constantly throughout the day - I dont have any sort of cough, and the phlegm isnt thick. The phlegm is clear when i do spit it out.

Does this sound like a chest infection? After a while, i start to get muscular pains around the chest and arm areas if i swallow a lot
I do smoke on and off - And i had a chest infection for which i was prescribed antibiotics for at the start of December - The phlegm problem has been pretty much ever since then

I did quit smoking for 4 weeks after new year and the problem was exactly the same

You don’t say if you smoke, which would be all the explanation needed as smokers continuously produce excess mucous after a while, and this continues even if they stop.

If you are a non smoker, it might be due to a local irritant or allergen or also possibly post viral hyper-reactivity. Do you remember if you had even a simple cold just before the problem started?

4 weeks would have have been enough time to wait and see, at 2 months a GP visit is justified. Hopefully you will not see someone who prescribes inappropriately. There is no real possibility that your symptoms would be explained by bacterial disease and therefore an antibiotic is NEVER going to be the correct management.

am 38 and Kelly B are correct hyper-reactivity is an asthma-like problem, though anyone can experience it and a 4-6 week course of inhaled steroids might settle things down, but other possibilities would need to be excluded first.

EDIT: BTW Kelly B bit concerned about your comment re yourself. Asthmatics don’t get any more ‘chest infections’ than non asthmatics, at least until they are much older and their disease, as it can do if poorly treated, gradually moves across from asthma, which is reversible airways disease, to COPD which is not. Unfortunately however many patients even with clearly diagnosed asthma which is not fully controlled, that is still has breakthrough periods of instability with colds, still meet poor GPs who tell them that they have a chest infection and prescribe useless antibiotics, when in fact they should of course be modifying the asthma management or using steroids to treat break though.

Today i coughed up quite a lot at once. It was quite disgusting.
Luckily i was home alone and was siiting near some tissue.
It was cloudy/yelow … is that normal?
my eyes have been hurting.. and i recetly had a sore throat if it helps.
my eyes have been hurting.. and i recetly had a sore throat if it helps.

There may be a serious risk that you have a cold!

Of course if symptoms persist or you become more unwell, consult your GP.

Phlegm just keeps building up in my lungs.I’ve had this problem for years and it just won’t go.Help

Instructions
Difficulty: Moderate
Steps
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Step One
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Keep the stress level low. The minute I feel stressed out at work, I literally stop in my tracks, take a deep breath and imagine I’m coming back to center. It means not taking on too much work, it means not taking on other people’s stress. There is no mandate from on high you must burn the candle at both ends to get ahead in life. Who are those voices in your head yelling at you to push harder? Parents? God? Society? Cultivate a supporting voice who tells you to breathe.
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Step Two
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Exercise. I do something every day of the week. I walk, I hike, I bike. Rain or shine. Even if it’s just 30 minutes. If I’m at a job and not working from home, I walk on my lunch hour to shake off the stress, both physical and mental.
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Step Three
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Cut down on the sweets. Sugar jacks me up and that means more stress. I can also feel my nose dripping when I have too much sugar (not from a cold but from allergies), so I know sugar whacks out my immune system.
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Step Four
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Get enough sleep and eat foods that are good for you. I think of sleep and good nutrition as the foundation of a house. If you don’t have that, the whole thing is off kilter.
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Step Five
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Wash your hands frequently. Duh. Simple but it works.
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Step Six
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At the first sign of a cold, or the first sign of a cold that someone else in the office has, I take the combo tablet or capsule of Echinacea and Goldenseal. Works like a dream. I’ll take it for a week or two, all the way through the cold going around the office. I’ve warded off many a cold this way.
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Step Seven
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I take a zinc supplement year-round in calcium-magnesium-zinc. My acupuncturist once told me we don’t get enough zinc in our vegetables because the ground they grow in is often depleted of minerals. I noticed that when I sucked on a zinc lozenge at the first sign of a sore throat, the soreness would clear up quickly. I connected the dots and realized zinc could help me even before I got a cold and sore throat.

Cough and Phlegm Home Remedies?

28.September, 2009

I have horrible coughing when phlegm begins to appear so I was just wondering what home remedies there are for this besides medicine and all that stuff.

This one’s delicious:

Squeeze a slice of lemon in a glass of orange juice. The vitamin C you get will help your body naturally get stronger. Drink lots of this.

I’ve been sick for about 10 days, been to the doctor twice already and been told it’s nothing more than a cold. At first i was coughing up alot of yellow phlegm and for the past week or so I can’t seem to cough up the phlegm anymore and its causing me to choke on my spit and lose my breath. The dr gave me an inhaler on my last visit, but i don’t have asthma. What can i do to help the phlegm come up, this is driving me crazy.

Hello…
Dymond is right on the money… The inhaler is a bronchodilator which will open your airways enough so that you can clear the mucous that is trying to be coughed out.
The mucous cannot come out becaues it is thick, with a mucolytic/expectorant like guafenesin,Mucinex, etc that will thin out the secretions so that they can be coughed out easier. Make sure that you drink plenty of water as this helps with thinning secretions too. Yellow phlegm is a sign of an infection (Old Dead White Blood Cells) turn yellow and that is what you are coughing up. Follow up with MD if not better in about 2-3 days. Good Luck…

I am allergic to dust, and i get sneezing and watery eyes and severe cold due to allergy, so when i get cold, i take some medicine to cure cold, then i develop cough and feel heavy breathing and congestion in lungs. People suggest that i use some inhaler for this, please suggest what i shd do in this case.

You should see a doctor. you could have asthma or broncitis. which would require more than an over the counter inhaler, and possibly antibiotics.

I have a really bad cough and phlegm in my throat and i need to get rid of it. any good home remedies?

Take a nice hot shower and breathe in the steam. Put your face in the stream of water and snort water into you nose. Yes you might cough and gag but it’s not going to kill you. Take some antihistamine that will help you decongest and also help you rest. Go to sleep. Rest is your best friend.
God bless.