Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with mucous

Orange mucous means what exactly?

Ollie — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 09:20:50 -0800

Florescent orange snot filter: has anyone ever had this? My bf woke up with bright orange snot, cold symptoms, and a mild fever. Snot is now clear, but fever is climbing. Of course will call doc tomorrow if not better, but has anyone ever seen anything like this?

Minty fresh puke

klangklangston — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 10:39:20 -0800

Help me stop puking in the morning (toothpaste). I looked here, but there didn't seem to be an answer. I'm a guy, so I know it's not that I'm pregnant.

But I've tried switching toothpastes, and all of them seem to give me this thick coating of mucous in my mouth. I've always been sensitive to mucous, and when it gets to the back of my throat, I start to gag and then inevitably vomit.

It sucks, and I don't want to do it anymore.

Variables I've controlled for:

Eating/not eating. Eating a little something that doesn't include dairy, bread or fruit seems to be better than not eating anything, but finding a breakfast food that includes none of those things is kinda tough. Salty stuff makes it worse, as does dairy.

Coffee: Coffee does not have an appreciable effect (sometimes it's better, sometimes it's worse, I've been unable to control for variations in the coffee enough to tell if that has a significant effect).

Variables that seem to have an effect that I have not yet been able to isolate:

Cold weather: This seems to happen more as it has been getting colder.

Los Angeles: This seems to have become more frequent since I moved to LA, though I don't know if that's because I need to be up earlier in order to get to my job.

I have tried Tom's (Cinnamon, Peppermint, Spearmint, Mango Orange), Crest (Regular flavor, whitening/non-whitening, kids bubblegum), and just baking soda and water (which seems to have less of an effect, though it is vile).

What next? I know that I need to set up my first meeting with my new doctor soon, I imagine this is something that I should take up with him. There were many folks who seemed to have the same problem the last time this subject was broached—have any of you controlled for variables I've missed? Any success? I spent 15 minutes puking this morning, and I'd like to avoid that in the future.

...That this foul deed shall smell above the earth with carrion men, groaning for burial

KokuRyu — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 17:58:13 -0800

Why does my snot taste like propane? My snot is thick and gluey, and leaves my mouth tasting like propane or swamp gas. As well, for the past two weeks or so, I've had this smell inside of my head. I often get this after colds, or while experiencing hayfever.

I haven't had a cold in a while, but I'm on the road a lot, and fly in small commuter planes about four or five times a month. Last week I was on the road, and was forced to spend some time in semi-smoking environments. However, I've experienced this smell and taste since before this trip.

I have asthma, and suffer from hayfever, usually in April, May and June. For some reason, I did not experience hayfever this year (this was the first time in my entire life!). As well, while I usually suffer from colds from October to December, I have not contracted a cold yet.

So what the heck is this smell and taste infecting my phlegm?

cure for the morning snots?

de void — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 10:06:25 -0800

Help me stop the morning snots. Invariably, every morning my sinuses go into overdrive about 5-10 minutes after I wake up. My nose gets completely congested and I'll have to honk wads of clear mucous into several tissues to clear it out. If I don't blow it out, it will actually build up to the point that it will start to run out my nose.

Yeah, I know. Ick.

Most times after I blow it all out my sinuses will still be swollen and it will be hard to breathe for my nose for the next hour or so, after which it goes away.

Sometimes though, the blowing starts sneezing fits that may follow me through the whole day.

This has been going on for several years and I finally "woke up" to the fact that this may not be normal.

I used to think that I have a slight allergy to cats (had 2 up until a month ago, now down to one), but I've noticed that nothing changes when I go on vacation or am otherwise away from the cat.

How do I stop this? Am I a candidate for a turbinectomy ?

Why do I have so much mucous when I run?

creeront — Thu, 03 Nov 2005 21:53:24 -0800

Major Mucous: Whenever I do aerobic activity for more than 10 minutes or eat cold foods, I have tons of mucuous, and cough to the point that I have to stop exercising. I'm 20 years old. I've been diagnosed with Allergies and Asthma since I was 7 years old. I take medications for both, and don't exhibit symptoms of either on a day-to-day basis. However, when I run for more than ten minutes, I get tons of post nasal drip, and feel like I have to cough. In fact, it feels like I'm suffocating, so I have to stop running. Things improve only slightly when I take my albuterol inhaler.

I frequently also have coughing bouts with lots of mucous when I eat cold foods, and sometimes I feel like swallowing is difficult.

I've talked to a variety of allergists and internal medicine people with no results.

Ideas anyone?

Boogers

brownpau — Thu, 03 Feb 2005 15:48:10 -0800

The snot question got me wondering: Is there a scientific name for boogers? Surely doctors and biologists don't go around talking about coagulated mucosal deposits as "boogers," do they?