Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with throat

How can I get rid of this mucus from throat?

InterestedInKnowing — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 08:07:03 -0800

My throat has been having a lot phlegm. I'm a singer and I don't know if it has to do with any dairy products I'm consuming. I haven't had a cold for several months so I'm not sure how to get rid of this problem? Any suggestions?

why is it whenever I get a cold/flu I feel like there is something in my throat?

gwenlister — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 04:52:55 -0800

YANMD, but why is it whenever I get a cold/flu I feel like there is something stuck in my throat? I have a head cold right now and am fairly miserable, but on top of the runny nose and sneezing and coughing and general malaise, I have the added pleasure of feeling like there is a lump or something in my throat. It can't be my tonsils as I had them removed when I was 22 (5 years ago) and my throat isn't especially red or sore. It doesn't hurt to swallow. It just feels like there is something stuck in my throat and it happens every time I get sick.

it isn't that big a deal, and is more weird and slightly annoying than anything, definitely not warranting a hospital visit. I'm just curious as to what could be causing the sensation.

Can my toothpaste be causing my sore throats?

cheapskatebay — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 08:27:29 -0800

Can my toothpaste be causing my sore throats? I had my tonsils removed in early January. It was not a fun surgery, but very much worthwhile. I appreciated the honest and very helpful threads I found on AskMe about the recovery process.

I've had very mild sore throats since the surgery - nothing compared to the pre-op problems I had, but a nuisance nevertheless. There's a burning quality to them that differs considerably from the dull, throbbing tonsil pain I've been used to. Very recently, I realized that these sore throats seem to flare up after I've brushed my teeth. (I guess I'm a little slow on the uptake!) I'm theorizing that more of my toothpaste (Colgate Total - Whitening paste) is getting into my throat than was the case pre-op and is the source of the pain. I've tried using a little less toothpaste when I brush, but that doesn't really help.

I'll see my dentist in 2 weeks and I can see my otolaryngologist if necessary. For now, though, I thought I'd query the hive mind to see:

1. If anyone else has experienced anything similar; and

2. Before I start blowing my budget by experimenting with various toothpastes, if anyone can recommend a toothpaste that might not inflame my throat to the same extent. I've used Colgate products my whole life but I'm certainly willing to try something new.

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

How long before travel after major surgery?

Anonymous — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 08:11:27 -0800

How soon to travel after major surgery? I am having a couple procedures done. I am having a tonsillectomy as well as a rhinoplasty the same day. A little less than two weeks later from my surgery date I'm supposed to be flying out of the country on a very long (15 hour) plane ride.

Is this flight something that I should put off? If so, why? My concern is I don't want to put thousands of dollars worth of surgery at risk, especially if I will still be feeling the effects of either of them and not back to my regular self.

Hard to Swallow

Juliet Banana — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:55:57 -0800

Dearest Non-Doctors; Is there any chance of my incredibly painful sore throat and swollen lymph nodes going away on it's own? I had your average sniffling, sickness, and fever cold for about a week and it started calming down. As soon as I started feeling better, however, my throat closed up to the point where it it is really painful to swallow. Teeth-gritting, meal-skipping, bringing-tears-to-my-eyes painful. I've been spitting into the trashcan rather than swallow my own spit, and rinsing my mouth with water when I'm thirsty rather than actually drinking. It's pretty horrible.

My throat isn't scratchy and I haven't been coughing. It isn't bronchitis. It's just tender and swollen. The lymph nodes on the left side of my neck (the same side as my left hand) are swollen and hard to the point that I can see them in the mirror and feel them with my hand. The right are not. All the pain while swallowing is in the left side.

My questions: Is there anything that will help me feel better? So far Chloraseptic, cough drops, and hot tea have helped a little. Codeine cough syrup helped quite a bit, but I'm pretty sure that's due to the fact that narcotics help you feel less pain than any sort of healing going on.

Second question: Is there any chance this will go away without antibiotics?

I hate these threads as much as anyone else. IF IT HURTS THAT BADLY, SUCK IT UP AND PAY THE MONEY AND GO TO A DOCTOR. I shall save you the no-health-insurance-and-poverty sob story. Rest assured, I am going to set a deadline, and if I see no improvement at all by then, I'll go ahead and see a doctor. I want to know if I have a chance of getting better on my own before getting gouged on "rest and water and vitamin C."

Otoliths R Us?

buzzv — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:19:22 -0800

Can anyone help me find a source for otoliths, or the tiny stones found in the inner ear? Preferably mammalian, ideally primate or even human (I imagine that last one may be ethically way to far, no offense intended). Searches turned up this AskMe post. Many of the fish ones I find on the web are in museums. I'm just wondering if I have to start opening up my own skulls to get at them.

What's wrong with my throat?

alligatorman — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:03:15 -0800

Something funky is going on in my throat area. What could it be, and is it something I should be worried about? Every once in a while, maybe once a month, I feel like something in my throat is getting misaligned with some other thing. I have to turn my head to "realign" it, and if that doesn't work, I push an area in my throat to move it off of whatever it's on.

I don't know if that makes any sense, but that's because I have no idea what's in my throat or what could be going on.

Imagine two not-yet-disconnected Twizzlers, and then disconnect them slightly so that part of one remains on top of part of the other. That's what my throat feels like. I feel like there are two cords in my throat that are supposed to be connected, but one is now loose and goes out of place if my neck does something funny.

When this happens, it's impossible for me to gulp without feeling extreme discomfort.

I have no idea what it could be, so I don't even know what I'd tell a doctor if it was indeed a big deal.

Does anyone have any idea of what it could be?

Thanks

Got a sore jaw: how come?

fantasticninety — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:44:05 -0800

Tender under jaw where it meets the neck. Anyone know why? I'm a teacher and have to speak a lot each day. I've just started back up for the fall. I also wear a tie each day. I've noticed that under my jaw, where it meets my neck, just above the adam's apple it is sore. I can be even more specific, it doesn't feel sore unless I take my thumb and forefinger and press upwards on each side of my jaw just above the adam's apple. Do any of those previous reasons have possibilities? I wonder if the tie strains agains the neck, and if there's another way of tying it which alleviates this pressure.

Disclaimer, I smoke between 2–3 cigarettes a day and am a young man.

I'd go to the doctor, and probably will, but I thought I'd throw it out here before having to go through all the rigamorale.

What do you do when you first start to feel a cold or other sickness?

ShootTheMoon — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:32:06 -0800

What do you do when you first start to feel a cold or other sickness? Are there any remedies that work best at the first sign of a cold About 2 hours ago, I barely started to feel a tickle in my throat. (uh oh). This usually indicates a cold that is being fought by my body. Is there anything I can do now that will help prevent this cold from making me sick? What do you do when you first notice a cold?

My neck is retreating into my chest!

(bb|[^b]{2}) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:34:45 -0800

I'm 28 years old, thin, and my jawline is slowly disappearing into my neck. Please help me reverse this trend before I end up looking like George Lucas. Over the last year, I've begun developing extra padding on my neck between the bottom of my chin and the top of my adam's apple. When I look straight down, or open my mouth really wide, it makes a distinct double chin, and I'm afraid if the skin continues to loosen, it will eventually result in me having no discernible jawline.

The weird part is I'm really thin (six foot, ~165 pounds), so I don't think this is a weight gain problem. Is there something I can do to stop this? Maybe some sort of chin/neck tightening exercise or something?

PS - Upon further investigation, it appears that Tom Hanks suffers from the same neck droopiness I'm experiencing.

Just the thought of a throat culture makes me gag

bluekrauss — Wed, 14 May 2008 07:22:24 -0800

Can I train myself to tolerate throat cultures? I have a very bad gag reflex and have never been able to tolerate throat cultures. Just the thought of one has always scared me. As a kid, one nurse had to hold me down while the other one shoved the big q-tip down my throat. As an adult, I just refuse the culture, to the annoyance of my doctors. They either have to prescribe antibiotics without knowing if I have a bacterial infection, or they tell me to just wait out the sore throat and accompanying sickness.

I'm sure I've had many strep infections without knowing it, and this can't be good for me. I'd like to be able to tolerate a throat culture so the doctor can know whether or not I need antibiotics. But since I've had this fear since childhood, by now it's a full-blown phobia and I can't even imagine letting someone swab my throat.

Am I the only one with this problem? Is there any way to overcome it?

Not quite a lump in my throat...

ubernostrum — Tue, 13 May 2008 20:33:29 -0800

You know that feeling in your throat when you're about to burp? I'm getting that for extended periods of time, but without any eventual belching. Any ideas what it could be (and whether I should seek medical attention)? There's no pain associated with the feeling, and I don't have any trouble swallowing or breathing. There's no swelling that I can feel with my hands, and no new bumps or lumps or hardnesses, just my plain old adam's apple. There's just... a sensation of pressure that sticks around for a few hours at a time, then subsides for a while. Eating and/or drinking (and carbonated beverages in particular) seem to have no effect one way or another.

As far as I know I'm in decent health for someone as out of shape as I am; a couple months ago I had some unexplained pains which -- after blood tests, a chest x-ray and an abdominal ultrasound -- were eventually ruled to be costochondritis, a diagnosis borne out by the fact that a week on anti-inflammatory drugs cleared it up (if I twist just the right way I can still provoke a moment or two of soreness, but I was told that's not unusual). Used to smoke, don't anymore. No allergies to food or household stuffs that I know of, and I'd expect an allergic reaction to be much more severe. No history of thyroid problems, and no family history of them either, as far as I know.

So I'm stumped. Anybody ever had something like this before and found out what it was?

Extremely NSFW sex question.

®@ — Tue, 13 May 2008 04:02:16 -0800

After watching a sword swallowing routine in a magic act, one of my good friends commented that she would really like to be able to deep-throat her boyfriend. However, she won't practice on him due of a fear of throwing up on his penis. Just to note: This friend has an extremely sensative gag reflex; she has complained that brushing her teeth has occasionally triggered it (however, she's overcome this enough to go down on him on a regular basis).

I (after the usual I-don't-know-what-to-tell-you-caveats) suggested practicing gag-reflex-supression with a very small dildo or buttplug to start, preferably one with a wide "lip" at the end so there's no chance she accidentally swallows it and chokes herself to death. Since her boyfriend is also a generally good guy who (she says) is game for anything, I suggested just having a talk with him-- "okay, we both think this would be cool if I could do it, let's try some stuff out, fair warning I may throw up on you by accident" and see where it goes. I've referred her to the "sexuality.org" tutorial, and the very helpful previous blowjob thread on Metafilter, but she's looking for more specific deep-throat practice techniques.

Anyone got any?

Help my dad enjoy eating again

jethrographic — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 13:41:16 -0800

My father is several years on from surgery to remove a lymphoma in his neck (between his trachea and his esophagus I think). He has recovered wonderfully except for some scarring that has affected his voice (minor) and ability to eat much solid food. I want to help him find new ways to enjoy eating again. He eats lots of soup, thin oatmeal, and other foods of similar consistency and even then with some problems. It takes some time, with lots of throat clearing - I think that food randomly gets hung up in some scar tissue pocket in his esophagus. He also blends many regular meals straightaway, only adding boiling water. Perhaps nutritious, but not a satisfying experience - think thanksgiving dinner through a blender – it’s all in there, but…

He has dealt with this grace and good cheer, as he is happy to be alive and content with sacrifice generally. However, in recent months I can tell this is beginning to wear on him. I’m concerned about adequate nutrition and his enjoyment from eating. He does use nutrition shakes (ensure) while traveling and is in touch regularly with his doctors.

So, I’m hoping to find some ideas that will help us deal with this in a new way:
- Ideas for meals prepared via the blender
- Implements to use beyond a blender
- Books that might to help him with simple “blender cooking”
- Exercises to improve his ability to swallow easily
- Anecdotes from similar experiences would be most welcome

Thanks folks. I know this is wide open - hoping our diverse perspectives can really make a difference for him…

I'm about to gag just writing this question!

Metroid Baby — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 13:06:22 -0800

I have tonsil stones, I’m pretty sure. However, I also have a very strong gag reflex and can’t get them out. Help! I know they’re there. I can feel things in my throat when I swallow. I tried poking around in my throat this morning and was able to see part of a little white blob… but I started gagging/coughing and I’m pretty sure the bugger just went right back in. I can’t reach my tonsils with my tongue, and all attempts to stick my finger in my throat have resulted in gagging, and anyone within earshot convinced that I’m horking up parts of lung or esophagus or something. I haven’t dared to use a foreign object to try and fish them out, since I imagine that would make my gagging worse. I once tried to flush my tonsils out with a waterpik, which just resulted in more gagging and puddles of water all over the bathroom.

I’ve read the previous tonsilolith-related questions on Ask MeFi, as well as some other sites, and most of the comments have been to the effect of “oh yeah, I just reach in and pop the suckers right out.” Oh, if only.

Is there any way to remove these things without triggering my gag reflex? Does gargling work?

Alternately, how do I go about overcoming my gag reflex and is it wise to do so?

Saliva buildup

Anonymous — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 10:45:45 -0800

You know those little pockets directly underneath your ears and behind the jaw bone? Mine fill with saliva and cause discomfort. Saliva frequently gathers in those little pockets (to clarify, it's directly under the ear. Place your finger under your earlobe, and just to the edge of your jawbone. Right THERE). When I use my hands to press gently there, the saliva comes back into my mouth and I can swallow it. It's not a lot of saliva, but it's just enough to cause serious discomfort, and apparently fill that little pocket of space. It's not as noticeable when I am standing up or actively engaged, but when I'm lying on my back reading, or trying to fall asleep, it's impossible to ignore. I usually just take my fingers and force the saliva back into my mouth. I can't sleep on my back or hardly recline without those pockets filling up with saliva. It seems to happen throughout the day, not just if I eat something or perform some activity. Lying in bed at night, or in the morning, or watching a movie, these pockets fill up and I am constantly pushing the saliva back into my mouth. I am a healthy person. I don't do drugs, I don't drink, and I exercise regularly.

I talked to the doc about it once, just a family doctor, and he didn't think it was serious enough to warrant anything. He suggested abnormal saliva buildup and told me to drink more water. This hasn't seemed to solve it.

Has anyone had a similar problem? Could anyone identify what this is? I'm starting to think I'm the only one with this problem. In the world.

not bird porn

31d1 — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 21:44:23 -0800

I am unable to find a picture of someone with their hand spread out down an ostrich's throat. Before you turn away in disgust, you must know that this is by no means some horrible sordid bird neck porn I'm looking for, it is totally on the up and up. My (admittedly dim) recollection has it in National Geographic or something like that, illustrating the marvelous throat flexibility of the ostrich. It's a picture of a guy with his hand spread out an ostrich neck so you can see the fingers and thumb and stuff - and the ostrich doesn't seem to mind that much.

This remembered picture was the basis recently of some casual remarks to a friend at the pub, immediately and vociferously disbelieved. Conjecturing that such a classic image would be all over the Web, and this being the future, I was able to produce my pocket Internet and google on the spot. I was sure faith in my wisdom would be restored in a few seconds, but to my amazement queries proved fruitless, and to this day certain parties remain mocking and skeptical, and my very sanity is now possibly called into question.

Stricken, I lurch forth in search of aid. I am in desperate need of corroboration or refutation of my assertions.

Why does gargling with listerine hurt?

shivohum — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 13:10:21 -0800

Why does opening my throat and *gargling* with listerine, as opposed to merely rinsing like I would when brushing my teeth, hurt a lot? I don't have a sore throat or any other throat troubles I know of. Also, it may be just my imagination, but I feel like whenever I do this I feel these grainy "bits" in the back of my throat, as if there's tiny pieces of something that the listerine has broken down and detached.

I'm a little hoarse.

crinklebat — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 21:08:19 -0800

My call center job is making my throat sad. Help? I'm one of those people who typically doesn't do more than an hour of talking in a day (and that's under duress), but for the next six weeks I'm taking tech support calls and two days in, I think I'm already losing my voice. I'm in a heavily air-conditioned cube farm, and I can't suck on lozenges while I'm on a call because I think it'll make me impossible to understand. I have always had a pretty sensitive throat due to a lifetime of seasonal allergies, but I need to be able to talk, nonstop, every weekday until Thanksgiving, or I can't do my job.

Right now I drink about 12oz of hot coffee in the morning (becomes warm and gradually cool coffee as the morning drags on) and try to drink as much water as I can in the afternoon. I need the caffeine to be able to function as I find the job quite draining, but I'm open to different delivery methods. I have no control over the air conditioning at work, and it's still warm enough here that my apartmentmate wants air conditioning on at home too - and I think I'd be pretty uncomfortable without it, to be honest.

If you talk for a living, how do you do it?

Throat and ears hurt, but I'm not otherwise sick. ?

penciltopper — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 10:50:14 -0800

Sore throat/neck. Popped ears won't unpop. Not otherwise sick. What's wrong? That spot just below the jawbone, behind the Adam's apple, where the doctor feels for swollen glands?
That is sore, but not swollen.
It feels like there's a tight ring around my esophagus, just above the adams apple. Hurts to swallow.
My ears are wierd, either popped or clogged, and pinch-nose-and-blow isn't clearing them.

I've had symptoms like this before, as parts of a really bad cold or flu, but I'm not otherwise sick at the moment. My sinuses are otherwise clear, etc.

I've always had trouble with my ears popping on planes, etc. Maybe I just have narrow Eustachian tubes.

I've also been diagnosed with hypothyroidism (Hashimoto's) this year, and am taking levothyroxine for it.

In my imagination, something is inflamed/swelling inside my neck, and that's pinching the ends of my Eustachian tubes closed.

Is that even possible? I can't seem to find a good picture of where the tubes terminate at the non-ear end.

I have a doctor's appointment, but my current HMO doctor (soon to be changed) tends to diagnose everything as allergies (don't have any) or just say "It's probably nothing; it'll go away or you'll get used to it"

Educate me, please, smart-type people!

My head is empy of mangoes. Am I still gonna be a genius anyway?

Afroblanco — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 07:15:12 -0800

I ate a piece of mango, and now my throat is terribly sore. What happened? This has never happened to me before. Typically, I enjoy mangoes quite a bit, and eat them with impunity.

Yesterday evening, a friend of mine offered me a slice of "fresh" mango from a plastic container of mango slices that he had purchased the previous day. I say "fresh" as opposed to dry; indeed, they were a bit limp, and may well have been past their sell-by date.

In any case, while chewing on the mango slice, it tasted delicious. However, right after I swallowed it, I got this *horrible* vile aftertaste. It gave me this terrible burning sensation in the back of my throat.

My friend who gave me the mango slice mentioned that he felt a similar sensation in his throat, only not as strongly as I did. He also said that the slices made him nauseous. They hadn't made me nauseous, although I only had one slice and he had several.

Anyway, the burning sensation chilled out a little bit after the initial onset, but when I woke up this morning, my throat was still all scratchy and burny.

Any idea what happened?

I know that mango peels contain amounts of urushiol, and I am highly allergic to poison ivy. However, I have never had a problem with mangoes before. In fact, I kinda love them, typically.

Does this mean that I can't eat mangoes anymore?

Fix my chronic cough! Dr's can't!

Thrillhouse — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 05:47:19 -0800

I have had, for as long as I can remember (maybe 15 years) a chronic cough that, at times, makes me insane. I have seen two ENT Dr's about it and have gotten nowhere. I've gone to allergists and nutrutionists to no avail. I'm waiting for my primary to schedule an appt with a super-special 'cough specialist' but I figured I'd throw it out to you good folks.

There is no one thing in particular that triggers it and I can't remember how it started. From what I can tell, when I go out in the cold it seems to get worse, when I eat Oreo's it seems to get worse, when I get stressed or anxious it seems to get worse. All other times, its just there.

It feels a little like post-nasal drip the just won't go away. I can always feel something in the middle/back of my throat. The crazy part is that is if I squeeze the lowest accessable part of my throat (at that U-shaped chest bone) it effectively 'scratches' the itch and makes it go away for a few seconds.

I've tried reflux meds and they did nothing. I've tried cough supressents and allergy meds too. One doctor suggested that it was psychological which, I'm told, is their way of saying they can't figure it out. I've been scoped several times and dr's can't find anything wrong with the inside of my throat.

What do you guys think? This is driving me crazy and I fear that it will last forever.

What the hell is in my throat, please.

chichimimizu — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 02:40:23 -0800

So have this roughly round-shaped creamy white growth in the back of my throat in a sort of "alcove" right next to the hang-y thing whose name I can't remember. I can feel it, it's almost like I swallowed a hair or got popcorn husk trapped back there. There's This Post on "Steadyhealth.com" describes exactly what the bump looks and feels like. Small, off-white, slightly rough to the touch and very, very annoying. It's not painful and it doesn't produce any sensation beyond the "swallowed a hair" feeling. I tried to reach back there to scrape it out, but my gag reflex got the better of me. Any ideas what it could be? Is it cancer? That would suck.

It's like saying, 'errr...' with added apathy.

popcassady — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 14:07:21 -0800

What is doing this called? When I was a kid, if I woke up early, I used to lay in bed and make that noise. My girlfriend said she did too.

If I'm having a brain-dead attack in work, I make that noise. I like making that noise. I can do it for ages. It's kind of comforting.

Everyone must make that noise. I mean, everyone. I bet when Tony Blair's having a stupid moment, he likes to make that noise too. I bet the Pope, the Queen...

But what the hell is it called? What's its history? Does it have any function? Is it a big part of any language? Is it unique to the human voice box? Does it have any famous moments? What does it do?

Does it have a name? (Surely it's something other than belching?)

Plus, I can't giggle like a schoolgirl either

rileyray3000 — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 17:54:40 -0800

I think I may have seriously screwed up my voice. How do you know the difference between a temporary weird voice and long term damage? So I was in London about two weeks back. I got there and amidst the rain, the damp and the coughers on both sides of me on the plane, two days after arrival I get fever, chills and a cough.

Additionally there was a little raspiness. And some chest congestion that produced some stuff that, in my entire life, I haven't seen the likes of.

The day after that, my voice goes away. Now, I'm a talker. And this was my very first trip to England. While ostensibly a business trip, I came to see the sights, drink some beer AND to hook up with a hot indian girl with an english accent. And I was gonna be damned if this kind of voice was gonna keep me from making those dreams come true.

Well damned I got.

Because my voice loss got progressively worse to the point. Probably from doing the needed talking for work. Possibly from drinking alcohol. And even from trying to flirt with a Bend it Like Beckham-ish cutie at a coffee shop. Though that seems unlikely. There I was going for low and soft.

Though at that point it was now a strangled Harvey Firestein. Minus the gay overtones.

The whole thing devolved on an exponential scale to the point that, not only couldn't I flirt with the locals, but if I raised my voice above a certain level, it was like someone's punching me in the adam's apple. Long story short? I got my voice back the day after I got home to LA.

But not all of it.

Yesterday in the car a favorite Frankie Valli song came on. I sang along. Or tried to anyway. Because it seem like my entire upper register is completely gone. No falsetto, no high pitches, not even a "whooo" ability at this point. It kinda threw me. I had a great day. I couldn't go WHOOO! to commemorate it.

So my questions are these: what did I have, what did I do and will it fix itself or no?

Admittedly, if worse comes to worse, I'll just make do with the gravelly lower remnants of my vocal register. But it's gonna be hell on my verbal coloring and my karaoke act is going to lose fully half its repertoire. And that's not just a tragedy for me, but for the fans. So any ideas you have would be well appreciated