Sore throat every morning

[Misericord]

Hello all, hoping someone can help!

I wake up every morning with a really sore throat - it feels totally parched and really hurts when I swallow. My nose is also usually rather blocked up as if I have a cold. This without having gone to bed with any of these things.

Google tells me that this is probably because my mouth is open (snoring or otherwise while asleep) - but my husband tells me I don't snore and he's rarely seen me asleep with my mouth open (we work quite different schedules so he iften gets up while I'm asleep, hence is a witness!).

Any advice on why this might be happening and how to stop it? Currently I have lemsip instead of water by my bed and am sipping it through the night, in the hope it will soothe it, but that isn't a long term plan....

Thanks!

I used to wake up every morning with a sore throat. For me it was a symptom of hypothyroidism. Since I got optimal on thyroid meds I don't get it anymore. Have u had your thyroid tested recently?

Are you sleeping by with the heating on and the window shut?

I get headaches and sore throats if I do.

I had my thyroid tested a few years ago and all fine - and don't have any other symptoms of it?

Heating off (or down to minimal or the cat gets sad ), window open...

Could be acid reflux and/or post nasal drip.

Try Gaviscon before bed and antihistamine.

It could be house dust mite allergy?

I worked for an ENT last year, and the general advice she gave out for this (which obviously comes with a huge caveat that it is entirely up to you whether you take any notice of this) was:

1 - Saline washes/sprays regularly throughout the day to help reduce/thin any mucus. Washes are more effective but some of us find it a bit icky and if compliance is going to be a problem, just use the saline sprays A LOT.

1a - Almost forgot - once cleared out, Nasonex or similar - I think it's once a day, this is a spray. Relatively new product, but really good. Doesn't need a script. Reduces swelling and generally heals the passages.

2 - PPI - such as Somac - which reduces stomach acid in case of silent reflux (medicines such as Gaviscon contain a huge amount of salt, among other things, but obv. You need to check patient info on PPIs too), as pp said, just before bed for a couple of weeks.

3 - Antihistimine, worth trying different ones as we all seem to react differently to them - Zirtek (certirizine) works beautifully for DS, but I do better with the high dose (180mg) Telfast - fexofenadine.

4 - Fastidious damp cleaning around bedroom particularly - difficult if you have carpet, but get someone else to vac if poss or where a mask, and do it in the morning so it's settled by the evening.

You can try one at a time, or go all in. Meanwhile, an "integrative" GP told me to stop drinking milk - and that did it for me!

Good luck, it does suck.