throat clearing and voice problems

[queenrollo]

Juts posting in case anyone else has experienced this and can offer support or advice.

For about three years now I have had a persistent problem with mucus in my throat. It's thick and sits on my vocal cords and the only way to shift it has been to clear my throat and cough. I HAVE to do this or I cannot talk at all.

I have seen the GP several times. After being treated with antihistamines and then ENT ruling out sinus issues or post-nasal drip I was put on omeprazole which made no difference and then basically I wa told it was 'one of those things' and offered no further investigations or treatment options.
The problem has not gone away and now after all this time it is actually affecting my voice.
I sing for fun with musician friends and in the last few months I have suddenly lost a large part of my range particularly top end and have had to stop.

Then two weeks ago my husband commented that my voice sounds very different. It's haorse/raspy. I find my throat hurts - both sore and muscular when I either talk for a long time or am reading bedtime story.
Mt GP's response to this was to give me antibiotics, which have done nothing - because it's not an infection!

What now? I think I have nodules on my cords from this repeated throat clearing.
I feel very low about this, especially the thought of having lost my singing voice completely.

So sorry to hear how poor & prolonged your medical 'care' has been @queenrollo. V frustrating & worrying for you.

In your extensive research, have you come across MCAS? Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. I have very mild issues of what you're experiencing, as do many of us. It may or may not be relevant to you. I can't eat tomatoes or their sauces. I have multiple gastric issues.

I know you've already tried anti-histamines, but there are so many different types out there (including mast cell stabilisers) that sometimes you have to keep trying to find the one/combo that works.

MCAS is something that often flares with peri-menopause too, as oestrogen levels drop. HRT can help some MCAS folk.

Here's some info to be getting on with. If much of this sounds familiar, keep Googling!

www.drtaniadempsey.com/post/clinical-manifestations-of-mast-cell-activation-syndrome-by-organ-systems

www.healthline.com/health/mast-cell-activation-syndrome

www.mastcellaction.org/

Your GP is unlikely to know about it btw

My son has dysphonia, there’s a sort of emergency breathing thing his Salt teaches to stop throat clearing

Hi @queenrollo Thanks so much for sharing what you have found to be helpful.
I am going to try stopping the omeprazole again and add in the bicarb of soda, I'll do a bit of research first to start off on a low dose. This is not something I had heard of before so I'm really grateful to you for bringing that to my attention.
I'm mid fifties and have been on HRT for 4 years or so now, although it's stopped the horrendous hot flushes at night and therefore helped massively with my sleep, it hasn't been the panacea that I had hoped for with all the other aches and pains and general hormone related issues that accompany the menopause.
It's certainly not helped with these reflux symptoms so I'm happy to try anything else to get on top of them. The staple of my diet (vegetarian all my adult life) was tomato & garlic based sauces, so that's been a real wrench to drop those but I've cut down drastically. I'm also trying smaller meals and I've switched to dark chocolate after reading the book 'Dropping Acid' (really helpful btw).
I don't get any burning reflux pain but the feeling that mucous is sitting on my vocal cords is the worst part, plus not having a clear voice, and never knowing when I open my mouth to speak if my voice will be clear or croaky. This has really depressed me to be honest.
One thing I have noticed is that if I go out for a walk first thing, my throat seems to dry out, I can speak clearly, and that sets me up for a better day ahead. So I'm assuming that's the post nasal drip aspect being dealt with.
I'll try extra hard to not clear my throat too, I've been doing that so much that my throat is often sore so I have to get on top of that somehow.
Also the post by @MissMCAS is so interesting, as I seem to tick all of those boxes, I'm going to look into that too and see if I'm missing something.
Take care and thanks for starting this thread, it's been comforting to know I'm not alone and so informative too. xx

OP I hope your issues have got better.

I have had a similar issue for years, used to love singing and now don't attempt it as just speaking clearly is often a challenge especially first thing in the morning.

I worked out that it was caused by GERD when I also developed more obvious other reflux symptoms. But from reading the GAPS Diet book and guidance from nutritional therapists I learned that the most common reason for acid reflux is too little stomach acid, not too much. Taking drugs to reduce it further makes things worse in the long run.

Making too little stomach acid can be due to stress, among other things, and it then triggers all sorts of problems as stomach acid must be high enough to allow normal digestion, proper absorption of nutrients and the timely movement of food down through the gut (rather than having food sit too long higher up causing upward pressure leading to acid reflux).

You can test if your acid level is low by drinking a glass of water with bicarbonate of soda mixed in, and timing how long it takes to burp, I have found sometimes when doing this test that I don't burp at all which is a sign of very low acid.

What helped me a lot when this was worse was taking stomach acid supplements and digestive enzymes with meals. Eating fermented vegetables (eg sauerkraut) with meals also helps to stimulate more acid production. This can be very helpful especially when eating meat and other proteins. Being well hydrated is also important, I often forget to drink enough.

Hope this helps. 🙂💐