Help! I am constantly clearing my throat every few seconds. I have post nasal drip due to allergies but allergy meds haven’t helped at all. I’ve tried every one of them. I’ve also tried an expectorant but didn’t help. I’m never able to cough any phlegm up. It just feels like there is the slightest bit of phlegm stuck in my throat but won’t go down and can’t get it up. This has been going on for 3 years and it drives me up a wall.
Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.
From your previous post, Vocal cord paralysis, I would think you would want that resolved before you try to figure this out. Generally speaking if allergy meds haven’t helped the problem will be from your digestion.
The easiest route (not at all recommended) would be to get your doctor to give you a medication such as nexium and see if that helps. Better you would start by changing your diet significantly (which would help both digestion, allergies and overall inflammation) - you cut dairy, white sugar, processed foods, sodas, etc. and possibly gluten as well and move towards a whole foods diet.
Possibly along with that, with consultation with an acupuncturist, you might also try a formula such as shu gan wan or bao he wan (or whatever they feel is appropriate for you as an individual), which can help with a range of digestive/inflammatory issues - what, in your case, might involve what we call dampness in Chinese Medicine (for more on this generally see “My spleen is what?”).
Comment by Archived User
Thanks for your response Chad. I have already cut out Dairy white sugar processed foods and gluten several years ago. My diet is pretty darn clean. That’s why I’m at a loss for this throat-clearing. It’s so darn aggravating and I know it bugs other people as well.
Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.
While it is less likely, it is still possible with a good diet to have have digestive issues. Your acupuncturist should be able to resolve what is driving that. Without knowing the details, generally the Chinese Medicine viewpoint is to also avoid too much cold and raw foods. So many people who have changed their diets away from meat and processed foods, etc. go towards smoothies and salads, for example, and that contributes to the problem as well - albeit in a different mechanism. So if you have too much cold/raw you can try more cooked vegetables/foods.
Then there are other structural issues that can cause those issues as well, some of which respond to western medicine interventions faster than Chinese Medicine (although Chinese Medicine still has a place in resolving the causes) - operations such as esophageal dilation.
Regardless, I think a practitioner who can sit down with you, look everything over and go through your medical history will be able to easily figure all of this out.