Coughing up clear, jelly-like mucus balls often means your body is clearing irritants or fighting mild allergies/infections, common with colds, hay fever, or post-nasal drip, but persistent, excessive amounts could signal asthma, chronic bronchitis, or reflux (GORD). These balls form when mucus thickens and clumps in the airways, trapping dust, allergens, or germs. While often harmless and temporary, see a doctor if it's persistent, gets worse, or you have fever, shortness of breath, or other concerning symptoms.
Coughing up clear jelly balls may be due to catarrh, a buildup of mucus in the airways. This may occur due to allergies, infections such as colds or flu, pollution, or nasal polyps. If symptoms continue for more than a few weeks, it is a good idea to contact a doctor to find out the cause and get treatment.
If you're coughing up clear phlegm, it usually means your body is trying to flush out pollen, pet dander or other allergens. However, in some cases, it could indicate a more serious condition, such as: Viral bronchitis. Viral pneumonia.
Allergies and other irritants in your respiratory tract can cause excess clear mucus. Lung diseases. Damage to your lungs and airways from bronchiectasis, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and other chronic lung diseases can cause mucus buildup.
If you have a lot of mucus in your throat and lungs, it can collect together, forming hard phlegm chunks. It's normal to have balls or chunks of clear or white phlegm, even when you're not sick. Infections, medical conditions and airborne irritants can cause phlegm to change color.
Some signs that you may need to go to urgent care with your cough include:
“You'll likely need a chest x-ray or CT scan to determine the cause and rule out anything sinister." Phlegm from pneumonia can be a dark brown or a vibrant yellow or green, and “it just looks gross,” Dr. Lindsay says.
To help remove mucus, focus on drinking plenty of fluids like water, herbal teas, and clear broths to thin it, plus try warm drinks with lemon and honey, and gargle with warm salt water; avoid dehydrating drinks like alcohol and excessive caffeine. Warm liquids are especially effective at soothing the throat and loosening congestion.
Five common symptoms of bronchitis are a persistent cough (often producing mucus), chest soreness or tightness, shortness of breath, wheezing, and fatigue, often accompanied by cold-like symptoms such as a runny nose, mild headache, or low-grade fever.
Just before ovulation, your cervical mucus will turn clear and slippery. This consistency makes it easy for sperm to swim up to meet an egg.
Bronchiectasis life expectancy is highly variable; many people with well-managed cases have a normal lifespan, while severe cases can shorten it, though death directly from bronchiectasis is rare, with other conditions often being the cause. Prognosis depends on severity, frequent exacerbations (infections), older age, male gender, lung function, and comorbidities like COPD or diabetes, with tools like the Bronchiectasis Severity Index (BSI) helping predict risk, but modern treatment significantly improves outlook compared to the pre-antibiotic era.
A bit of white or clear phlegm now and then is completely normal. However, if you're producing a lot of white or clear phlegm, it could be a sign of inflammation in your airways or a flare-up of your lung condition. Clear phlegm is also a sign of hay fever or other allergies.
Symptoms
Often viral cases of pneumonia begin as congestion and cough with or without fever in the first few days. When a doctor listens to the lungs and finds breathing sounds are not clear on either side of the chest, a viral cause over bacterial is even more highly suspected.
Do
Alcohol: Alcohol can dehydrate the body and irritate the respiratory system. This can lead to excess mucus production in the nose and throat. Additionally, some people may be allergic to certain types of alcohol, which can trigger mucus production.
Mucus in the lungs is known as phlegm or sputum. It is a common symptom in chronic lung diseases such as COPD (including chronic bronchitis and emphysema), cystic fibrosis, bronchiectasis, NTM lung disease or asthma.
Mucus is the body's general slippery fluid lining airways and surfaces, while phlegm is a specific, thicker type of mucus produced by the lungs and throat, often in response to infection or irritation, containing trapped germs and immune cells, and is what you cough up (also called sputum). Think of phlegm as mucus from the lower respiratory tract, thicker than nasal mucus (snot) and often colored when fighting off illness.
Walking pneumonia symptoms to look for:
Early signs of pneumonia often mimic cold or flu but worsen, including fever, chills, cough (with or without mucus), fatigue, and shortness of breath, sometimes with chest pain, rapid breathing, headache, and loss of appetite, notes Healthdirect, Better Health Channel, American Lung Association, and Mayo Clinic. In older adults, confusion or disorientation can be a key sign, while infants might show restlessness or feeding difficulties, say Healthdirect, Mayo Clinic, and WebMD.
Key Takeaway: Bronchitis Vs. Pneumonia. Bronchitis affects the bronchial tubes and is usually viral, while pneumonia infects the lungs and can be more serious. Bronchitis symptoms include cough with mucus and mild fever, while pneumonia causes chest pain, chills, and difficulty breathing.
Common symptoms include:
The four main types of coughs are: wet, dry, paroxysmal and croup. Most coughs do go away on their own. Home remedies and over-the-counter cough medicines can help relieve symptoms.
Active TB disease in the lungs may cause symptoms such as:
A bad cough that lasts 3 weeks or longer. Pain in the chest. Coughing up blood or sputum (phlegm) from deep inside the lungs.