If you don't spit out phlegm, your body typically swallows it, sending it to the stomach where digestive acids and enzymes break it down, neutralizing germs and sending the remaining waste out with other bodily waste. While you're constantly swallowing small amounts of mucus unnoticed, when it's thick (like phlegm), you can choose to spit it out or swallow it; both methods are generally fine and harmless as the stomach deals with it.
After you swallow phlegm, it travels to the stomach, where acid and enzymes break it down, along with any germs it carries. Swallowing phlegm doesn't “recycle” the germs, and it won't result in the infection spreading elsewhere. In fact, swallowing viruses can even help build immunity.
So when it's hard to breathe because of mucus in your lungs, you have three things you can do to help move the mucus out: postural drainage, chest percussion, and controlled coughing.
9 home remedies for your child's cough
Phlegm becomes problematic if it interrupts voice production, breathing or swallowing. Too much phlegm may cause a “wet” or “gurgly” voice, or even difficulty swallowing. Increased amount of phlegm may cause one to clear his or her throat out often and repeatedly.
These symptoms can be unpleasant, but they usually get better on their own in about 7 to 10 days. The cough and mucus can last up to 3 weeks.
To help clear mucus, focus on warm, hydrating fluids like water, herbal teas (ginger, peppermint, thyme), and broths, which thin congestion, while avoiding dehydrating drinks like coffee and alcohol; lemon with honey in warm water is also excellent for soothing and loosening mucus. Hydration is key, as it makes mucus easier to cough up, and certain teas offer anti-inflammatory or decongestant properties, like menthol in peppermint or antioxidants in green tea, to further help.
Walking pneumonia symptoms to look for:
Signs Your Cough Is Serious and Needs Urgent Care
Lifestyle and home remedies
If the phlegm is not expelled, it can obstruct the airway, leading to choking. Proper management of underlying conditions, staying hydrated, and knowing how to effectively clear the airway are essential to preventing choking on phlegm.
“And if you're normal and healthy, you never feel it and you just swallow it.” The mucus, together with the bacteria and other trapped substances, then goes to the stomach and eventually pass out of the body. Your body makes a lot of mucus, although no one's quite sure how much.
“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.
Ask for an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS 111 if:
A strong cough is the best way to clear these secretions, but there may be times when you can't get rid of mucus no matter how hard you try. Trach suctioning can help in these instances. Healthcare providers can do tracheal suctioning in a hospital or office setting.
Signs and symptoms:
Particularly in the context of the above risk factors and cough, associated red flag symptoms and signs for significant disease include: Weight loss. New coughs lasting over three weeks. Unexplained haemoptysis, particularly if recurrent or persisting. Breathlessness.
An RSV cough often sounds wet, deep, and chesty, with lots of mucus, and can include wheezing or whistling sounds, especially when exhaling, due to inflamed airways. It's a persistent, forceful cough that can be worse in young children and babies, sometimes mistaken for croup but often accompanied by signs of labored breathing like rapid breathing, flaring nostrils, and grunting, indicating lower respiratory tract involvement like bronchiolitis.
Definition of the Complaint
A cough may serve to remove irritating substances, excessive/abnormal secretions, or may be secondary to intrinsic/extrinsic airway compression. A cough is divided into four distinct phases: inspiratory, compressive, expiratory, and relaxation.
The most common symptoms of bronchitis are:
Viruses are the most common cause of all of these illnesses. Even if you're coughing up yellow or green phlegm, you might not need antibiotics. Your mucus color alone can't tell you if a virus or bacteria is causing your cough. If your cough lasts longer than 3 weeks, it's time to see a healthcare professional.
Early signs of pneumonia often mimic the flu or a bad cold but worsen, including fever, cough (which might bring up phlegm), fatigue, shortness of breath, and chest pain that worsens with breathing or coughing; other common symptoms are chills, headache, muscle aches, loss of appetite, and sometimes vomiting or diarrhea, with confusion possible in older adults, while infants show fussiness, trouble feeding, and pale skin.
Caffeine, Alcohol, and Cigarettes
Alcohol is one of the histamine-producing substances that you should avoid if you feel like you have too much mucus production. Furthermore, alcoholic beverages can cause the membranes within your nose to swell, according to Mayo Clinic.
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.