Conditions that can contribute to excess mucus include allergies, asthma, and bronchitis. Smoking and conditions like COPD and cystic fibrosis can also cause this symptom. Your doctor may order a sputum test to find the cause of your excess mucus.
First, consider that mucus has a purpose. This fluid is naturally made by your body every day, says laryngologist Paul C. Bryson, MD. “While the exact amount your body makes isn't known, most experts think it's about one liter a day,” he says.
Mucus can tell quite the health story. Too much mucus is a sign of a chronic respiratory condition, acute illness, and some types of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). 1 While mucus can be beneficial to the body, producing too much mucus can cause breathing difficulties and infection.
Apart from being sick with a virus or infection, allergens are a very common cause of excess mucus. The immune system overreacts to substances like dust or pet dander, causing your body to release histamines, which can make you sneeze.
Allergic reactions and respiratory infections like colds, the flu, and sinus infections can cause your body to produce even more mucus. Even something as simple as eating spicy food can trigger increased mucus production, and when you think about it, it makes sense.
The three most common reasons for extra mucus or snot are the common cold, sinusitis (infection or inflammation of the sinuses, the air-filled spaces inside the face bones) and hay fever.
About bronchiectasis
Bronchiectasis is a long-term condition where the airways of the lungs become abnormally widened, leading to a build-up of excess mucus that can make the lungs more vulnerable to infection. The most common symptoms of bronchiectasis include: a persistent cough that usually brings up phlegm (sputum)
What Foods Can Increase Mucus? It might not surprise you to learn that most processed foods contain artificial sweeteners, sodium, and thickening agents—all of which can increase mucus production [4]. Dairy products, such as milk, yogurt, or ice cream can do the same.
Indeed, the body is constantly making mucus, said Dr. Richard Lebowitz, an ear, nose and throat doctor at New York University Langone Medical Center. As soon as you sneeze some of it out, the body makes more, he said.
Mucus and phlegm are similar, yet different: Mucus is a thinner secretion from your nose and sinuses. Phlegm is thicker and is made by your throat and lungs.
Call your doctor within a few days if you have white, yellow, or green mucus that occurs with symptoms such as fever, chills, coughing, or sinus pain. These could be signs of a bacterial infection that requires antibiotics.
Mucus thinners, such as mucolytics, are inhaled medications that help thin the mucus in the airways so you can cough it out of your lungs more easily. The three main types of mucus thinners are hypertonic saline, mannitol (Bronchitol®), and dornase alfa (Pulmozyme®).
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic (inherited) disease that causes sticky, thick mucus to build up in organs, including the lungs and the pancreas.
As phlegm can be retained in Zang- and Fu-viscera and can flow randomly in various directions into meridians and collaterals, phlegm syndrome appears in almost all diseases [1]. Common symptoms phlegm could cause include expectoration, chest tightness, gastrectasia, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and body mass.
When you do cough up phlegm (another word for mucus) from your chest, Dr. Boucher says it really doesn't matter if you spit it out or swallow it.
So here's the big question: Should you spit or swallow your phlegm? Even though it might taste nasty, “there's nothing wrong with swallowing it,” Dr. Comer says. In fact, that's probably what your body expects you to do, which is why phlegm naturally drains down into the back of your throat.
Warm and Spicy. Heat helps to thin and expel mucus. Warm vegetable based soups made with immune boosting bone broth (recipe here) is a must. Using warming herbs and spices in your meals like cumin, ginger, cayenne, chilli, turmeric, oregano, thyme, sage and cinnamon is a great idea.
Mucus. Mucosal epithelium atrophies with age and older patients are frequently dehydrated[43,44]. These factors may account for the excessively thick mucus in older patients.