Catarrh is a build-up of mucus in an airway or cavity of the body. It usually affects the back of the nose, the throat or the sinuses (air-filled cavities in the bones of the face). It's often temporary, but some people experience it for months or years. This is known as chronic catarrh.
You'll see it as a jelly-like substance, which might be clear or slightly pink or streaked with a small amount of blood. When you are losing the mucus plug, You'll notice it on your underwear or on toilet paper after going to the loo. It could be in one single piece, like a blob of gel.
What is a mucus plug? As the name implies, mucus that accumulates in the lungs can plug up, or reduce airflow in, the larger or smaller airways. In the smallest airways, mucus plugs lead to collapsed air sacs, or alveoli.
Allergic fungal rhinosinusitis (AFRS) is characterized by thick sinus secretions, which have a characteristic golden-yellow color and have a consistency like rubber cement. These secretions contain proteins from degranulated eosinophils (a type of inflammatory cell) plus some fungal elements.
Rhinolith (from the Greek rhino meaning nose, and lithos meaning stone) are rare. They are calcareous concretions that are formed by the deposition of salts on an intranasal foreign body.
If mucus remains in the nose and starts to dry out, it becomes dried nasal mucus or a booger. “Mucus helps flush out substances like dirt, dust or bacteria before they can get into the lungs and cause irritation or breathing problems,” says Olga Rose, MD, a pediatrician at Scripps Clinic Rancho Bernardo.
If you have nasal polyps, they won't go away on their own. If you have large nasal polyps or clusters of them, they can cause various symptoms and will need to be treated. A large nasal polyp could block the nose, causing ongoing problems.
What Is Plastic Bronchitis? Plastic bronchitis is a lymphatic flow disorder that can cause severe breathing difficulties. It is a condition where buildup in your airways forms into casts that look similar to tree branches. The casts are made of mucus and cellular materials and have a soft, rubbery consistency.
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.
Polyps look like a grayish grape-shaped growth in the nasal cavity. You may have a CT scan of your sinuses. Polyps will appear as cloudy spots. Older polyps may have broken down some of the bone inside your sinuses.
Can you remove nasal polyps with tweezers? No, they must be surgically removed as they are under the deep skin layers of the nose.
Check if you have nasal polyps
a blocked nose. a runny nose. a feeling that mucus is slowly dripping down the back of your throat (postnasal drip) a reduced sense of smell or taste.
A rhinolith is a stone present in the nasal cavity. The word is derived from the roots rhino- and -lith, literally meaning "nose stone". It is an uncommon medical phenomenon, not to be confused with dried nasal mucus.
6) Thick mucus could mean you're dehydrated
A few different factors can reduce the production of serous fluid in your nose, leading to thick, dry mucus. This is often experienced as post-nasal drip — thick mucus at the back of your throat that's much more noticeable than the thinner mucus you swallow unconsciously.
In the presence of an infection, allergen, or irritant, your body may make larger amounts of mucus to help trap foreign invaders. But high amounts of mucus can clog the airways in your nose, throat, lungs, and sinuses, making breathing difficult. It can also cause you to cough, a common symptom of thick, sticky mucus.
Nasal polyps are soft, painless, noncancerous growths on the lining of your nasal passages or sinuses. They hang down like teardrops or grapes. They result from chronic inflammation and are associated with asthma, recurring infection, allergies, drug sensitivity or certain immune disorders.
Depending on where the nasal polyp is and how big it is, a lot of people can't see nasal polyps on the inside of their own nose. Small nose polyps look like teardrops. As they get bigger, they look more like grapes growing on a stalk. They are gray, yellow or pink in color.
Symptoms of rhinoliths are usually nasal obstruction, continuous discharge, headache, nasal malodor, halitosis, and intermittent epistaxis.
Candida fungal infections have been linked to a high percentage of sinus infections. Symptoms include a runny nose, nasal congestion, loss of smell, and headaches. Short-term sinus infections are typically bacteria, but the longer-term, more chronic sinus infections are typically fungal.
Surgical debridement is by far the mainstay of treatment for most forms of fungal sinusitis. It is, at times, followed by systemic antifungal therapy to prevent the recurrence of infection. Most patients require multiple surgical therapies to obtain long-term relief for invasive disease.
Autoimmune-associated nasal polyps have appeared as part of Wegener's Granulomatosis (WG), an autoimmune-associated systemic vasculitis associated with proteinase 3 anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (PR3-ANCAs) [10,11].
If your nasal polyps aren't causing symptoms, you don't need to treat them. It's possible for nasal polyps to shrink naturally and go away on their own. And secondly, you shouldn't try to remove nasal polyps yourself since that could cause injury and possibly infection.