When you see brown phlegm, rust-colored phlegm or phlegm with brown spots, it usually indicates old blood. Common related conditions include: Bacterial bronchitis. Bacterial pneumonia.
If your mucus turns brown, yellow, or green, it can be an early warning sign of a flare-up. It'll be stickier and thicker, and there'll be more of it. Treatments for COPD include medications, pulmonary rehab, supplemental oxygen, and surgery to open up blocked pathways. In severe cases, you may need a lung transplant.
Common symptoms of pneumonia include: a cough – which may be dry, or produce thick yellow, green, brown or blood-stained mucus (phlegm) difficulty breathing – your breathing may be rapid and shallow, and you may feel breathless, even when resting.
Signs and symptoms of a chest infection
coughing up yellow or green phlegm (thick mucus), or coughing up blood.
Brown phlegm may indicate possible bleeding. While it is likely due to bleeding that happened a while ago, it can also indicate a chronic infection such as bronchitis. People who smoke may also have brown phlegm.
Summary. Brown mucus is a less common form of phlegm that is caused by a variety of conditions, ranging from smoking and air pollution to chronic lung disease and bacterial or viral infections.
A brown hue means blood in the phlegm, too — old blood, rather than fresh. This shows up in people suffering from various forms of pulmonary fibrosis, a family of chronic, incurable diseases caused by inhalation of microscopic particles which cause scarring in lung tissue.
Green and cloudy: viral or bacterial infection
A lot of the symptoms of viral infections – fever, cough, headache, loss of smell – overlap for COVID-19 and other viral infections like the flu, respiratory syncytial virus and the common cold. That's why COVID-19 testing and seeing a doctor is so important.
People often develop yellow phlegm in the early stages, and it turns green the longer the infection lingers. Possible health conditions related to coughing up yellow or green phlegm include: Sinusitis. Bronchitis.
Changes in mucus color, from clear to white to yellow to green, are part of the normal course of an illness. It's a sign that your immune system is fighting to get better. Pink, red, orange, or brown snot, on the other hand, is typically not from an illness.
Call your doctor if your cough (or your child's cough) doesn't go away after a few weeks or if it also involves any one of these: Coughing up thick, greenish-yellow phlegm. Wheezing. Experiencing a fever.
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.
If a cough brings up phlegm or mucus it is called a productive cough and could suggest pneumonia, bronchitis or the flu. The color of the mucus can signal a more serious problem. You should see a doctor if your cough brings up yellowish-green phlegm or blood.
If the color of the mucus changes to green or yellow, it may be a sign that a bacterial infection has also set in. The cough is usually the last symptom to clear up and may last for weeks.
White Mucus
If a virus makes its way into your nose and into the air-filled pockets behind your forehead, cheeks and nose — called the sinuses — your nose may start to make extra mucus to clear out the virus. After a few days, it might begin to turn white.
According to Medical News Today2, common symptoms of mucus build up in your lungs may include: Wheezing. Difficulty Sleeping. Sore Throat.
Possible causes of excess mucus can be food allergies, an acid reflux from the stomach, or an infection. The consistency of mucus in the throat also varies depending on what is going on in your body. Common causes of too much mucus in the throat include a cold or flu, acute bronchitis, sinusitis or pneumonia.
Catarrh is usually caused by the immune system reacting to an infection or irritation, which causes the lining of your nose and throat to become swollen and produce mucus. This can be triggered by: a cold or other infections. hay fever or other types of allergic rhinitis.
Unlike kidney stones or salivary stones, which are calcified and therefore hard, tonsil stones are soft and stinky, white or yellow balls of solid pus, which form in the crypts of the tonsils. The proper medical term is exudate. They consist of bacteria, white blood cells and protein.
According to Tufts Medical Center, despite the old phrase, it's physically impossible to "cough up a lung." However, if a coughing fit is severe or lasts for an extended period of time, parts of the respiratory system and other areas of the body can be damaged.