Since October I have been plagued with excessive throat clearing caused by Post Nasal Drip. This makes it very difficult to push hard while training because I’m constantly clearing my airway for oxygen. The more oxygen I need the more I need to clear my throat. I’ve been to 3 Doc’s (GP, Pulmononogist, ENT) and jumped through all the hoops they recommended (Flonase, cutting out dairy, ect.) to no avail.
Anyone else out there experience Post Nasal Drip and how did you rid yourself of it? I’m a desperate man!
I suffer from the same problem, I am sure your ENT doctor explained what is happening. I use Flonase immediately before going to sleep at night. It makes a difference as to the time you use it, or at least it dose for me. I use a strong anihistamine(sp) if the drip is bothering my throat, but I use it sparingly (it will dry me out to much if used regularly), my ENT doctor gave me a running script of both of these. Steam helps me also because I have a bent bone in my nose which dosen’t allow the sinus passages to drain properly the steam from a long hot shower or steam room helps it flow so that it doesn’t cause an infection.
I am on the verge of having a sinus infection quite often because of Post Nasal Drip, and this time of the year is the worst for me (trees are starting to bloom in my neck of the world).
I’ve got the ol’ post-nasal slog pretty bad, makes me hack horrible lung cookies for several minutes at a time, and worse, it’ll trigger my asthma if it’s bad enough. A head cold, sniffly allergies, or heaven forbid, a sinus infection, make my throat and upper bronchs go crazy from the coating of scum. I got it so bad this year that I developed new abdominal muscles I never knew I had.
There is only one thing that works for me, luckily it’s simple, cheap, and readily available. 60mg of Pseudoephedrine. It attacks the symptom further back in the chain of events. If I’m feeling sniffly or hacky before a workout, I can take pseudoephedrine about 30 minutes before I start and I’ll be a-okay. I don’t take it any other time, unless I’m so hacky that I can’t sleep or work. No cough medicine does anything for me compared to Pseudoephedrine (Sudafed, but I get generic/store brand stuff - in big boxes during the winter) and the various combos with a pain-killer in them are miraculous if the coughing has brought on a headache.
I’ve had a horrible problem with Post Nasal drip for years. I’ve tried the flonase stuff as well as a number of other prescription remedies including most recently astelin. None of them seem to give me the relief that sudafed or Psuedoephidrine can. I’ve taken it on and off for a while to help with Post nasal drip which seems to aggrevate my asthma and it truly is the only thing that works. I get sinus infections as well as inner ear infections from all that crap back there but the sudafed seems to knock it out. However, I try not to use it when I’m training hard or racing. Not sure why some people or more sensitive to Post Nasal drip but it can be really debilitating.