Why thick mucus

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By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. Mucus is gross. But here are 9 things you should know about it. Reddit Pocket Flipboard Email. But the simple truth is that without mucus, you wouldn't be alive. American Rhinologic Society Whether you're aware of it or not, you're constantly swallowing all this mucus, and it harmlessly ends up in your stomach. Bruce Blaus The inside of your nose is filled with structures called conchae , or turbinates.

Coronades03 The nasal decongestant spray Afrin which has the active ingredient Oxymetazoline works really, really well. Delivered Fridays. Thanks for signing up! Check your inbox for a welcome email. Email required. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Notice and European users agree to the data transfer policy.

For more newsletters, check out our newsletters page. The Latest. Why movies tilt the camera like this By Marie Cascione. Soul food and the stories it tells about America By Jamil Smith. The Taliban, explained By Sam Ellis. Facebook is quietly buying up the metaverse By Peter Kafka. The excess mucus production can lead to sticky, rubbery pieces of mucus collecting toward the back of your throat and inside your nose. Sometimes strenuous exercise, excessive sweating, and spending time outside in hot temperatures can quickly dehydrate your body, leading to thick, rubbery mucus.

You may also want to try over-the-counter decongestants like pseudoephedrine. If your symptoms of sticky, hard mucus persist for more than a few days, call your doctor. They may prescribe oral antibiotics to help you fight the infection and breathe easier. If rubbery mucus is a symptom of your allergies, you may want to try an antihistamine or nasal steroid. Avoiding your allergy triggers is also considered a method of treatment for managing allergy symptoms. Your doctor may prescribe nasal irrigation medication that allows you to put antifungal ingredients directly into your nasal passages.

They may also prescribe corticosteroids. Drinking more water, running humidifiers in your home, and limiting time spent inhaling dry air can all help manage mucus that gets sticky and rubbery. But there are some sinus symptoms you should never ignore. Call your doctor if you experience any of the following:. There are also symptoms that can indicate an emergency.

Seek emergency care if your symptoms include:. Vaping or smoking cigarettes can make your mucus stickier. If you quit smoking and vaping, you may notice that your symptoms decrease. Quitting smoking is difficult, and it may take a few tries to fully quit. Reach out to your doctor.

They can help create a cessation plan right for you. As a result, the mucus clogs the airways, making it difficult to breathe. Because the mucus in people with CF is also abnormal in other ways, it is less able to kill germs than the mucus in healthy people, creating a fertile breeding ground for infections.

In people with CF, mucus becomes thick and sticky because of problems with the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator CFTR protein. The CFTR protein normally forms a channel to transport chloride -- a component of salt -- through the membranes of cells lining many surfaces in the body, including the surface of the lung.

When the protein is not working correctly or is not present at the cell surface, chloride becomes trapped in cells and cannot attract the fluids necessary to hydrate the cell surface.

Without the fluids, mucus becomes dehydrated and takes on a thick, sticky consistency. Researchers believe another protein channel on the surface of the cell adds to this hydration problem.

This channel, known as the epithelial sodium channel ENaC , absorbs sodium another component of salt into the cell, which also helps to maintain the correct balance of salt and fluids on the cell surface.

Interestingly, Metson noted that sneezing was once thought to be the main cause of a cold spreading, but now scientists think it has more to do with hand-to-hand contact with the virus. As for what causes those clumps of mucus, also known as "boogers," Metson explained it this way: When people breathe in, especially during the winter, they're inhaling drier air.

This dries out mucus found in the front of the nose, forming a nasal crust. Want to ease up on boogers as well as unclog a stuffed-up nose?

The treatment most often recommended was nasal irrigation , or rinsing out your nose with a salt-water solution, ideally twice a day. In other words, after brushing your teeth, you then flush out your nose with a glass of warm water and a teaspoon of salt delivered via a bulb syringe, neti pot or squeeze bottle found in nasal rinse kits sold at pharmacies.

You probably think of mucus as the substance that tends to come out of your nose, and phlegm as the stuff that come out of your mouth. In medical speak, the term phlegm is interchangeable with sputum, and "all of it is mucus," explained Marshall. Phlegm is a mixture of mucus and saliva and white blood cells produced by the body in response to inflammation.

It brings moisture to the area and helps your body clear away infection. And since there are mucous membranes lining the nose and sinuses, as well as the throat, esophagus, lungs and even the stomach, there's plenty of mucus around to form phlegm. Smokers and people with a cold or lung conditions, such as emphysema or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, produce more phlegm. Experts say that drinking milk doesn't necessarily cause your body to make more phlegm, but it may make what's there thicker and more annoying to your throat.