How to Clear Phlegm From Your Throat
You don’t really know how the phlegm in your throat got there, but removing it is kind of gross. It turns out, phlegm actually serves a useful purpose: The thick, sludgy substance—made up of mostly water, salt, and antibodies—is designed to help capture and clear bacteria and other unwanted microorganisms from your nose and throat. Even when you’re feeling fine, your body naturally produces about a quart of phlegm every day. Without it, germs and irritants in the air would easily slip into your lungs through your air passages. And when you’re sick or suffering from allergies, your body ramps up its phlegm production in an effort to clear away the bad bugs it knows are present.
So here’s the big question: How do you clear phlegm from your throat?
Even though it might not taste good, there’s nothing wrong with swallowing it. 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. If you go the swallowing route, your stomach acids and digestive system will simply eradicate the phlegm and any of the harmful stuff it might have snared. Sipping on water may also be a helpful way to clear phlegm from your throat.
The alternative, of course, is bringing the phlegm up. Do it the right way: Close your mouth and suck air in through your nose. Your goal is to use your nose to pull excess phlegm down into your throat, where your tongue and throat muscles can get a good grip on it. Just make sure you’re not chewing anything when you try this, or you could suck food down into your windpipe. Form a U-shape with your tongue while forcing air and saliva forward using the muscles at the back of your throat. When you have the phlegm in your mouth, take notice to the color.
The color could provide important clues about your health:
If your phlegm is yellow/green, you likely have a viral infection. This hue is caused by an enzyme produced by your white blood cells that are fighting off the infection. If the thick phlegm persists more than a week, it may indicate that the viral infection has progressed to a bacterial infection. If your phlegm is clear, you probably have allergies. Allergies trigger your mucus membranes to produce histamines, which cause your cells to make even more phlegm. Taking an anti-histamine will help stop excess fluid production. If your phlegm is red (bloody), it’s most likely caused by dry air. Amp up your sources of moisture: Use a saline nasal spray, or try using a humidifier in your bedroom. But if you’re seeing blood all the time—particularly if you’re a smoker or heavy drinker—that could be a sign of a more serious issue, including cancer. See your doctor, stat.
Leave a reply
GET A CLUE. Snot sucking and swallowing it is UNHEALTHY. If the phlegm is bacterially, virally or hazmattedly infected, by swallowing it you’ll introduce that mess into your gut which will at the very least cause diarrhea and if the phlegm is virally infected say like with Covid-19 you are killing yourself. Too boot is it BAD MANNERS. Oh yeah so YUMMY.
Replyi mean… if your phlegm is already infected with Covid-19 you most definitely also have Covid-19 because you’ve been exposed to it and at it’ll probably just go down the back of your throat anyways 🤷🏼♀️
ReplyR ya one of dem recessive gene inbreeders from the King George era or does it go way back to the cave fur ya? Buy a clue, pick up a book and gets edgamated, duh huh. Great manners by duh way
ReplyWhat an imbecile you are.
ReplyDumbest answer I have ever heard!!
ReplyPersonally, I’d rather be an imbecile than a complete idiot.
ReplyGreat comeback. I’m with ya.
ReplyIts that point in internet history where I can’t tell if your typing is ironic or not. Regardless it’s still pointless. everyone in these comments are fucked in the head. Yes, swallowing phlegm full of malicious cells is bad but if they were in your sinus it’s a 99% chance you contracted it already so it doesn’t matter. Lol you perpetually drooling specimens “buuuh that’s stupid I need to spit out the phlegm to save myself”.
ReplyMICRO. SCOPIC. CELLS. IT DOESNT MATTER.
Hahaha look at you trying to act all clever on random comment section , looks like you’ve just transcripted someone speaking welsh but not written it in welsh. Fuck the monarchy though
ReplyNo speak English?
ReplyHow do I get rid of it if it’s affected with covid
ReplySo let me get this straight, you want me to swallow phlegm that could POSSIBLY BE INFECTED WITH COVID-19?? The instructions to get it out are correct and worked, but swallowing it is like infecting another part of your body. Not trying to hate but as a doctor, swallowing it is taking you to the wrong path.
ReplySo lemme tell you something: if you have Covid in your phlegm you are infected with it. The phlegm is the thing that’s trying to get it out of your system by trapping it.
ReplyHow stupid are you???
He’s a "doctor" he said lmao
ReplyHello, as a newbie to cryptocurrency trading, I lost a lot of money trying to navigate the market on my own, then in my search for a genuine and trusted trader/broker, i came across Trader Bernie Doran who guided and helped me retrieve my lost cryptocurrencies and I made so much profit up to the tune of $60,000. I made my first investment with $2,000 and got a ROI profit of $25,000 in less than 2 week. You can contact this expert trader Mr Bernie Doran via Email : BERNIEDORANSIGNALS@ GMAIL. COM and be ready to share your experience, tell him I referred you
ReplyHello, as a newbie to cryptocurrency trading, I lost a lot of money trying to navigate the market on my own, then in my search for a genuine and trusted trader/broker, i came across Trader Bernie Doran who guided and helped me retrieve my lost cryptocurrencies and I made so much profit up to the tune of $60,000. I made my first investment with $2,000 and got a ROI profit of $25,000 in less than 2 week. You can contact this expert trader Mr Bernie Doran via Email : BERNIEDORANSIGNALS@ GMAIL. COM or WhatsApp + 1 424 285 0682 and be ready to share your experience, tell him I referred you
ReplySo what you’re saying is if your phlem is covid filled which means you have covid, swallowing what you are already infected with, will kill you??? Please explain. If swallowing covid phlem is going to kill you you’re already going to die from being infected from covid in the first place so why worry about what you swallow. Besides, you do understand that the bile from your gallbladder and the acid in your stomach can and will kill the infection, right??? If you don’t understand that those two points then you need to research a bit more and not talk down to others because you have an uneducated one track mind.
ReplyThat’s a bunch of bullcrap! Wrong advice…. Can you spell flu
ReplyMore people die of the swine flu and regular flu then from covid and all along it was because the 1st thing they do is intubate them… That should be the last thing they do idiots
You need to relax, goodness!
ReplyHope you don’t kiss your boyfriend with that mouth, does he know you don’t like to swallow?
ReplyYOU are the one in the wrong here. If you actually did any research or were in any way educated on this topic you would know that. It has been proven by doctors for at least 5 years now. That’s swallowing phlegm increases the chances of you re infecting yourself. Again, it’s like pouring water into a cup that’s already full. This isn’t a debate, I am actually educated on this topic and I’m telling you that you are wrong and science does not agree with you and the facts are NOT on your side.
ReplyUmm well it’s stuck in my throat. When I’m sleeping I feel choked and I need to swallow it down to get back to sleep.
ReplyIf I try to cough it out I end up puking.
Is there anything else I could do to get it out of my system.
Lol your funny,I like it 🤣
ReplyOh dear god, shut up
ReplyThere’s no call to be rude if you don’t agree with someone on here. I think we’d all agree, we come on here because we’re desperate to figure out what might be wrong with us or how to just feel stinking better. I’ve been running a fever for nearly a week, with phlegm and a fever. If you don’t want to suck snot, just don’t do it.
ReplyNot true. Gastric fluid will kill microorganisms. Otherwise our water and food would have to be sterile.
ReplyYou absolutely should not swallow it. Just because you already are infected, does not mean that you cannot still infect yourself. I’m sorry, but the person who wrote this article has never actually talked to a doctor about this, because if they did, they would know that swallowing phlegm increases the likelihood of you re infecting yourself. Because for a lot of people, they still experience the phlegm after the sickness or viral infection has passed because the phlegm gets stuck in the throat, hence why this article was written. Which means you can be healthy and coughing up infected phlegm, because that flow was from the previous night or 2 days ago etc, and by swallowing it back down, you infect yourself with the virus again. It’s like pouring water into a cup that’s already full, swallowing phlegm is going to overwhelm your immune system because instead of fighting it in just the respiratory aspect, they’ll be fighting it in the digestive track as well. People need to actually talk to doctors before they write articles about medical advice, because then they end up giving advice that’s wrong and has been proven wrong for at least 5 years now.
ReplySo you’re saying if you have Covid, and you swallow phlegm, you’ll get more Covid? That’s not how biology works. If you have the infection, you have the infection.
ReplyHello, as a newbie to cryptocurrency trading, I lost a lot of money trying to navigate the market on my own, then in my search for a genuine and trusted trader/broker, i came across Trader Bernie Doran who guided and helped me retrieve my lost cryptocurrencies and I made so much profit up to the tune of $60,000. I made my first investment with $2,000 and got a ROI profit of $25,000 in less than 2 week. You can contact this expert trader Mr Bernie Doran via Email : BERNIEDORANSIGNALS@ GMAIL. COM or WhatsApp + 1 424 285 0682 and be ready to share your experience, tell him I referred you
ReplyFrom what I understand, the acid from your stomach would actually kill and/or dissolve the bacteria. Now there are some bacteria that survive, I’m sure, and you’ll want to look into that. but generally speaking it’s alright to swallow the mucus or phlegm.
ReplyThanks for sharing the Useful Information. Our body always produces mucus, Some mucus is required for a healthy body, but too much of it can be caused. We notice it most when it changes as a result of a respiratory infection Like cold or flu, irritation in nose etc. Mucus is an essential sticky and slippery fluid produced by the lungs and respiratory system of the body. It is very important to get rid of mucus regularly to eliminate bacteria and viruses from the body. Here are the list of 12 marvelous herbs to clear mucus from the body naturally. https://www.healthnwellness.in/health/12-marvelous-herbs-to-clear-mucus-from-the-body/
ReplyWow, way to go with that comment pretty much copy pasting from the article and promoting your scam supplements at the end.
ReplyAll that stuff HAS BEEN HEAVILY TESTED FOR DECADES AND HAS NEVER BEEN ABLE TO PROVE IT DOES WHATS CLAIMED, LEADING TO THOSE SCAMMY PRODUCTS NOT BEING ALLOWED TO SAY THEY TREAT, PREVENT, RELIEVE SYMPTOMS OF "insert name" , which is why then can only be marketed as dietary supplements and labels cant even passively suggest they serve any medical purpose.
Would the phlegm that is stuck in my throat and back of my nose have any thing to do with the tonsil stones and yellow tounge I have? I have all 3 and wonder if there is any relation. The phlegm tastes bad and makes it hard to swallow. I’ve removed a few tonsil stones which also taste horrible. There is also film on my tounge that is as thick as phlegm and ALSO tastes bad but has turned my tounge a yellow color. I have removed several tonsil stones, I scrape my tounge with a dental scraper often, and I gargle with water and also mouthwash for my phlegm in the throat problem and the film on my tounge. My breath smells bad and when I swallow it tastes bad too. So again, Can all 3 of these issues be in relation to one another, or so I have 3 separate issues? Can they be resolved with a dentist or would I need to see a ENT specialist considering I have all 3 at once, and have had all 3 for the last 2 years? Thank you in advance!
ReplyHi Shannon,
I had the same problems. Tonsil stones are the worst. At 40 I had my tonsils removed as it was the only option left to prevent stones. I got tired of pulling them out each morning and having bad breath. My advice is, if you have bad TS remove the tonsils. It’s a week long inconvenience as you heal for a lifetime of better health.
ReplyRemoving the tonsils did clear up my yellow tongue issue but I still get plenty of phlegm in the mornings. It’s clear phlegm so not a big deal.
I have a white coating on my tongue and I have a huge problem with my tonsils. They are Wanting to remove them next month. I am also 40 And I was scared to have this procedure because of risk of infection. It seems like the tonsils and the white tongue acted at the same time and I keep pulling phlemn from the back of my throat to. it seems to irritate my throat more When I pull the phlemn like this. I’ve been dealing with this since may and it’s very annoying because I keep getting sick.
ReplyNew moms get quickly with infection.They need to take care of plenty of things. They don’t have to just follow the norms for their own health but for the baby’s health as well. This is because, after delivery, their body gets backs to normal and needs more nutrients to recover from the pain.Here are some tips to prevent https://www.kidshealthbuddy.com/nutrition/nourishing-meals-and-foods-for-new-moms/
Replyawesome information in this website all data are very useful and important for everyone we also know the best website for liver transplant in Pakistan dr Faisal dar
Reply