Just wanted to write this post for anyone who's been worrying about this like me.
I've been throat clearing for a couple of years now and originally thought it was left over from previous chest infectons. AB treatments and clear chest xrays didn't get rid of the 'gunk' in my throat. I've had/still have the feeling of something stuck in my throat and the constant need to clear it/cough it up. I have a mild cough which comes and goes and sometimes it's dry and sometimes it's phlegmy. I get a wheezy whistle when I breathe in sometimes as if the air is squeezing through the congestion and often my voice cracks and gives out on me and sounds croaky and sore. I've had a gastroscopy to check my oesophagus and stomach and just recently had the flexi scope thing up my nose and down my throat to look at my throat and vocal chords. After all that, the result being, it's simply all down to menopausal phlegm!
This is great news obviously and I'm extremely relieved. The ENT consultant was a patronising old fart though unfortunately and basically made me feel like I was wasting his time and said it was a battle with my mind and that I had to work on that instead of focussing on my throat. (It was at this point I wanted to punch him in his throat!
) His advice was to stop throat clearing and coughing and to swallow instead (easier said than done) and to sip water all day long. His verdict was that my menopause and fluctuating hormones are making my throat dry and phlegmy and I'm making it worse by trying to clear it all the time. (At least he recognised meno as being real and the bugger that's creating the symptoms in the first place though.)
So here I've been thinking the worst for the last couple of years (polyps, nodules, throat cancer, etc, you know how it goes) and, if Mr condescension consultant is right, all of those yucky symptoms I mentioned above are just down to that good old bitchface menopause!
I hope this helps to reassure anyone else out there who has been experiencing similar symptoms and worrying like mad.
