How to get rid of thick phlegm in 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.
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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.

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Barking out a loud cough in the middle of a big meeting or on a quiet train car is enough to make you want to be invisible. But trying to stifle your cough is way worse than dealing with any possible embarrassment — especially if you cough up a little mucus or phlegm. It turns out, you're way better off trying to hack it up than keep it down.

Even though it can feel gross to hurl phlegm out of your throat, you probably should, says Erich Voigt, MD, clinical associate professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at NYU Langone Medical Center. "If the mucus sits and accumulates, it can become infected with bacteria" and cause secondary illnesses, such as bronchitis or pneumonia.

But phlegm and mucus are actually totally normal bodily products, so there's no need to be embarrassed about your need to hock a loogie. We all make and need mucus regularly because it acts as a protective layer over our cells. It's "designed to catch and trap particles," such as dust, pollen, or bacteria, Dr. Voigt explains. Mucus also contains antibodies that help develop immunity and fight infection.

When you get sick with an upper respiratory infection, a cold, or allergies, the mucus secreted by your respiratory tract becomes thicker and denser, Dr. Voigt says. At that point, it's called phlegm, and it's harder to clear out of your airways — your nose, sinuses, and lungs — because it's so much thicker. But that phlegm is one of your body's ways of collecting and getting rid of bacteria.

"[Phlegm] may drip down from the nose and sinuses, or get coughed up from the lower airway," Dr. Voigt says. But, sometimes, it accumulates in your throat. In that case, you usually end up swallowing it or coughing it up. That's why you sometimes cough up boogers (sorry).

Now let's say you cough, but the phlegm gets stuck halfway between your mouth and your throat. Do you swallow? Dr. Voigt says that spitting it up is ideal, actually. But if you can't get to a tissue (or are completely disgusted by the prospect), swallowing isn't the end of the world. In that case, the mucus will "flow to your stomach and be burned by stomach acid," Dr. Voigt says. Delicious.

So how do you actually make it go away? Well, duh, you cough! Coughing is your body's natural mechanism for clearing mucus and phlegm out of the lungs and throat, Dr. Voigt says. However, dry, thick phlegm is harder to clear, he says, and all that extra coughing and throat clearing can make your throat sore.

If you want to speed up the process, make sure to stay hydrated to keep your mucus as thin as possible. You can also try taking a hot shower or inhaling steam, both of which will make the mucus thinner. And, if you can get someone to pat your back, that can loosen the phlegm's attachment to the bronchial walls, which "allows it to be coughed out more easily," Dr. Voigt says.

If you want to move your mucus along a bit, you can try taking OTC expectorant medicines, such as Mucinex or Robitussin. These drugs "pull water into the phlegm, making it easier to cough out," Dr. Voigt says. But any time you're concerned about how much phlegm you're making or how long you've been coughing that stuff up, you should see a doctor so they can figure out exactly what's causing it. In some cases, your doc might prescribe a steroid inhaler, nebulizer, or nasal spray (such as Flonase) to make it easier to breathe while clearing out your mucus.

At the end of the day, you know when you've gotta cough, and you really should just go for it (maybe step out of the big, important meeting first, though). And if a little phlegm comes out too, it's not necessarily a big deal — it's just a sign that your body's doing its thing to make you feel better.

How do you get rid of mucus that is stuck in your throat?

Self-care steps.

Gargle with warm salt water. This home remedy can help clear mucus from the back of your throat and may help kill germs..

Humidify the air. ... .

Stay hydrated. ... .

Elevate your head. ... .

Avoid decongestants. ... .

Avoid irritants, fragrances, chemicals, and pollution. ... .

If you smoke, try to stop..

Why is my phlegm so thick in my 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.

Why do I feel like I have mucus stuck in my throat?

When mucus starts to build up or trickle down the back of the throat, this is known as postnasal drip. Causes of postnasal drip include infections, allergies, and acid reflux. As well as feeling the need to clear the throat frequently, a person with postnasal drip may also experience: a sore throat.