Alex123
Distinguished member
- Joined
- May 31, 2014
- Messages
- 128
- Reason
- PALS
- Diagnosis
- 05/2014
- Country
- US
- State
- California
- City
- Los Angeles
I have had thick, salty secretions in the back of my throat for some time. Some times saliva also gets thick. When saliva is not thick and the secretions in the back (I think they come from the nasal cavity) are not too thick, I can swallow the saliva and it carries some of these thick secretions into the esophagus. But most of the time during the day I can't swallow it and I have to spit. I have bulbar-onset ALS and am currently on a PEG tube.
During the night secretions get thinner and I can swallow them, although some times they get into my trachea and I have to cough. I understand that it is common for ALS patients to have problems with excessive production of saliva, but in my case what makes the problem worse is the thick, sticky, stringy consistency of those secretions. When the ENT looked with the scope through my nose, she said she didn't find anything. When went to the last ALS clinic, they gave me some nasal sprays, acetylcysteine through a nebulizer, and an antifungal medicine. None of that worked. I would have preferred they tried to find out first from exactly where the secretions are coming from and what is the cause. I understand this may be a strange effect of ALS with an unknown mechanism behind it. But it could also be something not directly related to my ALS. While I have heard of people with ALS having excessive saliva, I haven't heard about thick secretions. I wonder how common or rare it is to have these symptoms with ALS and if anybody is having the same problem how they are managing it. For me it is being quite annoying. One more detail: I typically spit about 500ml of secretions and they have an abundant quantity of some white stuff that has a tendency to settle at the bottom of the container. This white thing I believe may be epithelial cells, but I don't know where they are coming from. I'll appreciate your input.
During the night secretions get thinner and I can swallow them, although some times they get into my trachea and I have to cough. I understand that it is common for ALS patients to have problems with excessive production of saliva, but in my case what makes the problem worse is the thick, sticky, stringy consistency of those secretions. When the ENT looked with the scope through my nose, she said she didn't find anything. When went to the last ALS clinic, they gave me some nasal sprays, acetylcysteine through a nebulizer, and an antifungal medicine. None of that worked. I would have preferred they tried to find out first from exactly where the secretions are coming from and what is the cause. I understand this may be a strange effect of ALS with an unknown mechanism behind it. But it could also be something not directly related to my ALS. While I have heard of people with ALS having excessive saliva, I haven't heard about thick secretions. I wonder how common or rare it is to have these symptoms with ALS and if anybody is having the same problem how they are managing it. For me it is being quite annoying. One more detail: I typically spit about 500ml of secretions and they have an abundant quantity of some white stuff that has a tendency to settle at the bottom of the container. This white thing I believe may be epithelial cells, but I don't know where they are coming from. I'll appreciate your input.