minor physical annoyances

[unicornduke]

probably a little tmi, but stomach and allergy related

one issue is food related, sometimes depending on what I eat, I have trouble burping. This is mostly a problem as I'm laying down in bed, trying to sleep. I can feel the burp sitting in my stomach and it's minor discomfort but it keeps me up. I usually have to sit up and rotate my upper body around to get the burp into the right place for it to actually happen. This seems most common when I eat really thick heavy mashed potatoes but I know it happens other times, especially if I eat too much too close to bedtime. It kept me up late last night

The other thing is that my family does have allergies but they manifest in a nasty post-nasal drip and nothing else. It took my brother years to figure out he was allergic to his girlfriend's cats because the only symptom is the post-nasal drip. However, it gets really bad. I was allergic to something in my college apartment senior year and the drip was so bad that I had to sleep sitting up, otherwise it would clog up my throat and make me wake up retching. I had a hideous cough from it going into my lungs too. Typical anti-histamines don't work on it. just allergy shots.

Winter tends to make it worse and in the mornings I need to blow my nose a whole bunch and then cough some gunk out. I started working out again this week and boy howdy, I had to get up from my mat four times to cough and go spit gunk into the sink, which was very gross and not appreciated.

Comments

[graydon]

Sympathy and commiserations!

Nasal irrigation/sinus rinsing (e.g., https://www.neilmed.com/ ) can help with this sort of thing; kinda depends on your specifics but it can be worth trying.

[unicornduke]

It looks worth trying but I'm not super optimistic it would help, my nose area is fine and clear most of the day, it's all in the back of my throat that's the problem.

[graydon]

The story for allergies is that it helps no so much by clearing mucus as by flushing out the irritant. So you get people saying it changed their life and people saying it was useless and likely no way to tell ahead of time which you'd be.

[ranunculus]

For me nasal irrigation works well on post nasal drip - sometimes. In the best case scenario it clears out whatever is irritating the nose and the drip stops. An intermediate outcome is clearing out some irritant and allowing much more fluid gunk that is easier to spit. On times when irrigation doesn't work, or when I'm in a place where I cannot do it then I fall back on my old friend Azelastine HCI. Great stuff, for me it stops post nasal drip in its tracks. Really, spray the stuff in my nose and 5 minutes later I don't want to throw up anymore and the drip is gone. However it does not clear the source of the irritation just makes the body not react to it for a few hours. My preferred method is to rinse my nose and if the drip doesn't go away then use the Azelastine. You may need a prescription for it. The only other nasal spray that even begins to touch post nasal drip is Afrin and you REALLY don't want to use that stuff unless it is a real emergency and you have no other option.

I never found the "nettie pot" a practical solution. When I tried it nothing happened, it could not begin to clear the narrow passages in my nose. On my own I began aspirating water into my nose, which works well for me but doctors do not recommend. I use about 1/8 tsp of salt in a mug. Should taste slightly salty, but only slightly. Too little salt and your nose will sting, too much and your nose will feel like salt flats and be further irritated by the salt itself. You may want to buy a bottle of saline solution just to calibrate your tongue.

[unicornduke]

Good to know, thanks!