View Full Version : Undiagnosed bloody sputum driving me literally insane, need advice :(
Ok, so my story is long so I'm just gonna paste from what I posted on medhelp (hey, you gotta try and find any help you can get).....hopefully you guys have time to read it:
I've been having blood colored sputum (usually bright red, pinkish, orange) for 6 months now, or at least that's when I noticed. It was mostly in the early morning (first spit), but now it seems I can reproduce it during the day just by sucking up all the saliva in my mouth or pulling it from the back of my throat. I was hoping it was either gums or 1 wisdom tooth that causes trouble (has grown out sort of horizontally) but the thing is I never see blood when brushing my teeth, unless I get a really hard toothbrush and brush with all my might. They I get them to bleed. But this blood in spit shows up before doing all that. I cannot conclude it if's from my throat of my mouth. There are no sores in my mouth from what I can see. My throat is not sore either..from what I can feel. I don't have sinus infections. I don't have a cough. For the last 6 months I've had:
a chest Xray
had bronchoscopy
had my blood drawn 5 times
visited dentist 3 times
had MR of the sinuses
visited ENT doctors 9 times
had ENT doctors look at my nose and throat with an endoscope 4 times
had gastroscopy - this was the only time they found something, GERD and mild gastritis, altough I don't really feel the symptoms
Also, I've been having panic attacks and bouts of depression due to this. I am on medication (antidepressants, small dosage of antipsychotics and anxiolytics..ofcourse) and have even been hospitalized because this blood was driving me insane with fear from cancer and dying.
I don't understand what it is that makes me have bloody spit on almost daily basis for 6 months and no cause can be found.. it seems insane :( My mind keeps running to the dark place where it's some sort of cancer which will be detected too late to do anything about it :(
I hope there's someone with something similar to help me make the bad thoughts go away, or guide me as to what to do next. I literally don't know which doctor I should visit, I've seen them all :(
OMG, well, I would be really scared by that, so I understand your concern.
It seems like you have been checked all ways to Sunday though. Do the doctors you've seen have any explanation?
HOw old are you? What sex?
Thankfully, I have not had an bloody sputum, but I have had respiratory problems for about a year now. I have had two clear xrays, 1 CT last January (but that was because of elevated D dimer and suspected clot, no clot found). It is VERY nerve wracking and I don't really have an answer yet.
BUt, in my reading, I have discovered that sudden respiratory and allergic type conditions can have something to do with hormones and perimenopause. Could something like that relate to you and airway constriction or inflammation or irritation?
I am hoping this is the case for me, since I am the prime age for that!
Otherwise, I am so sorry you are having to deal with this. What are your doctors recommending in terms of follow up?
Thank you for responding. I am a 28 year old female
Now, you saying you would be really scared makes me even more scared :D although I understand, you're just being honest, and it sounds bad. However, since this has been going on for so long, I've gotten to a point where people around me, that includes my family, boyfriend, my psychiatrists and my GP doc are telling me to "just live with it". That it's just "something that happens to my body due to stress" (I've had a very stressfull year and a half, 2 deaths in the family, one of my father, and my boyfriend got hit by a car and barely survived).
But it still doesn't sound logical..blood must be coming from somewhere. I guess it's not lungs since I don't cough it out and since xray and bronchoscopy came out clear. If it's throat or nose, why did no one see anything in those 9 times I wen't to the ENT doctor..could the wound be so small? Could it still be something bad? Those thoughts creep me out :(
and finally, if it's my teeth, why can't I SEE the blood on the gums, why do I only see it if I brush like a madman until it bleeds?
So to answer your questions, the next appointment I have with an ENT is in month and a half. They recommended to draw blood and do a coagulogram (I think that's what it's called) to see if I have some blood thickening disorder that makes my vessels burst and heal too slowly. Or something. They just didn't know what else to do. Also recommended to go see a dentist again. I do have a mild gingivitis but can this cause bloody spit EVERY DAY?
Sorry for such a long post!
I am sorry to hear about your respiratory issues but it's good that you have a lead on it (allergy trigger by your age). Hope you get to the bottom of it :)
I didn't mean to scare you. Blood in anything is just the worst :-)
It sounds like your doctors aren't suspecting cancer at all, so that is great! Maybe you do have some weird blood clotting disorder--- ain't life grand when you actually see a blood clotting disorder as a good thing? Ahh, HA lol!
a chest Xray
had bronchoscopy
had my blood drawn 5 times
visited dentist 3 times
had MR of the sinuses
visited ENT doctors 9 times
had ENT doctors look at my nose and throat with an endoscope 4 times
had gastroscopy - this was the only time they found something, GERD and mild gastritis, altough I don't really feel the symptoms
I'm a head and neck cancer survivor and you've seen more doctors and had more tests than I've had in the last 3 years.
What have the medical professionals said could be the cause?
Positive thoughts
NervUs, yeah, I'd actually be really relieved if it was a blood clotting disorder :D if it was mostly harmless.just to have an answer that makes sense would be heaven to me, from this point of view.
Fishmanpa, that actually made me kinda laugh, it does sound insane when I put it in numbers :( but I've also spent 2 weeks in a psychiatric ward due to this panic so..
Anyway, good to hear you survived cancer. Could you console me and and say that spitting blood wasn't one of your symptoms?
As for what the doctors are saying -nothing.no idea. They say it could be random things like blood vessels rupturing in my nose. Or my gums. Or just my throat being insanely irritable. Or maybe acid reflux (although GI doctor told me acid reflux wouldnt cause this).
And I keep being afraid that they are missing something and that they're not taking me seriously cause I'm relatively young (and also a hypochondriac, but hey, those get sick too).
Could you console me and and say that spitting blood wasn't one of your symptoms?
Nope... not a symptom I experienced nor do I know of any others that had that symptom.
In the mean time, stop forcing yourself to spit. You're probably irritating the hell out of your throat!
Positive thoughts
Nope... not a symptom I experienced nor do I know of any others that had that symptom.
In the mean time, stop forcing yourself to spit. You're probably irritating the hell out of your throat!
Positive thoughts
Thank you, that does calm me a bit as right now, oral/nasal cancer is what I fear most..but I guess there should be other symptoms in 6 months :(
I try not to spit. However, this has become an obsessive-compulsive act for me. Thought comes to mind, I have to go and spit. Hopefully the psych meds will help with this :(. Although on occasion, I would taste the blood beforehand and that would trigger me to go spit
I have to say, this "condition" has ruined my life in the past months quite a bit..I've had fights with family, nervous breakdowns..my family is allergic to me mentioning the blood. And I have this compulsion that I have to tell about it each time it happens. Scared that ignoring it will turn it into something bad. Health anxiety + genetically vulnerable psyche = the worst combo.
I've had occasional bloody sputum for over 10 years now, normally first thing in the morning, coughing, sneezing, and clearing my throat are common causes. It's nothing to be concerned about. Ive had both bloody nose and throat sputum. Doctors aren't concerned, so I'm not either.
The same thing happened to me in December of last year and it went on into March of this year I made a thread about this myself and I too had doctors look up my nose and into my throat with no answers but I did eventually figure it was coming from a post nasal drip during the night I was eventually told it could be a blood clotting disorder due to burst blood vessels as the blood would start of black and jellylike and eventually turn into a more consistent pinkish colour as well it being caused by allergies and dryness maybe you could try using a nasal saline spray being going to sleep to keep the nasal passages moist through the night and since you have had the all clear I wouldn't worry about it.
Could be something very simple like allergies. Some people are just prone to bloody noses and the like. My brother gets them all the time. I know it's your saliva and not nose, but still. It's not unreasonable to think that it's just post nasal drip. If you live in a higher altitude or a very cold climate that could also be the cause. The fact that you've had so many tests and doctors visits and they can't find anything bad is a good thing. I know it's frustrating to not have a concrete cause to point to, but if there was something bad going on, they'd have found it already.
At firs I did think allergies, as it started happening during the allergy season (early spring), but it continued all throughout the summer and still happens, not just in the morning.
Thank you all for your answers, honestly, it just helps to talk to someone who understands the severeness of the anxiety :(
If you have been checked by doctors and they didn't find any issues then your in the clear, most likely the GERD aggravates the area which can cause some itching and dryness and occasionally even some slight bleeding, also you could have allergies which could cause nose bleeds and they seep down with your post nasal drip into your sputum, if the ENT checked you and didn't see anything then your fine in regards to Nose or throat cancer, he would see some mass or bulge right away and lymph nodes are an easy way to check for those as well, and if you already did a gastroscopy then your fine about any issue inside your throat or esophagus.
Try not worry to much, where are you from by the way ? and what line of work are you in ?
If you have been checked by doctors and they didn't find any issues then your in the clear, most likely the GERD aggravates the area which can cause some itching and dryness and occasionally even some slight bleeding, also you could have allergies which could cause nose bleeds and they seep down with your post nasal drip into your sputum, if the ENT checked you and didn't see anything then your fine in regards to Nose or throat cancer, he would see some mass or bulge right away and lymph nodes are an easy way to check for those as well, and if you already did a gastroscopy then your fine about any issue inside your throat or esophagus.
Try not worry to much, where are you from by the way ? and what line of work are you in ?
Now that you mention lymph nodes, I know I'm gonna start checking those on my neck haha..that's how my anxiety manifests itself :(
I am from Croatia, working in an IT sector in a pharmaceutical company.
Try not to look too much into it, Lymph Nodes smaller than 1cm are usually considered Normal and doctors don't bother with them, usually give you a course of antibiotics, i doubt you will find any, even if you do most likely they have been there for years and smaller than 1cm, if you had a bigger one you would have felt it a long time ago
spitfire088
15-12-17, 02:24
Apologies to bump an old thread, but I'm having similar issues. Question for the OP, I was wondering if you found the cause and solution to your problem?
Post nasal drip had always been a problem for me, but I wasn't very concerned until around 4 months ago, when I started getting blood clot dripped down to the throat in the morning. It happened around once every couple of 1-2 weeks, the frequency increased to about once every 3 days, and I saw an ENT and got an endoscopy. I got an MRI taken and the report said I have minor sinusitis in my maxillary and splenoid sinuses, also have a minor deviated septum. I was prescribed a 1 week course of antibiotics (Augmentin) which had absolutely no effect, and the same thing continued (a lot of post nasal drip, and blood clot in the morning every 3 days or so).
So I saw a second ENT who also did an endoscopy. He said I have Rhinitis. This one gave me syringe-type nasal irrigation (saline), nasal spray, and some allergy medicine for 1 week. During that one week, all the symptoms seemed to have stopped. I was no longer getting any post nasal drip or the blood clot. Then as soon as I stopped using the nasal irrigation, nasal spray and the medicine after 1 week, I started getting white mucus coming from my nose all the time, then after another week or the mucus that came out from the left side became yellow, while the right side remained white, and the yellow quickly became dark yellow, and very soon after that I got the post nasal drip again. For a day, there was yellow dripping down my throat with some blood in it.
Right now, I'm getting mostly clear post nasal drip with a little bit of yellow, but sometimes accompanied by a tiny blood streak sometimes. I rarely get any discharge from my nose anymore, it's mostly PND. But I no longer get those blood clots though. Still quite concerned as there is still small amounts of blood.
The ENT said he could prescribe another 1 month of nasal irrigation, nasal spray and medicine etc... but the thing is I really would like to find the underlying cost of the symptoms that I'm experiencing and not just rely on the medicine to suppress my condition. Any advice?
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions Inc. All rights reserved.