Waking up every morning with sore throat, hoarse voice?

[UserName20]

A couple of weeks ago I had a sore throat/cold. I still have been having a lot of post nasal drip and I’m really not sure why. Every night when I go to bed ill wake up in the middle of the night with a kinda sore throat and sometimes stuff in the back of my throat. It feels like my mouth is dry or something but there’s mmucus. My voice is hoarse too. After about 30 minutes of being awake it’s better. Throughout the day I seem fine for the most part.. it’s just waking up from sleep. This has been going on for about 4/5 days now and I’m kind of starting to get scared. I’ve read it could be allergies or dry air.. I’ve never really had this problem before though?? Anyone know what this could be or have dealt with this themselves?

[nomorepanic]

I would say it could be because you are breathing with your mouth open at night.

It can't be anything sinister if it goes away in the day.

[Annaboodle]

Everything you describe are symptoms of post nasal drip that you can get sometimes after a cold (I know you mention post nasal drip, but perhaps don't realise how much it irritates your throat, etc). I've had this on and off since October last year as it's just been one bug after another, as is the norm unfortunately (I have kids - one is nursery age). My dad had really bad pretty constant problems with post nasal drip, never got it investigated (because that generation just tended to get on with things and only visit the doc if their leg was having off or similar) and just lived with it and he's still here!

I think something to remind yourself is that something that only happens at one time of day like this is not going to be anything sinister. Anything minor that happens post-cold or flu bug affecting your ears, nose or throat is most likely to be related to that bug you've just had.

[Catherine S]

I've been suffering with the same thing for many weeks now. It started with a slight sore throat and my voice becoming really hoarse and I thought I had a cold coming. The cold never materialised but the hoarseness has stayed.

I asked my doctor about it and has been said here, he suggested it was probably down to sleeping with my mouth open...because of possible sinus issues, which can also cause the problem if nasal gunk runs down into your throat. He also said acid reflux can be a culprit as the stomach acid can rise up and irritate the larynx which can then affect your throat and your voice.

He offered me a steroid nasal spray, but I declined the offer, as knowing it was nothing sinister was good enough and I know that it's likely to be my sinuses, which will settle down in time.

Cath ☺

[Dibbler]

I had had the same symptoms since the new year. I got an appointment with an ENT specialist and when he scored me he saw inflammation and mucous on the back of the larynx. He prescribed Omeprazole which I have been taking. After using those for a month he scoped me again but this time was able to notice a post nasal drip running to one place on the larynx which was covered in mucous.

Each time that I was scoped the specialist asked about my breathing. The first time he asked I was kind of dismissive as just replying "ok" but it is generally always "stuffy" at best. It didn't used to be like that tho, it used to be perfectly clear at best.
The second time I told him about my sinus issues which become chronic very easily when I have a cold.
He told me that with my S shaped deviated Septum my Sinus issues would always be chronic and the post nasal drip always troublesome. He noticed that when using the scope.

He has offered to surgically correct the Septum and hopefully resolve the issue.

Hopefully yours has improved now UserName16

[Emc]

Reflux is another possibility.