Thick mucus blocking airway can't cough up

[Marie89]

I've had a cold the last few days and have developed a mucus cough. The mucus feels very thick in my chest and something really scary has happened twice today and is causing me a lot of anxiety. This afternoon I started coughing but the mucus wouldn't come up and got trapped at the bottom of my throat causing me to struggle to breathe and feel like I was choking, felt like I was gagging and my eyes started streaming. I drank some water which helped a bit and I could breath better but the mucus was still stuck, felt like a big lump on my throat and I lost my voice for about half an hour until I managed to cough again and it went back down. Then just before the same thing happened again. I'm really scared as my chest feels very congested and I can't bring the mucus up. Im drinking hot water to try loosen it and also gargling hot water. When I gargle my throat makes this weird kind of squeeky noise. This is so scary as never had it like this before and scared to cough too much in case it gets stuck. I'll go to pharmacist tomorrow but really worried about tonight and sleeping. Is this normal. Had anyone else had this? I've had mucus coughs before but never like this.

[shazbog]

i’m exactly the same at the moment - felt tired with sore neck early last week - no real cold symptoms but friday/saturday got lots of thick mucus in throat constantly and now have most awful wet cough too and just doesn’t shift - guessing some kind of virus

[Fishmanpa]

Try some OTC remedies including Musinex and cold meds and see if that helps.

FMP

[ankietyjoe]

Yeah I've had this before a couple of times. It's actually best to go and get it checked by the Doctor just to rule out an infection moving down into the lungs. I'm not suggesting AT ALL that this is happening, but this is one of the few cases where I think medical advice is merited.

However, I have had similar mucus attacks before where if felt exactly as you're describing. I was convinced I had pneumonia, my breathing was laboured, I was wheezing and rasping and constantly coughing. Doctor took one listen and told me to go home and rest.

Try not to cough it up too much. The more you do that, the more you'll irritate the airway, the more mucus will be generated. Best remedy is hydration, steam inhalation and rest. Also avoid dairy as that's likely to promote more mucus production.

When you sleep, try and sleep with your head slightly elevated.