I (woman, 80 years old) always have mucus in my throat and therefore have to swallow all the time, even at night. I’m on omeprazole but have stopped taking it for now to see if that makes a difference.
Joris Bartstra, journalist with a medical degree.
The problem you describe is mostly psychological. Your nose continuously produces mucus that dust (which is present in the air you breathe) sticks to. The mucus runs through the back wall of the throat to the esophagus and is swallowed. That wonderful cleaning mechanism uses a few liters (!) per day. The moment you become aware of that, you feel that you are swallowing all the time and that there is still ‘something’ there. Then you will swallow again, clear your throat, blow your nose and so on.
This irritates your mucous membranes, making you even more aware. Getting into such a vicious circle sometimes has to do with stress, because with stress all the senses are sharp, so you feel everything that you would not notice otherwise, but it can also occur spontaneously. You need to realize how it works and try to ignore it. If stopping the antacid omeprazole makes any difference, it’s probably negative. If you have a ruptured diaphragm and as a result suffer from heartburn, the upper sphincter tightens, making it less easy to swallow mucus and, moreover, increasing the feeling that ‘something is still there’.
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