NationStates Jolt Archive

I checked out WebMD just now. Because I don't know why after I have dairy products I suddenly develop a lot of saliva in my throat. Sometimes I even feel like throwing up. And my throat feels sorta clogged up with saliva. Hell, when I drink water I feel it having trouble going down. And my throat, good God, the saliva makes me want to spit every few minutes.

And the closest thing I could find to that on WebMD was under severe allergic reactions, "Coughing, wheezing, difficulty breathing, or feeling of fullness in the mouth or throat."

I come to NS to ask you, has this developing problem become an actual problem? Or am I just worrying too much? It's gotten pretty bad over the past 12 months or so.

Dairy products don't usually cause more mucus production, they just make it feel like they do because proteins in the, for instance, milk react with the mucus in saliva and make it thicker. Many people mistake this for increased mucus production.

When it comes to true milk allergy - a rare condition that usually starts in infancy, but can be acquired later in life - it does cause more mucus to be produced (through the action of such substances as histamines and antigen-antibody caused inflammatory responses), but I've never heard of mucus being the only symptom. Usually sufferers have a plethora of other symptoms common in dietary allergies at the same time (sneezing, watery and/or itchy eyes, nasal congestion, wheezing, shortness of breath, skin rashes, eczema, nausea, stomach cramps, lethargy and so on).

Your "condition" doesn't sound much like an allergy to me, but if this problem bothers you a lot, and you want to be reassured, you should see a doctor.

First off; avoid webmd. The info is rather good but it can scare the crap out of you. One thing I looked had 7 of 8 things listing cancer. Turned out it was nothing.

As to allergies. Your dairy issues might be a form of lactose intollerance.

I have it for certain dairy products. Cheese and creame will just about do me in.

What you describe sounds about right. You don't have anything life threating. You are still young. ;)

*edit* off on a tangent....

Try some mild experments and gage your reactions. Avoid what causes the flem buildup. Especially the stuff that makes you sick in the stomach.

But do talk to a Doc

Try some mild experments and gage your reactions. Avoid what causes the flem buildup. Especially the stuff that makes you sick in the stomach.
Sadly, it's chocolate milk that does the worst to me. :(

But do talk to a Doc
$25 and 20 minutes of traffic. Which is why I'd like to make any visit to the doc one that wouldn't be wasted.

Doesn't sound like a milk allergy. Have you tried switching to low or non-fat dairy products? I get the same thing, but the less milk fat the better off I am.

Sadly, it's chocolate milk that does the worst to me. :(

That is just odd because really, how much milk is actually in chocolate milk? At least when compared to plain milk anyway

Hell, when I drink water I feel it having trouble going down. And my throat, good God, the saliva makes me want to spit every few minutes.


Inability to drink water (hydrophobia)? excessive salivation?

My prognosis: RABIES.

I did a report on it in 9th grade, so I know.

If you're lactose intolerant, you might want to try lactaid products - they've got lactase in them to break down the lactose. I've only ever seen the milk form, but there are pills and apparently lactaid cheese and ice cream too. It'd be cheaper than the doctor visit too, and if it works then you save yourself the $25. You've got to buy groceries eventually, don't you?

That is just odd because really, how much milk is actually in chocolate milk? At least when compared to plain milk anyway
Well I wouldn't know. I've never dranken plain milk before. I've never liked it since I could remember and it's just gaggable.

Having a lot of saliva after drinking anything with a lot of sugar in it seems to be normal. Ever noticed that when you drink a soda, milk, or something else with a lot of sugar that you have a little phlegm in your throat? I'm guessing that's what causes extra spit.

As for feeling sick of the stomach, maybe you should stop drinking gallons at a time. :p

Having a lot of saliva after drinking anything with a lot of sugar in it seems to be normal. Ever noticed that when you drink a soda, milk, or something else with a lot of sugar that you have a little phlegm in your throat? I'm guessing that's what causes extra spit.

As for feeling sick of the stomach, maybe you should stop drinking gallons at a time. :p
Nope. I don't feel that with soda. I haven't had soda all day. I'd kill for some water though.

I checked out WebMD just now. Because I don't know why after I have dairy products I suddenly develop a lot of saliva in my throat. Sometimes I even feel like throwing up. And my throat feels sorta clogged up with saliva. Hell, when I drink water I feel it having trouble going down. And my throat, good God, the saliva makes me want to spit every few minutes.

And the closest thing I could find to that on WebMD was under severe allergic reactions, "Coughing, wheezing, difficulty breathing, or feeling of fullness in the mouth or throat."

I come to NS to ask you, has this developing problem become an actual problem? Or am I just worrying too much? It's gotten pretty bad over the past 12 months or so.

I'm no doctor, but you could be lactose-intolerant.

It could be sugar as TSA suggested.

Since a doctor seems to be an issue, you can take the test route.

Take a few days to clean your system by eating rather bland food.

Introduce soda and wait. Try it for a couple days. If you don't have high saliva content. Move to something else.

Don't eat many things as maybe only one sets you off.

I would start with some chocolate based stuff. Chocolate is rather acidic so if you experience acid reflux all the time? Brace yourself. You might have to give it up. Reflux all the time is very bad and will have long term affects if you ignore your body on this.

to add on. Hit submit for some strange reason.

One very simple test would be to drink water for a couple days and then try regular milk. Same type as the chocolate just without the chocolate.

If you still get the sick feeling then it's lactose......

It could be sugar as TSA suggested.

Since a doctor seems to be an issue, you can take the test route.

Take a few days to clean your system by eating rather bland food.

Introduce soda and wait. Try it for a couple days. If you don't have high saliva content. Move to something else.

Don't eat many things as maybe only one sets you off.

I would start with some chocolate based stuff. Chocolate is rather acidic so if you experience acid reflux all the time? Brace yourself. You might have to give it up. Reflux all the time is very bad and will have long term affects if you ignore your body on this.


No, this does not sound like reflux. Believe me, I know. I HAVE reflux, and it sucks like an Electrolux!

Shit...I'm a poet and didn't know it!!

No, in all seriousness, if you have reflux, YOU KNOW IT. If you do not wake up in the middle of the night gagging and choking on a mouthful of pure stomach acid, then you do not have reflux. and that shit BURNS when it comes all the way up like that. Your mouth and nose and thraot feel like they are on fire, and you have all you can do to start breathing again, at first.

In my case, it is even worse, since I also have sleep apnea, and require a CPAP machine to sleep at night. Yeah, I gotta put on the spacesuit before I can go to sleep. i've thought about having the soft-palate surgery, but I have heard that, in some cases, this does not help, and can, in fact, make the problem worse.

But enough about me. This thread wasn't about me. But I did want to point out that the symptoms described by the OP in no way resemble Reflux. I really think the OP will find that they have likely developed lactose intolerance, or some form of dairy allergy. This can be acquired later in life, you are not necessarily born this way.

I like best the recommendation given about eating a bunch of bland sort of food and drinking nothing but water for a day or two, to flush out the system...and then try introducing items that you suspect may be causing your problem...and see what happens.

By the way, if you go that route, keep a journal of what you ate, and what reactions you had to it. your doctor will find such information valuable, and it is better to write it down when it happens, rather than rely on memory later. The sooner you and your doctor can pin down the cause of your symptoms, the sooner you can eliminate such foods from your diet, or start treatment for whatever is causing these symptoms...certainly, a journal like I described will be helpful to your doctor in arriving at a correct diagnosis.

Good luck!

ON EDIT: Incidentally, I started out on Prilosec, back when it was still a prescription, and not OTC, like it is now. I still use Prilosec OTC, and it does help, in the short term, for more severe outbreaks of reflux. For the most part, since I have no medical insurance, I try, with some success, to control my reflux through diet...and the way I did this was to keep a journal, just as I suggested to the OP. I discovered some foods that set me off that I did not suspect. There were, of course, some OBVIOUS set-off foods, like tomato dishes, lemonade, orange juice...things with a lot of concentrated acid...that was to be expected. But I also discovered that WHEAT did it to me, too! I was fine on white bread, but try wheat bread, and there went Old Burning Faithful!!

My point in adding this is that you, the OP, may end up very surprised to find some of the foods that may cause this reaction in you, it may be a completely unexpected source.

First off; avoid webmd. The info is rather good but it can scare the crap out of you. One thing I looked had 7 of 8 things listing cancer. Turned out it was nothing. (snip)

But do talk to a Doc

Actually, WebMD can be a good tool to use, but you can't let your imagination go wild, either. WebMD helped me to arrive at the conclusion that I likely had sleep apnea, and it turned out to be a correct diagnosis.

I fed into WebMD my symptoms, and two possible diagnoses came back. One was sleep apnea, which turned out correct. The other was narcolepsy. I was pretty much at the top of the age curve for normal onset of narcolepsy, so I didn't think it could be narcolepsy. Meanwhile, I was a bit low in the age curve for onset of apnea. Though I'd heard of younger people than me developing apnea.

At this time, I did have health insurance, and so, I went to my doctor, and came right out telling him I believed I had sleep apnea, and requested to be sent for a sleep study. He asked my symptoms, and then agreed with me, and sent me for the study. My insurance paid for it, and later, also paid for the CPAP machine (I'm so glad they paid for the machine while I still HAD insurance, because now I OWN the machine!!)

But I never would have gotten that far if not for WebMD. My point is, WebMD is a tool and it can be used to help point you in the right direction, but you can't go running wild with it, either, because it really CAN scare the crap out of you. I recommend WebMD to be used only by people who have some ability to weigh the likelihood of what WebMD spits back at you, and go with the most likely diagnosis, and then follow that up, if necessary, with a doctor's appointment. WebMD is DEFINITELY not for hypochondriacs!

I checked out WebMD just now. Because I don't know why after I have dairy products I suddenly develop a lot of saliva in my throat. Sometimes I even feel like throwing up. And my throat feels sorta clogged up with saliva. Hell, when I drink water I feel it having trouble going down. And my throat, good God, the saliva makes me want to spit every few minutes.

And the closest thing I could find to that on WebMD was under severe allergic reactions, "Coughing, wheezing, difficulty breathing, or feeling of fullness in the mouth or throat."

I come to NS to ask you, has this developing problem become an actual problem? Or am I just worrying too much? It's gotten pretty bad over the past 12 months or so.

Not a nasty side-effect of some medication you are taking?

I checked out WebMD just now. Because I don't know why after I have dairy products I suddenly develop a lot of saliva in my throat. Sometimes I even feel like throwing up. And my throat feels sorta clogged up with saliva. Hell, when I drink water I feel it having trouble going down. And my throat, good God, the saliva makes me want to spit every few minutes.

And the closest thing I could find to that on WebMD was under severe allergic reactions, "Coughing, wheezing, difficulty breathing, or feeling of fullness in the mouth or throat."

I come to NS to ask you, has this developing problem become an actual problem? Or am I just worrying too much? It's gotten pretty bad over the past 12 months or so.

First, it's probably not a good idea to go to the nations states forum for medical advice.

Second, I am appauled at the ignorance of the "advice" people are giving you in here. Your limited description of your reaction sounds tremendously like an allergic reaction. Allergic reactions to food can take on many forms, typically involving some form of irritation in the throat. The reason that it feels like you have trouble swallowing is likely because your esophagus is swelling in reaction to the milk. This condition can be life-threatening, as the swelling can obstruct your air passage way.

The notion that this is in any way related to lactose intolerance is a farce. Lactose intolerance refers to a body's disinclination to digest the sugar lactose. This could well be the cause of your nausea, but is not likely to explain the sensation you feel in your throat.

Something else that you may want to ask yourself is whether you react to other foods that may have milk in them. If you make pancakes with milk, do you have a problem?

Don't forget that allergys can develop late in life, so the fact that you weren't always allergic to milk isn't decisive.

But even if you're not "allergic" to milk, if it makes you sick, why continue to drink it?

Be aware that I am not a doctor, but am speaking only from my own experience and unprofessional knowledge. I am not licensed nor capable of making medical diagnoses, and my information should not be relied on in any way. Medical advice should only be given by a trained and licensed health care professional.

I have the exact same symptoms, at certain timews of the year (that's a big clue). It is simply some allgery in general - in my case, grass pollen. Causes the throat to constrict, the saliva glands to work over-time, to the point that I am either swwallowing or spitting up big wads of the stuff - and makes me feel naucious, particularly in the morning after drinking coffee.

First, it's probably not a good idea to go to the nations states forum for medical advice.

Second, I am appauled at the ignorance of the "advice" people are giving you in here. Your limited description of your reaction sounds tremendously like an allergic reaction. Allergic reactions to food can take on many forms, typically involving some form of irritation in the throat. The reason that it feels like you have trouble swallowing is likely because your esophagus is swelling in reaction to the milk. This condition can be life-threatening, as the swelling can obstruct your air passage way.

The notion that this is in any way related to lactose intolerance is a farce. Lactose intolerance refers to a body's disinclination to digest the sugar lactose. This could well be the cause of your nausea, but is not likely to explain the sensation you feel in your throat.

Something else that you may want to ask yourself is whether you react to other foods that may have milk in them. If you make pancakes with milk, do you have a problem?

Don't forget that allergys can develop late in life, so the fact that you weren't always allergic to milk isn't decisive.

But even if you're not "allergic" to milk, if it makes you sick, why continue to drink it?

Be aware that I am not a doctor, but am speaking only from my own experience and unprofessional knowledge. I am not licensed nor capable of making medical diagnoses, and my information should not be relied on in any way. Medical advice should only be given by a trained and licensed health care professional.

Well, I dunno....I prefaced my own suggestion by saying I wasn't a doctor, and recommending that he see one. I also made the suggestion about keeping a journal of what he ate, and what reaction it caused, for his doctor, to help them arrive at a correct diagnosis. For a non-medical profefessional, I thought my advice was pretty good. I also pointed out, and I think, quite accurately, that there was no way in HELL that this was reflux, which was suggested by someone else.

Now, i'll agree, having no medical training...and no personal experience with it...I know little about lactose intolerance. This was merely a suggestion. And I said as much. I think, overall, my advice about keeping a journal, and then going to the doctor was, on the whole, pretty GOOD advice. But I agree that coming on the NS Forum asking for medical advice is probably not the best place to go looking for medical advice. That said, I still think my advice was fairly sound. But, again, I'm no doctor, and never claimed to be.

Never trust homeopathic (There's a good chance I spelled that wrong) medicine selling people. One was convinced I was allergic to tomatoes, and told me to take a small amount of brandy a day. It turns out I actually had some stomach bug and I'm allergic to brandy. My throat closed up when I had it, and I found it hard to talk or eat. It was incredibly painful.