Why you have bloody, green, yellow or other type and color of the mucus in your nose? Why it continues for weeks or for months?
Mucus is something everyone has, and some individuals want they had a lot less of the stringy, gooey stuff. Sure, it can be gross to blow globs of snot into tissue after tissue when you have a cold or sinus infection, however mucus in fact serves a very important function.
“Mucus is exceptionally important for our bodies,” explains Michael M. Johns III, MD, director of the Emory Voice Center and assistant professor of otolaryngology– head and neck surgery at Emory University. “It is the oil in the engine. Without mucus, the engine takes.”
How much mucus is normal, and how much is too much? What does its color tell you about your health? Can you simply eliminate it, or a minimum of minimize it, and how should you do that? Here are answers.
Why Mucus Is Formed in Nose?
Mucus-producing tissue lines the mouth, nose, sinuses, throat, lungs, and gastrointestinal tract. Mucus serves as a protective blanket over these surfaces, preventing the tissue below from drying out. “You have to keep them damp, otherwise they’ll get dry and fracture, and you’ll have a rift in the armor,” states Neil L. Kao, MD, associate teacher of medication at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine.
Mucus likewise acts as a sort of flypaper, trapping unwanted substances like bacteria and dust before they can enter the body– particularly the sensitive respiratory tracts. “You wish to keep that environment, which is a sterile environment,” free of gunk, states Johns. “Mucus is type of sticky and thick. It’s got viscosity to it that will trap things.”
However mucus is more than simply sticky goo. It also contains antibodies that help the body recognize invaders like bacteria and infections, enzymes that kill the intruders it traps, protein to make the mucus gooey and stringy and extremely unwelcoming, and a variety of cells, to name a few things.
What Causes So Much Mucus in My Nose for Weeks and Months?
Even when you’re healthy, your body is a mucus-making machine, churning out about 1 to 1.5 liters of the things every day. The majority of that mucus drips down your throat and you do not even discover it.
However, there are times when you do notice your mucus– generally not due to the fact that you’re producing more of it, but since its consistency has actually altered.
“Typically, the mucus changes character. It gets thicker,” Johns says. “When it has mass result you feel it, when you feel it, you wish to hock.” Some people just naturally have thicker, stickier mucus than others.
It usually takes a bad cold, allergic reaction, or contact with something annoying– like a plate of nuclear-hot Buffalo wings– to throw your body’s mucus production into overdrive.
For instance, during an allergic reaction to an offending trigger, such as pollen or ragweed, mast cells in your body capture out a compound called histamine, which sets off sneezing, itching, and nasal stuffiness, according to iytmed.com. The tissue of the mucus membranes begins leaking fluid, and your nose begins to run.
Drinking milk may also make some individuals produce more mucus. Kao states that’s due to gustatory rhinitis, a reflex response that’s triggered by eating. Gustatory rhinitis is likewise why your nose runs when you eat hot peppers. Milk proteins cause the same type of reaction in some people. But although you might feel like you have more phlegm, you’re not going to intensify a cold by consuming a glass of milk, Johns states.
