#Coughing up tiny balls of mucus skin#

You might not be able to clear it as well as you want. In this case, the sensation is coming from sticky phlegm and mucus hanging in your throat. That’s probably what gives you this globus sensation.Īnother cause of globus might be post-nasal drainage and excessive mucus from allergies. In reaction to that, your throat is going to weep mucus and phlegm. So if acid is frequently coming up as high as your throat in an abnormal way, it’s going to cause injury and incite inflammation in your throat lining. The way your throat lining defends itself against injury like acid is by producing mucus. Most cases of globus are caused by acid reflux. Your stomach acid comes up into your throat and irritates the mucosa, the lining of your throat, which causes a little bit of swelling. The fear gets exaggerated, which is why it was called globus hystericus. They think that perhaps because they smoked a little bit years ago, they might have throat cancer now. A patient may have a friend or relative who died with throat cancer. Oftentimes there’s a cancer phobia that goes with it.

They insist that there’s something there, even when it’s been looked at directly with an endoscope.

#Coughing up tiny balls of mucus skin#

People report there is a sensation of a flap of skin in their throats. Hundreds of patients a year come in with this concern. Feeling that you need to drink more fluids than usual.Perception that your swallowing is impaired.It generally affects adults ages 35 and older. The globus sensation occurs right about the level of your larynx or Adam’s apple. People were understandably anxious that there was something stuck in their throats. I first learned about globus in medical school as something called “globus hystericus ,” which linked it with anxiety. (In fact, “globus” is the Latin word for ball.) The truth is that you don’t. The globus sensation is the persistent feeling that you have a foreign body stuck in your throat, like a pill or even a ball. Fortunately, that question most often has a simple answer: Globus.

Understandably, this sensation can be worrisome and my patients want to know what’s going on. “I can’t swallow it down and I can’t cough it up.” “Doctor, I have a lump in my throat,” they tell me. It’s not uncommon as an otolaryngologist-a doctor who specializes in ailments of the ear, nose and throat (ENT)-to have someone come into my office with this specific complaint.