Another potentially helpful sign is the color of your nasal discharge. Unlike colds, which generally produce clear mucus, bacterial infections can produce greenish or yellow mucus.
Brightly colored mucus
People with sinus infections often notice that they cough up green or yellow phlegm, or that the mucus they blow out of their nose is a bright color. Sinusitis causes a lot of mucus production, and a person may find they are unable to clear the sinuses no matter how often they blow their nose.ANSWER: Greenish-gray or yellowish nasal mucus — your health care provider might call it purulent nasal discharge — isn't a sure sign of a bacterial infection, although that is a common myth — even in the medical world. In addition, symptoms due to a bacterial infection often last more than 10 days without improvement.
Is blowing your nose good for a cold? Blowing your nose is better than sniffling mucus back into your head. But make sure you do it the right way. If you blow hard, you'll send germ-carrying phlegm back into your ear passages, which can lead to an earache.
Home Treatments
- Use a humidifier or vaporizer.
- Take long showers or breathe in steam from a pot of warm (but not too hot) water.
- Drink lots of fluids.
- Use a nasal saline spray.
- Try a Neti pot, nasal irrigator, or bulb syringe.
- Place a warm, wet towel on your face.
- Prop yourself up.
- Avoid chlorinated pools.
Antibiotics are not needed for many sinus infections. Most sinus infections usually get better on their own without antibiotics. When antibiotics aren't needed, they won't help you, and their side effects could still cause harm. However, in some cases, antibiotics are needed.
The colour, quantity and consistency of your phlegm are important factors that can indicate whether there may be a problem. White/Clear: This is the normal colour of phlegm. phlegm may be brownish in colour. have an active chest infection.
You can help get rid of it faster by drinking lots of fluids and running a humidifier or vaporizer to help moisten and thin out your phlegm. If your cough lasts more than a month or if you see blood, see your doctor.
Inhaling dangerous substances, like asbestos, can also cause incurable lung disease that leads to brown phlegm. In severe cases, brown mucus can even be a sign of a lung abscess, which is a painful collection of pus that is usually caused by a bacterial infection.
Taking the following actions can help to eliminate excess mucus and phlegm:
- Keeping the air moist.
- Drinking plenty of fluids.
- Applying a warm, wet washcloth to the face.
- Keeping the head elevated.
- Not suppressing a cough.
- Discreetly getting rid of phlegm.
- Using a saline nasal spray or rinse.
- Gargling with salt water.
Brown or black.
Dark-colored mucus can signal an infection. It's also common in heavy smokers or people who are around smoke or coal dust at their job. This type of mucus also shows up in people with chronic lung disease. The color comes from a mix of blood and inflammation in the lungs.When blood from your nasal lining dries, it can mix with the mucus and turn brown. But brown mucus isn't always because of blood. If you're coughing up brown mucus, though, you should see a doctor because this could be a sign of bronchitis.
So, to answer your questions: The phlegm itself isn't toxic or harmful to swallow. Once swallowed, it's digested and absorbed. It isn't recycled intact; your body makes more in the lungs, nose and sinuses. It doesn't prolong your illness or lead to infection or complications in other parts of your body.
Yellow or Green — May indicate an infection, especially if it is thick or clumpy like cottage cheese or has a foul odor. Brown — May happen right after periods, and is just "cleaning out" your vagina. Old blood looks brown. Spotting Blood/Brown Discharge — This may occur when you are ovulating/mid-cycle.
Tuberculosis (TB) is a highly contagious bacterial infection that causes a person's phlegm to turn dark. Other symptoms include chest pain, a persistent cough, and coughing up blood. People with weakened immune systems are especially susceptible to TB.
The color brown often means old blood. You may see this color after your phlegm appears red or pink. Brown phlegm is commonly caused by: Bacterial bronchitis: This condition can produce rusty brown sputum as it progresses. Chronic bronchitis may also be a possibility.
Yellow or green mucus is a sign of a bacterial infection. Brown or orange mucus is sign of dried red blood cells and inflammation (aka a dry nose).
Brown snot may be the result of old blood exiting the body. Or you may have inhaled something red or brown that has discolored your mucus.
The signs and symptoms of lung cancer can take years to develop and they may not appear until the disease is advanced. Symptoms of lung cancer that are in the chest: Coughing, especially if it persists or becomes intense. Coughing up phlegm or mucus, especially if it is tinged with blood.
Symptoms of bacterial sinusitis
- Pressure or pain around the nose, in the forehead, in the cheeks or around the eyes. The pain often gets worse if the affected person bends forward.
- Discolored, thick nasal discharge.
- Decreased sense of smell and ability to taste.
- Stuffy nose.
- Bad breath.
Though they're always at work, you typically only notice the sticky substances when you're sick. Mucus and phlegm are similar, yet different: Mucus is a thinner secretion from your nose and sinuses. Phlegm is thicker and is made by your throat and lungs.
A runny or stuffed-up nose is a pain, but that extra mucus helps your body stay healthy. “Mucus is an important substance the body produces to protect itself from viruses and bacteria,” says Philip Chen, MD, an ear, nose, and throat doctor at the UT Health San Antonio.
When to see your doctor for sinus infection
Make an appointment with your doctor if you have a fever, nasal discharge, congestion, or facial pain that lasts longer than ten days or keeps coming back.
