Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere. My husband is having the usual terrible time with build up of phlegm. He is up every hour around the clock trying to clear his throat (making that terrible sound that men make in the morning that I can't reproduce in writing!). He is drinking water around the clock to try to address the phlegm. The problem is that he has been intermittently throwing up when he tries to clear his throat. Last night he had just finished 5 cartons of feed through the tube via the pump, got up to clear his throat, and threw it all up. He is not getting enough calories a day as it is so this is a worry.

My questions are: how have people successfully dealt with the phlegm without throwing up, and, is there a brand of tube feed that does not cause a lot of phlegm? We read online that soy, which is the basis for the brand he has (Fibersource HN) can cause a lot of phlegm.

We have a call in to the dietician but I really value the wisdom and experience of this group since everyone has been through this. Thank you very much!!

Randi

After doing a feeding the patient should sit upright and still for a good hour. This will help to ensure the formula stays down.

Im not sure where your husband is with his treatments so the advice could greatly vary. If he is in the middle of treatments ask the nurse to use their suction machine to get rid of the phleghm. Its short term but it helps quite a bit. You can also get a portable suction machine to use at home thru a prescription to a medical supply company.

Using a water pik with some mouthwash to help get rid of the mucous helps. Drinking lots of water to thin the mucous and rinsing/drinking seltzer water all will help.

Good luck!!

He is about 2/3 way through treatment. I'll suggest he wait an hour after doing the tube feeding before attempting to clear his throat - good suggestion and thank you!! He's drinking and rinsing every hour. I'm wondering if the suction would make him throw up but we will ask the nurse about this today. Thanks!

I experienced the same thing for about 2-3 weeks. After a day or two my stomach got so easily upset by any attempt of me trying to hack the phlegm out that I booted almost every attempt. It unfortunately took almost no effort to get the gag reflex going.

Soda Water/Club Soda/Ginger Ale provided some relief. Also you could try to space out the feeding to one can every 1.5 hours. Less chance of booting up a whole meal that way. I was using 8-9 cans of formula per day for ~2400-2700 Cals.

All I can say is it sucks but it will get better.

Thank you Brian! I will pass this along to him. He'll be relieved to hear it passes!

Try a waterpik (at this point I should be getting profit sharing from the company)

I was in the same boat. I had mega phlegm. I would gag on it then vomit because I had a delicate gag reflex.

Tell him to sleep on his side mouth slightly open if he can - I used to put a face cloth on the pillow that way the phlegm didn't pool. I had a glass nearby and I would spit into it when I had accumulated a fair amount.. (gross I know but I hate vomiting so this helped - I was determined not to puke up nutrition that I worked so painfully hard to get down) I had a thing of paper towels nearby too - to spit into and discard.

The waterpik - they have a deluxe version with a tongue cleaner that looks like a spoon. Use lukewarm water - or even the salt water mixture, and fill the tank, on the lowest setting, with the tongue cleaner in place he can shoot the water around his mouth and clean out the guk. It worked like a charm and kept my mouth clean for a bit. I would also occasionally add a little alcohol free mouthwash to freshen. Hopefully this helps.

Hugs.

Sleeping on an incline also helps. Some use mucenex, robutusm to reduce mucus. Good luck.

Randi, I too am on Fibersource HN and dont have any unusual problem with mucous from it. In my case I have found that dry mouth and throat make it very difficult to clear the throat so swish and spitting a little water helps (I cannot swallow). Using decongestants is a mixed bag - it can reduce the mucous but drys out the throat. That seems like a lot of food all at once - I only take 1 1/2 containers per feeding (but I use the bolus method). With a pump, you might talk to the dietician about reducing the flow rate a little. as others have said, hydration is very important here as well.

I bought a couple packs of emesis bags on Amazon.com. They are the tried and true puke bags they will hand you at a medical facility if you are nauseous. I used it more as a phlegm collector but they are about a liter in capacity in case the phlegm causes vomiting. Price varies a lot but I found 24-packs of the blue ones for under $15. They are very compact and unused ones fit easily in a pocket. I still have a couple stashed in the glove box just in case.

Awesome... I was a fantastic spitter by the end of treatment ;o)