Catarrh - I don't know if this is also your experience but I have a build up of this if I take any cow's milk products. Switching to

[bigmama53]

goat's milk seems to have solved it. Otherwise I'd have to sit up to swallow thus resulting in interrupted sleep.

[bigmama53]

I found this article in the Female section o the Daily Mail today on line:

What will cure my catarrh?

The production of catarrh or mucus at the back of the throat can often be related to an infection such as a cold or flu.

However, the fact that your symptoms are present most of the time would tend to suggest that your problem is related to some other factor.

In practice, persistent symptoms of excess catarrh is quite often caused by a reaction to specific foods. Such reactions to food tend to come on gradually and can develop at any age.

Certain foods are renowned for their mucus-forming ability. Of these, dairy products are the most common culprits.

You say you are avoiding dairy products. It is not clear whether you have completely eliminated them from the diet, or if you are still consuming them, even in small quantities.

If you have not done so already, I do recommend that you eliminate all dairy products based on cow's milk (except butter) for a period of three weeks to see what effect this has.

If this improves your symptoms, add different foods back into your diet every two or three days to see which cause a return of the catarrh. Rice milk (available in health foods stores) makes a good alternative to cow's milk.

Whilst just about any food can give rise to mucus secretion, perhaps the next most common problem is wheat. Wheat is found in a wide range of foods including bread, pasta, pastries, biscuits, cakes and many breakfast cereals.

Eliminating these foods for a period may also help to clear your catarrh problem. In order to help pinpoint the foods to which you are sensitive, it can be worthwhile having some form of testing. The type of testing available in many health foods stores (Vega testing) is quick, economical and can yield useful results.

Another approach you might like to try is to take something which might help to 'loosen' the catarrh. Some people find that it is not the amount of the mucus that forms, but the fact that it is sticky and difficult to clear.

Steam inhalations (you might like to add some eucalyptus oil to the water) may help you clear the catarrh. Also, you might benefit from the supplement N-acetyl cysteine. This derivative of the amino acid cysteine has the ability to break down mucus, making it less troublesome and easier to clear from the system. Take 250 - 500 mg, twice a day.

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