What causes gray sputum

As the saying goes, diseases come from the mouth. Whether eating, talking or breathing, a large number of bacteria will invade our oral area. Especially during the change of seasons, the invasion of cold air is more likely to cause bacterial infection of the respiratory tract, resulting in symptoms such as coughing, sputum, cold and fever. Normal sputum is a yellow, thick substance. When the sputum appears gray, you should consider the possibility of chronic pharyngitis.

If chronic pharyngitis is not treated in time, it can easily lead to a variety of complications and cause great harm.

The first harm of chronic pharyngitis: Chronic pharyngitis leads to a decrease in the resistance of the pharynx. When the climate changes from cold to hot, dry to wet, the warming and humidifying regulatory functions of the mucosa are weakened, the ciliary activity and decomposition and phagocytic functions are insufficient, and bacteria and viruses are easily retained and multiplied locally, becoming lesions of chronic infection. Therefore, these patients are prone to catching colds, which can cause acute attacks of pharyngitis. The infection and inflammation of the pharynx spreads to other systems and may be complicated by chronic laryngitis, chronic trachea and bronchitis, nephritis, heart disease, etc.; long-term inflammatory secretions are swallowed into the stomach, which can cause indigestion, esophagitis, gastritis, and enteritis; toxin absorption can cause dizziness, headache, fatigue, loss of energy, weight loss, low fever and other systemic reactions.

The second harm of chronic pharyngitis: It can develop downward and invade the lower respiratory tract such as the larynx and trachea, causing acute laryngitis, tracheitis, bronchitis and pneumonia; if pathogenic bacteria and toxins invade the blood circulation, it can cause systemic complications such as acute nephritis, sepsis, rheumatism, etc., which are extremely harmful to the body.

Systemic toxic reactions such as chronic pharyngitis three: in the acute pharyngitis, systemic toxicity reactions such as generating heat, being afraid of cold, headache, body aches, poor appetite, dry stool and xerostomia may also occur except that pharyngalgia. When there is a bacterial infection, the number of white blood cells in the blood increases. If the throat pain is severe, it will affect swallowing and cause nutritional and metabolic disorders in the body. If not treated promptly or recurring, it may become chronic. If the infection spreads upward and affects the ears and nose, it can lead to acute rhinitis, sinusitis, and acute otitis media.

The fourth harm of chronic pharyngitis: People with chronic pharyngitis often feel discomfort in the throat. If they get cold, tired, talk a lot, or don’t drink water for a long time, they will feel worse pain and burning in the throat. The itchy throat causes bursts of irritating coughs, which affects their rest. If it is dry or atrophic pharyngitis, the throat will be obviously dry, and it will be difficult to speak and swallow saliva. You need to drink water frequently to moisten the throat, and you may even need to get up several times at night to drink water. However, it can only temporarily relieve the symptoms, and the throat will soon feel dry again. Some people need soup to swallow dry and hard food when eating.

The fifth harm of chronic pharyngitis: Some patients experience a foreign body sensation in the throat, and often make grunting and swallowing movements in the hope of expelling the foreign body. However, these ineffective throat clearing movements can only aggravate the original discomfort. The patient then suspects that he has a tumor in his pharynx, throat or esophagus, which causes a heavy mental burden and depression. Some people snore during sleep due to thickening of the pharyngeal mucosa, which affects breathing. The retention of inflammatory secretions and bacteria can cause bad breath, which not only affects others but also causes great distress to the patient himself.