Sticky Sensation in the Throat
Simple Benign Causes and Dangerous Causes
- Part 2 -

JC Sanasam *

Throat anatomy diagram :: Pix - Indolences / Wikipedia.org

When a person has developed a sticky sensation or a lump-sensation in the throat or has had such symptom for quite some time and comes to the doctor, the commonest assertion or complaint he makes is that he has got pharyngitis or tonsils or has had a fish-bone stuck in; added to that, the person would often say he had already gone to other doctors who gave treatment for pharyngitis or tonsils but he has not got any relief. He even would go on to say that he most probably has developed throat cancer because he has had this problem for quite some time.

The doctor would examine the throat, and most likely there would be no specific or significant finding to call it pharyngitis or tonsillitis or foreign body in the throat or any kind of cancer. At most there may be some mucus or thick mucoid fluid trickling down from behind the uvula or the soft palate. Perhaps the doctors who had examined previously also did not find any clinical sign to label it as pharyngitis or tonsillitis; but they had diagnosed it for pharyngitis or tonsillitis just because there was a throat symptom, a discomfort related to the throat or pharynx, hence the diagnosis.

The word pharyngitis means 'inflammation of the pharynx or the throat'; and tonsillitis, that of the tonsils, which are normally present at the sides of the orophaynx i.e. the oral part of the pharynx. For such cases many doctors without examination even prescribe medicines like throat gargles or throat lozenges and pain killer with or without antibiotics in the line of treatment for pharyngitis and/or tonsillitis. The term pharyngitis or tonsils have become more than a layman's term now-a-days and the majority of such patients usually would have had treated themselves before they come to the doctor especially when doubts have started to arise if it could be some type of cancer.

In fact such a discomfort is very often caused by the unusual presence of some fluid, pathological or even physiological (a normal manifestation of the organ function) that comes out due to inflammation or allergy or kind of traumatic effect after a long surface-journey; blast of dust, wind, rain, or at the end of a stressful day etc. in the nose or sinuses or nasopharynx (the space behind the nose but above the palate).

The natural course of the naso-muco-ciliary fluid (this normal physiological fluid-secretion from the nose and adjacent areas as mentioned above in the upper respiratory tract) is through the nasopharynx and then into the laryngopharynx (the continued hollow cavity further down the oral cavity), down through the esophagus (the swallowing muscular pipe) and finally into the stomach. Under conditions of irritation of these areas like the nose, sinuses or nasopharynx this secretion becomes abnormal, copious and heavy and the fluid also contains chemicals that produce discomfort to the membrane covering these areas located in the natural course of its flow further down.

In cases of acute conditions or chronic severe affections this fluid becomes extra heavy to overflow and then it usually comes out in front as nasal discharge or the 'nup'. But when it is in a subclinical condition or chronic but not severe a disorder, the reactive secretion takes its normal course to go further down into the pharynx, esophagus and stomach.

In fact the name of such a disorder should have been 'Reactive Naso-muco-ciliary Drip Disease or disorder (NMCDD) which the writer adopts for such patients. That is why the treatment in the line for pharyngitis or tonsillitis in such cases does not give relief until and unless we do something to do away with the disorder of the original site like the nose or sinuses or the nasopharynx or elsewhere.

Elsewhere, because such a symptom can be the result from other disorders like Laryngeal Reflux Disease (LRD), Thyroiditis or other thyroid disorders, cervical spine disorders and a few uncommon ones like the Plummer Vinson Syndrome.

A very common disorder of the nose to produce such a throat discomfort is Deviated Nasal Septum (DNS), or Septal spurs - condition where the midline partition-wall of the nasal cavity to make it into the right and left nostrils is not straight, rather deviated or deflected, or where there is a small platform-like horizontal side projection or precipice on the right or left wall of this septum.

The mechanism how such a symptom is produced in such a condition is the same; i.e. when such a spur is present the nose on that particular side or both sides, quite often, is or are obstructed. This obstruction of respiratory air produces anoxia (lack of oxygen) to the cells of the membrane of the nasal cavity and they become irritated to finally produce angry secretions; hence the symptom.

In case of a Laryngeal Reflux Disease (LRD) the sticky sensation is at a level a little down in the throat and is associated with a burning sensation stretching down in the chest; more so every time the patient swallows saliva.

If it is due to thyroiditis or thyroid disorders the sticky sensation is often associated with a prick-sensation inside one or both ears because of correlated nerve supply (like correlated electric wires) and here again it will be more so when the patient swallows saliva.

Such patients would say they do not have any pain or discomfort while swallowing food or drinking water; rather they feel the discomfort only when they swallow saliva. If it is a disorder of the pharynx or tonsil there would definitely be more pain or discomfort in swallowing food or drinking water. Moreover there will naturally be concurrent symptoms like those of influenza with fever or if not concurrent there will be history of frequent influenza-like symptoms.

An important caution patients with such symptoms as well as doctors attending such patients should take is to exclude cancer of nasopharynx or laryngopharynx or thyroid without losing time and chances especially if the patient is above 25 years of age and if the sticky sensation in the throat is persistently progressive for more than 15 days of duration. This should be a well-kept message.