The air in your room might be dry. When the air in my room is dry I have this problem. All I can say is try to keep moisture in your room a humidifier would help with that. To be on the safe side go see your doctor there might be infection in your throat.

i had the exact same thing happen to me. I was wondering if you ever figured out what it was?

Thanks
t

Hi there,
if you are still interested to know what is the cause of what you called ' hard mucus'.

I had and still experience the same from time to time. I was told that are residue of food which are gathered in some holes on the throat.. Mine are visible... If you check your throat with a flashlight and say: aaaahhh you might be able to see them.. Especially when they are filled with food residues.

The bad smell these 'things' have is therefore self explanatory.

Now.. From time to time when I have the feeling of a full throat.. I squeeze it with my index finger and manage to get rid of the ' hard mucus' and feel fine again.

Ciao

These are called tonsilliths or tonsil stones - just google these terms and a lot of info will come up.

They are annoying but harmless from what I gather, they are bacteria that builds up on itself inside of your tonsils.

I freaked out the other night when I felt this hard lump on the side of my throat and soon found lots of these "stones" in my tonsil.

I am being super vigilant now - they can cause bad breath and are really gross!

I hope this helps.

i have been told the same thing only the doctor added that drainage from the nasal cavity can be the cause. They are gross. I was in the middle of kissing my boyfriend and I caughed up 3 at one time last night. Funny huh?

I'm so glad i'm not the only one who has these so called "tonsil stones" my ent doctor has proven to be completly useless, at first he claimed the bits were food as well, which made no sense to me seeing as how the "stones" have always been the exact same shape, color, and size and obviously the food i'm eating is not! He then proceeded to tell me that it's hard mucus which makes sense but couldn't tell me how to stop it but that it was most likely the dry air causing it (it was winter at the time) but I then travelled to thailand for 5 monthes which is one of the most moist places on earth and I still had the same problem.

After dealing with this for almost 2 years i've learnt that you can extract these little things on your own so that you don't get any nasty suprises! If you take a q-tip and press on either sides of the opening to the gland you can push them out quite easily- sounds gross, and it is! But it works and if you're ever having a sore throat chances are this is your answer, just push those little guys out, gargle, and you'll most likely be better! I learnt this after having taken numerous different types of antibiotics over the span of a year or two, which is most likely going to damage my immune system for the future unfortunately!

Have fun!

Hi people:)
The gross "yellow stones" that you are coughing up is bacteria or pus and it is caused by some sort of infection...usually tonsilitis or something of that nature. Nine times out of ten if you are coughing up these little stones you would suffer from tonsilitis.....signs of tonsilitis would be the sore throat, swollen glands, possible fever and things of this nature....yes they are gross, and they can be coughed up....it's best to cough them up as opposed to go "digging" for treasure....you could cause more harm then good by sticking any type of objects into your throat The little home remedies of gargling salt and water will work only for a little while then it is right back to the drawing board....good luck.....I had the same problems before I had my tonsils removed

Nicole

Hi i have these all the time and wondered what they were. Ive had them since i was 7 years old. My mum took me to the docs thinking that i was coughing these things up from my lungs. I had a real bad case of neumonia (soz spelling) when i was 6 and thought this might have something to do with it. SO there i was 7 years old having xrays on my lungs with docs thinking i had TB, chest xrays came back clear and nobody ever found out what they were untill now 13 years on. Yes it is a build up of hard mucus in the throat hehe. PANIC OVER!
xxx

I have been trying to figure out what these little things were for the past 3 or 4 months i've been getting them...thanks to all the honest feedback i am no longer worried and going to try some of the home remedies ; )

so here is my twist. I seem to be having the same things, except I do not have tonsils...I had mine removed over three years ago...
any insight?

I get these from time to time and it’s really annoying! It usually lasts for a couple of weeks once or twice a year and while it does I’m forever coughing and trying to bring them up (only ever one at a time for me). It seems to be when I have a cold or bad hay fever.
The NHS website suggests gargling with soluble aspirin so I’ll try that as a preventative measure.
I’m open to any other ideas out there and I’ll let you know how I get on with the aspirin.

thought it was only me. cant get them out by coughing tho, and cant push em out neither coz i start gaggin. has anybody experianced really bad itching, felt within the ear also????

my throat is killing me and finding it hard to swallow..i can eat and drink sometimes it feels manageable then other times i have to spit out the saliva so i don't swallow, every morning and through the night i wake up with an extreme dry throat and tastes foul. but i do not get dry throat during the day just at night. I have just had glandular fever, and although sore throat was a symptom the dry throat did not occur until 3 weeks after the glandular went away and the sore throat has only just returned as well. anyone have any ideas?

I have this same problem. For lack of better way to describe it I call it "passing a buggar". This starts with a very uncomfortable, but not exactly painful, sore throat at the back of my nasal cavity in my throat and sometimes itching inside of my ears accompanies this...happens several times a year and I have checked the pollen count and it is usually quite high when I get this. I live in Florida so it is hard to tell if this is really the problem or not, although I can't remember having this when I lived up north over 15 years ago. Anyway, for those who mentioned tonsils, I had my tonsils taken out at age 7, so I'm quite certain this has nothing to do with the problem. These slimy buggars are very difficult to cough it out, but when it finally decides to "move" it finally passes into the mouth and then I spit it into a napkin or wherever I can run (if I'm in public when it happens)... Really gross this semi-hard yellow clot of mucous. Sometimes it doesn't "move" and I have to try my best to force it out, hoping nobody is around to hear me as I snort and blow and make all kinds of gurgling noises with my throat and mouth trying to get it to dislodge from the back of my nasal cavity. When it finally comes out, it is quite a relief. Anybody have any solutions to getting these things extracted in a more lady-like manner than how I've just described? And, does anybody know yet what really causes this? I need relief now!

Im in the same boat, but it tends to be fairly frequent that I experience it. I spend a lot of time trying to minipulate my tongue to work it up my throat which eventually is successful but sometimes takes ages and inflames my tonsils in the process. Im paranoid that my breathe smells which I think it frequently doe's, I brush my tongue as far back as possible but Im yet to find a decent solution. ????

Wow, I don't feel like such a freak now as I know I am not the only one. I am often having trouble with breathing through my nose, and the hard mucus problem comes at that time. I have been suffering with this problem for a couple of years at least. My doctor put me on a nasal spray (I think it had a small amount of steroids) which cost $68 for about 18mL. It didn't seem to work that well so I never bothered with it again and am still suffering. Augghhh.

Hey all,

For many years I had this problem and wondered what the heck it was. After doing online research a couple years ago, I also found out they're tonsil stones. Almost every symptom in these posts (I've read them all), I have had at some point, and attribute them all to tonsil stones.

I used to get bronchitis and sore throats a lot as a teenager and into my early 20s (I'm 26 now), and saw doctors a lot. I had specifically asked to have my tonsils removed and was told it may be entirely pointless, seeing as they can grow back. I'm glad I didn't because I think it would have been pointless for me, because I no longer have such a problem with either sore throats OR bronchitis. I also read an article stating that young females who have recurring bronchitis can often grow out of it by their mid-20s, and lo and behold, I seem to have done just that. A bit of hope for anyone with the same problem.

Back to the tonsil stones. I can feel the sore throat coming and I often know when they are ready to come out. I try my best to manipulate my tongue/throat, being sure not to over-aggravate my throat (then it'll just hurt more!). For me, it's a feeling similar to trying to get out phlegm from a deep part of my throat. As soon as I feel the beginnings of a sore throat, I spray with Chloraseptic (antiseptic throat spray), being sure to hold my mouth in a way to reach as much into my tonsil area as possible (the area between the two flaps on each side of your mouth). Instead of swallowing the spray (you can, if you want, but watch the dosage), I spit it out, so I'm not really ingesting much. That way, if in an hour it starts hurting again, I can spray another couple times without overdosing. This stuff comes in mint flavours as well, so it also helps with the fear of having really bad breath from the stones. I keep that up until I get better, and, if it's caught early, it won't develop into anything too bad.

Good luck, be well, and hope this helps!

I had a feeling of pressure and a small swelling between my nose and right eye that lasted a few days. When I pushed lightly on the bump it popped through in to my upper nose and I blew it out on to a hanky. It was waxy and beige in colour. This has happened three times before in the last five years. Should I be concerned? There was no pain and no infection, the mass didn't have an odor.