Dear doctor;

I quit smoking in December as a New Year resolution, but now I just can’t seem to completely clear my throat of phlegm. I find my throat gagged all the time and it is now affecting my voice. I am pondering ‘relapsing’ if the cigarettes will help me with this phlegm issue.

Jodi R, 34.

Dear Jodi,

I am happy that you made a healthy resolution and are sticking to it. But it is not clear for how long you have smoked before quitting. Smoking for a long time causes chronic irritation of the respiratory tract including throat, sound box, lungs and air tubes. This is due to smoke and carbon plus thousands of odd chemicals present in cigarette smoke. It also makes one more susceptible to infections.

Due to this a person suffers from chronic cough with phlegm, hoarseness of voice, breathlessness, among others. One may have one or more of these problems. Taking up smoking again will not solve this problem, rather it will aggravate it. Get a throat swab tested to check the type of microbes present in throat  and which antibiotic would be beneficial.

Taking a week or 10 days long course of that antibiotic would be useful in clearing the infection and improving phlegm and hoarseness of voice. Drinking warm water two to three times per day, avoiding cold beverages also would help in curing your problem.