DEAR DR. ROACH: I’m an 103-year-old lady with a medical downside that I hope you possibly can assist me with. I cough up plenty of mucus day-after-day, which is obvious with no discoloration. The cough can begin at anytime, however it’s extra prevalent at night time. The mucus begins with the cough and may final anyplace from 15-Half-hour or extra.I don’t know the place the mucus is coming from and was questioning in the event you had any ideas. My chest X-ray was regular, and my physician mentioned every thing is obvious. — R.S.ANSWER: The mucus must be coming from above (such because the nostril and sinuses) or under (normally the lungs and infrequently the digestive tract). When you had different signs pointing someway, that would assist.For instance, in the event you had plenty of nasal discharge, this may make post-nasal drip extra doubtless. Nonetheless, in the event you had a historical past of smoking or wheezing, this may make the lungs a possible trigger, even with a traditional chest X-ray. Lastly, signs of heartburn would make reflux illness a powerful suspect for mucus manufacturing.There are assessments — resembling CT scans, pulmonary perform assessments and endoscopies — that may assist make the analysis, however usually in older folks, we strive medicines as a diagnostic problem. An antihistamine for per week is fairly secure, and if it helps significantly, the post-nasal drip turns into the doubtless perpetrator. Equally, an inhaler or a medication to cease acid secretion may result in enchancment immediately.I’d suggest one other go to along with your physician, because the X-ray didn’t result in the analysis. It’s time to strive one thing new.DEAR DR. ROACH: I’m a 68-year-old man in good well being. Final 12 months, the persistent numbness in my left thigh changed into a debilitating ache nearly in a single day. I couldn’t stroll 10 toes. An MRI confirmed a disc protrusion, doubtless an extruded disc fragment on the L3-L4 degree, and a diskectomy was scheduled.For the reason that ache went away, I sought a second opinion as a substitute of surgical procedure. A second MRI six months later confirmed that the fragment was gone, apparently absorbed by the physique. The ache is essentially gone. Nonetheless, the numbness in my left thigh and leg stays. Is there any method to remedy this numbness with out surgical procedure? — O.V.ANSWER: I’m undecided if the unique persistent numbness was a part of the herniated disk or not. If the numbness has been because of compression on the nerve, then relieving the strain on the nerve tends to alleviate the numbness. Sadly, if the strain was current on the nerve for a very long time, there’s a probability of long-lasting and even everlasting nerve harm.I’ve actually seen numbness that doesn’t go away after the strain has been relieved, whether or not by surgical procedure or by the physique reabsorbing the disk materials, which is frequent. My expertise is that after a 12 months, it’s unlikely to get a lot better.Nonetheless, you may need had a distinct cause for persistent numbness that had nothing to do with the disks. Persistent thigh numbness offers me suspicions a few situation referred to as meralgia paresthetica, which is attributable to strain on a peripheral nerve. A neurologist or ache drugs specialist can assist kind this out. An electromyography may additionally be diagnostic.Extra adviceDr. Roach regrets that he’s unable to reply particular person letters, however will incorporate them within the column every time potential. Readers might e-mail inquiries to ToYourGoodHealth@med.cornell.edu or ship mail to 628 Virginia Dr., Orlando, FL 32803.(c) 2022 North America Syndicate Inc.All Rights Reserved