What are the common causes of chronic pharyngitis?

Patients with chronic pharyngitis often experience discomfort in the throat, foreign body sensation, irritating cough, etc. The symptoms are stubborn and recur repeatedly, seriously affecting their quality of life. So what are the causes of chronic pharyngitis?

1. What is chronic pharyngitis?

Chronic pharyngitis refers to chronic inflammation of the pharyngeal mucosa, which is often a part of chronic inflammation of the respiratory tract. The main manifestations are various uncomfortable feelings in the throat, such as foreign body sensation, itching, burning, dryness, slight pain, dry cough, difficulty in coughing up sputum, fatigue when speaking, or nausea when brushing teeth, gargling, or talking a lot. It is mainly divided into chronic simple pharyngitis, chronic hypertrophic pharyngitis, atrophic pharyngitis or dry pharyngitis.

2. What are the causes of chronic pharyngitis?

Acute pharyngitis turns into chronic disease due to repeated attacks or improper treatment;

Local lesions: diseases of adjacent organs, such as chronic tonsillitis, gingivitis, chronic rhinitis, chronic sinusitis, etc., inflammatory secretions flow into the pharynx, or hypertrophy of the nasal concha and nasal polyps cause nasal ventilation difficulties and mouth breathing;

Influence of systemic diseases: such as rheumatic fever, gout, diabetes, iron deficiency anemia, reflux esophagitis, chronic nephritis, gastric ulcer, chronic gastritis, fatigue, mental stress, long-term irregular lifestyle, etc., the body's resistance is reduced and the pharynx is prone to infection.

External factors: living in a cold and dry climate, working environment air polluted by dust and chemical gases, long-term stimulation from tobacco, alcohol, and spicy food are all likely to cause chronic pharyngitis.

Others: Occupational factors such as teachers, singers, anatomical abnormalities, allergic constitution, etc.

3. What are the hazards of chronic pharyngitis?

Conscious symptoms

There is obvious discomfort in the throat, and you always feel that there is something in the throat that you can't swallow or spit out; the itchy throat causes bouts of irritating coughing, affecting your rest; if there are inflammatory secretions and bacteria remaining, you may have bad breath; long-term throat inflammation leads to thickening of the mucosa, which affects breathing and causes snoring during sleep. In severe cases, it can develop into sleep apnea syndrome, threatening your life.

Many complications

Chronic pharyngitis is often complicated by chronic laryngitis, chronic trachea and bronchitis, nephritis, heart disease, etc.; long-term inflammatory secretions swallowed into the stomach 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; pathogens or their toxins entering the blood can also cause serious systemic complications, such as acute nephritis, sepsis, rheumatic fever, etc.

Reduce the body's immunity

Long-term chronic pharyngitis will lead to a decrease in the body's immunity.