What Causes Salty Watery Discharge Form Nose And Chest Congestion?

Posted on Sun, 21 Sep 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 21 Sep 2014 Answered on

Thu, 16 Oct 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : Hello, in the past week my nose has dripped a salty water substance twice. Both times have occurred when bending over or tilted head. I haven't had any head injures within the past 6 months and very rarely get headaches. However I do have a cold/flu bug and a chest infection right now. Do you think the spontaneous nose dripping is related to my cold? Thanks

Answered by Dr. Shafi Ullah Khan (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
salty watery nasal fluid

Detailed Answer:
Hi,
With your history that you are giving of no trauma or headaches , it is unlikely that the salty watery fluid is CSF from your nose. Some of the causes of CSF rhinorrhea are trauma, nasal tumors invading, and in very few cases idiopathic( which is mostly associated with idiopathic intracranial HTN which has headache). I would like you to wait for a week and see if the fluid coming out resolves since its very unlikely to be CSF. I don't think there is much to worry in your case.
If still you have feel this can be CSF and if it continues like for a week, then you may consider evaluating .The most reliable method is to determine B2 microglobulin content in it. Hope it helps.
Dr. Khan

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar