Thank you for pointing out that this is not tonsiliths! I have those sometimes too and this is NOT what this thread is about. People don't read the posts and then say the same thing over and over. I have had this issue for 10 years. No help from ENTs or other doctors. Surely wouod like a solution but I look at post after post and haven't found one yet.
My theories are that: 1.) it could be a fungus, or an undiscovered virus/infection, as science is still very new. 2.) it could be from a combination of dryness & inflammation, weak muscles in the lungs, or cilia. & 3.) lung structural abnormalities. - When you get sick, the bronchi, or the small air branches in your lungs widen & inflame. Mucus or phlegm gets trapped, and when exposed to dry air, harden, as the water evaporates & your left with this jell ball..?? [these are just my theories tho..] You also have more mucus production when your allergy prone or low immune.
Without knowing what it is; it’s hard to make it go away.. but some things I have found to help are - exercise (you have more at first, but then they start thinning out), breathing hot steam/hot showers, the ‘huff coughing’ technique, cupping your hands and banging on your chest (I actually have a vest for this as well), and drinking pineapple juice (as the enzymes in pineapple help naturally thin out mucus).
I am experiencing the balls of mucus as well. Although mine are always greenish/yellow. Very thick and sticky like. Always very small. Mine do not smell but mine also make it to where i can't talk or very very raspy until i can cough it up. sometimes it's easy and other times not so much. I am a smoker. Idk if it maybe is some type of allergy. I once lived in a house that was due to my slum lord frequently visited by raccoons. and i know their feces carry not so good spores. But i feel like i started getting these to where i couldn't talk around the same time. Frequently like more than once a day i continue to get them, even after moving to a new place. But twice I've also developed a raw like rash around my eyes and eye lids. Once spreading down to my cheek areas. Both in the fall/winter months. Very raw skin, watery eyes which irritate it more, heat sensitive. Dries up, flaky Ish but then eyes water and it continues for a few weeks. Although like i said the phlegm balls continue regardless. Just both started around the sometime so idk iif maybe they could be related. My main concern is the not being able to speak properly part