Brief Answer:
Chronic nonallergic rhinitis

Detailed Answer:
Hello, I'm Dr. Branch, thanks for using Ask a Doctor.

The symptoms you describe sound like post-nasal drip, which can often cause throat irritation and the feeling there is a lump there in the back of the throat as well. Common causes of this are viral infections, or allergies, but once those are ruled out, another possibility is chronic nonallergic rhinitis. There can be many causes for this, including abnormalities in the nervous system, or irritants such as smoke, weather changes, and even certain food and medications.

Often allergy testing is done to confirm this is not allergic, since allergies are a common cause, even in patients who never had problems with allergies before. This would usually be done by an ENT doctor and possibly with an allergy specialist. If it is confirmed you have chronic nonallergic rhinitis, the treatment usually involves nasal steroids (such as Flonase), nasal antihistamines (such as azelastine), and nasal ipratropium.

So I would recommend your next step to be to see an ENT doctor to confirm this diagnosis, and to get started on the appropriate treatment. Hopefully then you will be able to see some improvement in your symptoms.

I hope that helps, please let me know if you have any questions about any of that, and I would be glad to discuss it with you further.

---