You start feeling sick because, yes, if you already have a cold, you are swallowing a more than average amount of phlegm. It actually builds up in your throat at that point.
A sore throat is from all the swallowing of acidic fluids. A good lot of the cilia, that are on the posterior (rear) side of the anterior (front) of your throat, move the mucus down where it hits the epiglotis...thats why you cough. Sometimes too much mucus is secreted and it seeps past/over the epiglotis and ends up in your trachea (granted this is a very minute amount, but enough to make you cough a lot more and to make it feel like you have a chest cold.)
The next time you start to think that youre getting sick from swallowing all this, check the coloroation of the phlegm. I bet more than likely it's clear or white, which would indicate either sinus drainage (white) or a mild allergic reaction (clear) to something you encountered during the day, such as pollen.
Like Ive been saying, you CANNOT get sick from swallowing your own phlegm.
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