how do you know if you have lpr?? i am not even sure what this is. Someone on here kindly pointed me in this direction. I have had a cough slowly getting worse for 4 yrs now, i have never suffered from indigestion/heartburn, all i know is that i cough day and night but not all the time, its worse at night and sometimes if i lay down i feel its difficult to breathe. I now have constant phlegm in the back of my throat that wont come up or go down, if i cough it often comes up and chokes me but does not come out. I find that sometimes my voice gets deep, and now i can only talk for so long as i find i start to cough and cough so much i actually throw up. You can imagine if you are at work and talking on phone to someone and cough so much i just cannot talk to the person, then run to be sick, how embarressing. I have also noted that some foods tend to touch a spot in my throat that feels sort of raw (but nowt sore) and then i really really choke, I.E. pickle onion, and other things. I have had a camera down my throat into my stomach for bowel probs and did ask them to look as they went down but they found nothing. I have recently felt like an air bubble in my chest/throat sort of like a pressure feeling and it is uncomfortable. At work one day when i drunk a cup of tea, i went to pick up my pen from the floor and i felt the whole cup of tea coming straight back up??? I constantly need to clear my throat. And i find now it is much easier to sleep sitting upright but i cannot get to sleep as i slip down the bed. My family really get cheesed off with me as i often keep them awake where i cough so much. Went to drs a month ago as breathing at night got bad, she said to sleep sitting upright, and gave me a month of some sort of ant acid tablets, and this did help. She felt my stomach acids were coming up into my throat and irritating everything, even though i dont get indigestion. Any ideas anyone. if it is this lpr thing is there anything i should be concerned about. both my neice and my nephew have gerd.
A persistant cough is thought to be the first sign of possible LPR along with enamel erosion and cavities. When the main symptoms present such as something stuck in throat feeling, constant throat clearing, mucous, burning throat and mouth the cough has often lessened or gone altogether. I do not think that LPR would have taken years to present itself following the cough. If you have these other symptoms then most likely you have LPR if you do not the they ar either still to present or you do not have it. Food regurgitating could be a symptom but could also be a problem with esophaegal motility ie the muscle forcing food and drink down he esophaegus is not working properly.
LPR relates primarily to acid reflux from the stomach which bypasses the esophaegus and goes right into the larynx and pharynx. If you are not experiencing acid reflux then you do not have LPR. The cough could be the result of this poor motility and of food and drink not making it to the stomach and returning upwards irritating the vocal cords en route. If none of the acid reflux symptoms in mouth,back of throat or nasal passage then no LPR.
An ordinary ENT can tell if you have LPR because your larynx will present as red, enlarged, and/or inflamed - all signs of irritation by acid. Your ordinary PCP will probably not perform the procedure to check this out, so schedule an appointment with any old ENT (ear nose and throat, known as an otolaryngologist). The ENT will have you quickly inhale some numbing gas into your nose. Then he will insert a long probe up your nose and into your esophagous (sounds worse than it is - it really doesn't hurt). The probe has a small video camera at the end, and typically it will send the picture back to a computer screen. Voila - you'll know if you have a messed up larynx. Please note that many run-of-the mill ENTS STILL have not heard of LPR, and these morons will probably say "Oh, you have some reflux," and then prescribe just one PPI per day. If you get stuck with one of these idiots, tell him about LPR, and that standard treatment is 2 PPI a day. Then ask specifically for Nexium, which is what I take and do very well on. If the doctor argues, tell him to go check his medical journals as he is clearly not up-to-date.
Hi and thank you for your replies. I am going to wait a short while and if things dont get better i will go to my drs. I have suffered all over christmas but it is probably down to all the rich food etc. i cannot lay down in bed at night as it feels like something is coming up?? and it hurts and is terribly uncomfortable. I had bad heart burn when i was pregnant 12 yrs ago and this is nothing like it at all so it cant be heart burn. I have this constant pressure in my thoat/chest at night and bed time, i have to sleep sitting upright and it is so uncomfortable, i just slip down. I have noticed i chest a bit wheezy in the chest/throat and i a bit sort of phlemgy inthe throat, and cough for England all night. I am cheesed off with it all to say the least.I have noticed some foods are getting stuck in my throat but most of all my daily medications feel as though they are stuck in an open hole in the back of my throat?????
My throat/chest does feel sort of acidy but not burning at all?? i done understand all this but i know it gets me down as i am suffering terrbly from a bowel disorder which is making life absolute hell and i do not need this added problem as well. thank you for your replies
cazajacks
If you have been suffereing from this cough for 4 years, why wait any longer? What is preventing you from going to an ear nose and throat doctor and getting this simple exam? The medication can be very effective in treating this condition, which, in my opinion, has every hallmark of being a glaring case of laryngeal reflux. By the way, you are right in that an acidy/wheezy feeling in your chest is part of laryngeal reflux. That is the small amount of acid that goes up to your larynx which comes back down and gets into your lungs. You are aspirating stomach acid into your lungs, and it shouldn't be there. This commonly gets misdiagnosed as asthma, but all the asthma drugs in the world won't help you. Only 2 PPIs a day will. Please please please see an otolarygologist.
Re: how do you know 
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