I'd like to know what symptoms other people with LPR get? What are the worst to least ? Coughing constantly would be my worst symptom but losing my voice (for weeks and months) is awful. My voice hasn't been normal forever even on a good day and can change thru out the day. Constant sniffling from PND drives me and everyone else around me crazy. Clearing my throat, ear fullness, SOB, and not being able to do work out in my yard a lot of days. Not being able to do much of anything some days due to feeling so bad!
The lump feeling in my throat and ear pain are my worst. I think I could live with the post nasal drip and mild sore throat if I could get rid of the other two! But it would be nice to be free of all of it.
I think the worse symtom that I get is the impaired swallowing reflex. It scares me and Im afraid to eat. Dr thinks its from acid that has damaged some of the tissues in the larynx. And I need time to make it heal.
All the symptoms are bad thou! After the swallowing, Id say constant lump in throat feeling is bad too.
I aso get esophageal and throat spasms sometimes which can be very painful.
Some days I feel so bad, I just want to sleep the day away..................
Hi Kyle,
My swallowing problem feels as if sometimes when i go to swallow, its like there is a hesitation of sorts and the swallowing isnt complete. Its as if my swallowing muscles are tired, and dont make the complete swallow. Its hard to explain. When it first started happening, it happened after a very stressful week, so i wasnt sure if it was from anxiety or not. It used to happen even with saliva. That hasnt happened to me anymore,but it does still happen when Im swallowing food sometimes. It does seem better sometimes, and it seems to come and go. I had an enhanced barrium upper gi series to rule out any tumors or anything like that, and thank god, nothing like that showed up...I just dont know if its anxiety, or the lpr, or if and whedn this will subside. It makes me very anxious, which in turns make all the symptoms worse.
I was just diagnosed with LPR in June, 2007. The first symptom I had was feeling like something was stuck in my throat, nothing big, but like a flake of coconut or something. It drove me crazy, after that went away, the sore throat and swelling showed up. It seems like I'll have the sore throat for about 10 days, before symptoms go away. The Dr. put me on Protonix and I though it was working, some days I didn't even take it and felt okay. But a week ago it hit me again, the feeling like I have something stuck on the side of my throat and then the whole burning throat, I'm on day 10 now and feel better, but have switched to Prevacid Solutabs, they seem to be helping, but it's just seems that when it flares up then it has to heal and takes a while. It's miserable, I get scared to eat because it feels like the food won't go down, and I think I must surely have something else wrong, but then I have to stop and think that when it's not acting up my throat feels perfectly normal. I have had problems with Generalized Anxiety in the past, so I tend to over-react when I feel like there's something in my throat, etc. I think the stress makes it worse also.
I think we all get the "stuck in the throat thing" in the beginning. Not being able to swallow is more a GERD problem, which I found to get better when my stomach healed. With the LPR my whole throat (especially on one side) feels full but I'm able to swallow. I feel like I have so much mucus there and in my nose. I do still get spells where when after eating I cough up thick mucus. I start coughing and sniffling after every meal. Chewing gum helps to nuteralize the acid and saliva. Of course, drinking lots of water. Thanks for all the replies. I'm sorry you have these awful symptoms but helps to know it's not just me or in my head. After so long, you begin to wonder when other people get well and not me.
I think the swallowing problems with LPR are due to swelling of the tissues from the acid. The mucus is formed as the body's defense in attempt to protect the vocal chords from the acid. It actually forms and sticks itself around the vocal chords, and that is why we feel all that mucous in our throats.
my question is: why do we feel like food isnt going down???I've been on meds almost 3 months now and STILL feel like food isnt going down...
Hi,
I dont know if there is just one simple answer for that question! Sometimes it takes a very long time for everything to heal up. It could be 6 months. Some people heal faster than others,and some meds help some people and not other people.
I have begun to think, that I am one of the unlucky ones that will never be totally symptom free.
It was explained to me that all this erosion that has probably been going on for a long time has gotten your esophgous inflammed and raw. It doesn't want anything new on it and things aren't moving thru your system like they should. I agree with Yankee Rose on the meds. My stomach got better on Prevacid, Carafate and Reglan but it did take 6 months or so. The LPR thing is what I can't get rid of and harder to control than GERD. Both are affected by our diets and ever changing life style.
I'm glad to know that I am not the only one that feels like it's just on one side of the throat, mine mainly feels like the left side is swollen, but I am able to eat, just a little scared to. This is such a weird thing to have, most people just think you can take some tums or something, but they have no idea how miserable it is. It's kind of scary too when you feel like one side of your throat is blocked and raw. Hopefully better days will come for all of us.
2-feeling like food wont go down and the fear of choking that goes with it.
I have been on double dose prevacid for 4 months now and even if I am better I still have those 2 symptoms. Considering it took 4 months to be diagnosed with LPR (no doctors knows about it here) it has been 8 months of a nightmare!!!
That's another thing I get upset by. I was miss diagnosed for so many years because of Dr's not believing that acid could come this far up. I wonder if it's done permanent damage because I have asthma now and never did before.
