My ENT thinks I have LPR. He saw swollen/red areas around the vocal cords when scoped. That, along with my terrible sore throat, throat clearing and hoarseness, supports this diagnosis. He put me on Prilosec 40mg 2x/day and tums. I also had a GI endoscopy done to rule anything else out. Results were fine except he saw very minor reflux in the lower esophagus from the biopsy.
So here I am, 2 1/2 months later. The throat clearing and hoarseness are practically gone but I can get rid of this sore throat. It feels like it's burning at times but mostly it is just really sore. I also have feelings of my neck being "full", if that makes any sense, and sometimes food gets caught when swallowing. We did try a round of steroids to see if that would calm the inflammation and make my throat feel better but it did not help. The GI guy wants to switch my proton pump inhibitor but I have read that they are all relatively similar in efficacy.
Does anyone have advice on what I can do for symptomatic relief of the sore throat or what their doctor has suggested? Has anyone else experienced this? I think LPR takes a while to treat, but I just can't stand not having a minute of relief from the sore throat. BTW, I am doing diet modification to remove acidic foods from my diet. I have become progressively more aggressive on this.
Yeah misery loves company so be happy knowing we're all in the same crappy boat. Try drinking some hot herbal tea, that usually gives my throat some temporary relief.
I would check you vitamin D levels. Anything under 65 and I would take supplements. My level was 19. I have been taking a liquid D supplement under my tongue and it has helped.
Also.
Gaviscon Asdvance from the UK. The bottle says it cures sore
throats associated with reflux.
I have suffered for 6 years with LPR. Same symptoms as you. I started taking it about 3 weeks and I do feel better.
However, I am not sure if I am being cured or if my symptoms are just being relieved.
How does one check their Vitamin D levels? I'm scheduled for an endoscopy first week of May - assuming that would be the time? Or can I have my ENT do it when I visit next week?
How does one check their Vitamin D levels? I'm scheduled for an endoscopy first week of May - assuming that would be the time? Or can I have my ENT do it when I visit next week?
Is that something that's routinely tested for in a bloodtest? I had blood work done when I first started having issues, curious if I could just ask my doc to look over those results again or if I need to be tested again.
For inflammation of the throat, I had 2 rounds of antibiotics and it didn't help. And anti biotics trigger off the reflux. So i tried chinese antibiotics called "pian zai huang" which i got it from a reputable medicine hall.. I took once in the morning and once at night, my sore throat is gone within 5 days.
I get that awful sore throat too. I notice mine is worse after eating something fatty and especially almonds. This has been going on for over twenty years and the only thing that helps me is stopping the almonds or fatty foods. I hope this helps somewhat.
I'm just wondering if Vaca78 found resolution for the sore throat. I'm going through the same thing - it's been 16 weeks of hell. I'm now off work because I can't talk without pain (no good when you're a teacher). I've been on Losec x40 twice a day for ten weeks (along with Gaviscon and Mylanta) and it did nothing. I would love to hear a happy ending story.
Motzka-
Hopefully someone can help those with the sore throat issue. It is awful. I lose my voice all the time too - it was really bad when I used to teach classes and I could barely talk at all There were about 4 weeks when the problem of my voice problem was much better (not 100% but much better) - it was when I did a gluten free diet in addition to stopping almonds and cashews or other fatty nuts. Once I stopped the gluten free it all came back. Milk bothers it tool. Hopefully someone has some other information to help.
Hi, thanks for that.
My diet is gluten free, vegan, and mostly raw. No help so far. I'm on my third day of vegetable juice fasting to see if that will bring some relief.
perhaps my GI doc doesnt know about this term cos he say im having GERD. But like you all im often down with sore throat and lots of mucus in my throat.
Basically, acid or commonly gaseous acid makes its way up past the upper esophageal sphincter.
It differs from GERD in that GERD doesn't come up as far and can stomach contents as well. GERD often causes heartburn whereas LPR is often "silent" and you don't realize it is happening.
LPR symptoms are harder to diagnose since not all people experience the same symptoms. Common LPR symptoms include:
Burning in the throat
Excessive throat clearing
Persistent cough
Hoarseness
A "lump" in the throat that doesn't go away
Redness and irritation of the vocal cords or throat
Postnasal drip
Sinus irritation
Lung irritation and trouble breathing
Rarely, ear problems
While the esophagus is designed to handle a certain amount of acid, the throat isn't. That is why irritation can cause so many problems and be much more difficult to heal.
It took 8 months to have my silent reflux diagnosed - I had a very bad attack of LPR - which resembled a heart attack - after tests I was told it was a panic attack - I was thoroughly checked over and despite having all the symptoms (which I are now aware of) of LPR was told I was suffering from anxiety - I kept going to the Doctors suffering chronic sinusitis - evertime I was told it was "anxiety". One Friday the burning pain in my nose was unbearable and I had to make an emergency appointment to see a doctor and he checked it out and said I needed to see a ENT consultant - four days later I was admitted to the hospital - and after extensive tests the "anxiety" turned out to be Silent reflux and a hiatus hernia plus a bug in my stomach which had caused it all HPylori - I was given antibiotics and Lansoperazole for 7 days - and guess what the burning in my nose subsided - I am now taking Lansoperazole once a day and Gaviscon Advance four times a day after meals and I am still not 100% but for the first time in 8 months I have not had the chronic cough , the horrible pressing pain in my chest and my sinusitis seems to be subsiding - my throat is not as hoarse and I am nearly not quite able to eat properly.
Ask your doctor to check for Hpylori - if you have ever had food poisoning regardless of time lapse - I had food poisoning in 1999 - nearly 13 years ago and the bug had stayed in my gut without my knowledge and caused all the problems.
Sorry for starting this topic back up months after the last reply, I have been recently diagnosed with LPR about 4 weeks ago, i was just reading this topic and found it very much what I have wrong.
Vaca78, how are things with you now?
I basically started about 4 months ago with a constant burning feeling in my throat and roof of mouth, at the start I had the odd burst of bad pain in my chest area but have not had this since.
The burning on my throat / roof of mouth has stayed with me though but just become milder over the 4 months, 1 month ago I seen an ENT specialist and he looked down my throat and said its red and giving my symptoms said it’s typical of LPR, so that’s what he diagnosed me with.
He told me to carry on with taking ppi's (my gp had previously told me to take these), although I doubt they are doing anything at all, the ENT surgeon also said to stay on them but in his opinion they won't be doing a great deal for LPR.
He also told me to start taking gaviscon advance after each meal and before i go to bed, i must say i feel the burning has gone down a lot since, but it will not go away fully
I often get a tingerly burning feeling around my tonsil area and the back of the roof of my mouth by the uvula.
Does this sound like I have been correctly diagnosed with LPR?
I have another appt with my ENT surgeon in 2 weeks, could anyone tell me if there are any tests I could ask for to determine if its definitely LPR I have, and can anyone tell me what them tests would involve?
Also once I tell him it’s not gone yet what is the next thing he is likely to do / recommend?
I started having LPR about 4 weeks ago, some days. (never had it)
Three weeks ago i went on vacation to a thermal facility (Termas of São Pedro do Sul in Portugal) , where they make vapour inalations. It healed my sour throath in 3 days.
The water of the thermal facility is mainly sulfurous and its said to have strong anti-bacterial and anti-inflamatory properties.
I had some LPR at one night when i was there, and in the morning after the treatments i was healed again.
But since i cant live there and have to work, now i have sore throath again, i think i will start to have gaviscon before bedtime.
But for those of you that have thermal facilities near, it could be of help.
