Yesterday the ENT told me that it looked and sounded as though I have LPR. They did the scope through my nostril. I have been put on Aciphex twice daily. But to be honest, looking at these boards, it doesn't sound like any of these PPI's give relief and I'm scared.

Right now my symptoms are mild...scratchy throat, some dry coughing...which I am sure goes hand in hand and is causing some of the redness....but unlike resisting the urge to "clear" my throat as I've read people should do, I can't resist the urge to cough. It is uncontrollable.

How did your symptoms start and how quickly did they progress to the point where you felt you had a LUMP in your throat? I think I could live with what is going on now, but want to know if you all started out like me and it just got worse. I do a little better if I know what to expect.

I am also really suspect about where this "LPR" is coming from so suddenly in people. It sounds viral to me. It seems like perfectly healthy people just suddenly wake up with this and are screwed. And it sounds as if these PPI's (blocking only 40% of acids and only for so many hours, are not effectively allowing the tissues to heal. If all it takes is 60 seconds of some reflux on any given day to make us miserable, what hope is there that these symptoms will EVER improve?) I'm sorry to sound negative, but these are my feelings......I guess my main question to you all is, how quickly did your symptoms progress from bad to worse, and did they plateau? Thanks~

Vintagegirl--Like you I also want to know what to expect so I can be watching for symptoms and the progress I am making so I can report back to my doctor. Knowing what is happening and what to expect makes a world of difference in the positive communication with your medical professionals.

I was diagnosed with LPR last October after 6 weeks of miserable symptoms. It started out as a feeling of a "hair" stuck in my throat--you know that tickle in the back of your throat that you can't swallow away. It progressed to feeling like my throat was coated with "peach fuzz", or like I had a hair ball stuck in my throat! You know the cat in the movie "Shrek 2"--I know just how that cat feels! My symptoms progressed to feeling like I had a grapefruit lodged in my throat, along with an excess of mucus, and post nasal drip.

Like you I had the scope down the nostril and the doc told me I had reflux. I thought he was crazy as I had no other symptoms of reflux. Also my symptoms were relieved when I slept, or when I would eat. I figured if I would just eat and sleep the rest of my life I could feel pretty good! The doctor put me on prevacid 30 mg. twice a day. By about the end of February or approx. 5 months later, I began to feel better. When my symptoms began to lessen the doctor changed my prescription to one prevacid a day in March. I recently switched to Nexium as my insurance carrier dropped prevacid, and suggested nexium as a substitute for reflux. I am on only one Nexium 40 mg. a day now and am feeling pretty good. I am not symptom free yet, but I do think I am making progress.

Hang in there--LPR takes a long time for improvement to show. In the meantime, some of the things that helped me was to improve my diet and cutting out acidic foods. I also improved my posture. I sit at a computer all day, I usually end up slumped over the keyboard after a little while at work. That seemed to push the acids up like wearing tight clothes around your waist does. Also I chew gum a lot. Gum won't cure the reflux, but I found it soothing to my throat to have a constant supply of moisture going down. Saliva is more alkaline that the stomach acid and chewing gum I think sooths the damage from the acids.

Good luck with your progress. Each person's medical symptoms and treatment are different but I hope my story can give you some information to help you through this uncomfortable time.

Thanks so much for your reply. What a weird thing this is...it just makes you wonder how you can go through life healthy and bam. That is why I found this to sound viral. So many people, young people, seem to suddenly get this for no apparent reason...other than their LES "suddenly decided to relax"??? Doesn't make much sense to me. I would feel better if doctors seemed to have more information. I am taking Aciphex 3 times per day, I want to be aggressive with this. And if after a year, I see no improvement, I am completely open to surgery. Quality of life is a big deal to me. I felt really good yesterday, but I didn't talk much. Does resting your voice help at all?
Thanks again.~