I have been successfully treating my LPR for 2 1/2 years now, after a horrible year without a diagnosis.

I am still puzzled about what might have caused the lower esophageal sphincter muscle to fail/get flabby. My doctor says that noone knows the cause, but smoking and alcohol can contribute to it. I'm curious to know what habits other LPR patients had when they began developing LPR symptons.

My habits at the time:
Age: 28 at onset of syptoms
Weight - 5'5, 145 (very tiny on top, muscular and heavy legs)
Drinking - 2 glasses of wine per day (have since almost completely stopped)
Smoking - Never smoked regularly, but during that time of my life, I did have 1-3 cigarettes per day for about 5 months. Prior to that time, I smoked maybe 2 cigarettes a week if I was out with friends. I haven't smoked since the symptoms appeared.
Emotional state - Had just married. There were some difficulties.
Health Environment: At the same time the symptons appeared, my furnace began backdrafting. The fumes made me very sick (as in nauseous). This started in December and continued through May (the time of diagnoses). I spent the winter with the windows open (in CT). The furnace issue was not clearly diagnosed until May as well, but I suspected it correctly. The main point is, that whenever I would sit in my Living Room (directly above the furnace), my cough would get severely worse, and would get better or lessen when I removed myself from that room. (Eventually over the course of the winter, the fumes affected most of the 1st floor).

Did the drinking and smoking cause the LPR? My husband drinks and smokes al lot - regularly - and he is just fine. Could the exhaust from the furnace coming back into the house have caused or contributed to the LPR? Or is there a genetic link? My mother has a cough that she won't do anything about - obviously it doesn't bother her excessively.

I think mine was due to alot of work stress... sitting at a computer all day and drinking lots of coffee. I also think part of it is genetic as my Dad had alot of stomach problems when he was my age. I am 49.

Hi


My LPR started when I took tricyclic antidepressants for two months. I took doxepin 50mg at bedtime, and after two months I got reflux and ever since it has stayed with me. I know of two other people who developed reflux when they took tricyclic antidepressants and it stayed with them. After I got the reflux, I found out that this group of medications have anti-cholinergic properties which will decrease the LES pressure, making it weak and loose. I now have decided to have surgery to correct this problem as there are no medications that can increase the LES pressure back to normal. I never had any problems with reflux/GERD/LPR before this and could eat and drink anything I wanted to. I am 26 years old and can't believe that a pill can do this to you, when your family doctor turns around and tells you that it is a very safe people. I should also mentioned that I didn't have depression, I had anxiety due to a break up after a 6 year relationship and had hard time falling sleep/staying sleep. But my idiot family doctor told me that I have depression and this pill would help with the sleeping, even though I told him that I have anxiety and not depression (I am in the medical field myself).

Mike - do you know if Benzo-class drugs like Xanax and Ambien can also lower LES pressure?

Do you know how common LPR is as a side effect of the tricyclic antidepressents? Is it published?

Hi


I checked on the internet and there were a lot of articles about tricyclic antidepressants and anti-cholinergic drugs and how they reduce the LES pressure and weaken it.

i think i was stressed and also working night-shift til 2 AM, eating before bed and drinking lots of pop.

Is Xanax a tricyclic drug? I was taking a half a Xanax and a glass of wine before bed each night (Nov.-April) because my job was making my life hell. I did'nt get home from it until 1:30 in the a.m. and was so wired that I couldn't sleep without them--and sometimes I would have to be back at 9 a.m., so I had to sleep! ON the job, I had to be on my feet 10 hours per day, they worked me like a mule, I hardly got a chance to go to the bathroom or eat, and I drank coffee constantly to keep myself alert and functioning. My boss picked on every last thing I did, but I was biding my time there, (waiting for a transfer), so I didn't dare start anything with her. Surpressing my rage was the worst. It was the unhappiest time of my life.

Boom. I started feeling a weird sensation in the base of my throat...like it was hard to breathe. It used to happen only late at night. Now, even on meds, it happens periodically throughout the day. I suppose this means I must be worse somehow and that scares me.

I have also had Type 1 diabetes for 30 years. One of the complications is the loosening/nerve damage to the LES and/or slowering digestion. Maybe I'm in denial but I have a hard time believing that it's that.... I have read that my blood sugar numbers would be erratic if my digestion was off (they're not) and the GI doc did not seem to think that was my problem.

The strangest thing is that my best friend (who is 31) was also diagnosed with LPR this year. My 2 years in hell saved her a lot of suffering because I was able to see how her symptoms were those of LPR, and sent her to a doctor right away. She had severe symptoms (especially the coughing) for 6 weeks, long enough to really make her sick, physically and emotionally. She is being successfully treated with Prevacid 2x a day, but I'm wondering if her use of zoloft, prior to diagnoses, may have caused the LPR. Is that an anti-cholinergic drug? She was on the zoloft for stress, but otherwise pretty healthy. A few pounds overweight, but by no means obese. Size 14 maybe? But taken together - that seems to be a solid group of risk factors -weight, antidepressant, stress).

My acid reflux started when I took Cipro and Augmentum for an infection, until that time I had never had any problems with reflux.

Hi


My LPR started when I took tricyclic antidepressants for two months. I took doxepin 50mg at bedtime, and after two months I got reflux and ever since it has stayed with me. I know of two other people who developed reflux when they took tricyclic antidepressants and it stayed with them. After I got the reflux, I found out that this group of medications have anti-cholinergic properties which will decrease the LES pressure, making it weak and loose. I now have decided to have surgery to correct this problem as there are no medications that can increase the LES pressure back to normal. I never had any problems with reflux/GERD/LPR before this and could eat and drink anything I wanted to. I am 26 years old and can't believe that a pill can do this to you, when your family doctor turns around and tells you that it is a very safe people. I should also mentioned that I didn't have depression, I had anxiety due to a break up after a 6 year relationship and had hard time falling sleep/staying sleep. But my idiot family doctor told me that I have depression and this pill would help with the sleeping, even though I told him that I have anxiety and not depression (I am in the medical field myself).



i beleive this is a fact :bouncing: