I need help! I am so confused. I went for an upper endoscopy in late April due to upper stomach IBS cramping and a week after that I started having this terrible lump in the throat sensation, chest pain around the colorbone, burping and just a feeling of food laying in my esophagus. I have never had this before. The Scope showed only a small hiatal hernia no GERD no damage they even used the word beautiful! I visited my ENT and he did the larnyxscope down the nose to the throat and said my throat is moderatley inflammed which 99.9% of the time means Reflux is coming up and irritating it. Then visited the GI doc and he put me on Omoprazole 40mg once a day for a month. No change even with diet changes. Lost 14lbs and I can't bear to loose anymore weight! Then he increased the dose to two a day 40mg in morning and night - I tried this for a week but I just felt like crap and then I read about LPR which seems to be caused by the pepsin not the acid coming up to the throat so I stopped the medicine. Went back to ENT - did the scope again said the throat was still inflammed. I asked him about the pepsin salivary test and the PH probe and he said he does not like doing them because no matter what the outcome it will still be treated the same however my GI is ready to do the PH probe but I have heard horrible things about this test and am very scared to put something esle down my throat. I am back on a different PPI now - nexium generic 40mg day and night for a month before I get this test. I am taking makuna honey, probilotic and I was wondering about the apple cider vinegar seems like people have good luck with this but won't it inflame my throat more? Then I also wonder if I had nerve damage during the scope and it is my nerve that needs to heal? I am just so confused and could use anyone's help- my husband is getting sick of hearing me complain and I am just not the mom I used to be! My favorite time of the day is night time because my lump in throat goes away until when I wake up and drink or eat. I am also full of healh anxiety as I have had uterine cancer in the past so every lump, bump or pain makes me think cancer- please help! Thanks in advance!
I have the same thing. A lump feeling in the throat that goes away when I lay down to go to sleep. I also have more beching than is normal.I have been seeing this a lot in different forums. It gets diagnosed as something different by different doctors, but it seems that nobody really knows what it is because I don't see anyone saying that the treatments work. The different things that people say it is are, LPR, Laryngospasm, Hiatal Hernia, swollen thyroid from iodine defiency, GERD and H. pylori infection. Most people have had it for months, some for a year, but if it goes away they are not updating thier forum post. Just know that you are not alone and I also understand about the significant other being tired of complaints. Just come here and complain! I hope you feel better soon!
I had the ph probe and its nothing to fear at all, and the motility study both are really easy....they will define and did define all the problems i had. I had to have HH repair as well as Nissen Fundoplication because the study found my sphincter was week therefore they strengthened it with wrapping the stomach around the esophogaes in March....The recovery is tough but it all took time and healing....the ph probe is the least of your proble....its a fine tube that goes down into your stomach w/camera its very fine and they have u swallow water as its going down....you dont even gag, pls gohave it done and dont listen to others trust your doctor. liz
Sounds familiar I have LPR and have the symptoms you mentioned. Mine comes on with exercise or lots of movement. My diagnosis was a small hernia moderate gastritis in stomach and duodenum with bile, and esophagitis.
I had the lump in my throat, tons of mucus, pain on left side of my throat, nausea 24/7, which have mostly subsided due to PPI medications. The other symptoms I have are I can't take a deep breath, dizziness, balance issues, brain fog, hoarseness, throat clearing, sour taste in mouth, and extremely tired.
I have raised the head of my bed, I eat a very strict diet with none of the biggest offenders, no added fats, don't eat before bed which for me my last meal is around 4pm and I go to bed around 10, I have lost 30 pounds from this I was 170 now 140. The weight loss has slowed down and stabilized now, it has been about 3 months.
The PPI's took away nausea right away the globus and mucus took a while before it subsided.
I couldn't even try vinegar to me it was like putting gasoline on a fire but that is how I feel about it.
Yes, both high and low acid are treated the same way with medications but that doesn't mean you don't want to know what is happening with you. I'm sorry the meds didn't help you. This is a very ugly disorder to live with without some relief. I hope you find some answers, this is a great forum to help answer questions and learn from others, good luck. Keep us posted.
I have the same problem, I have a lot of information you can read from my post with Tyra21865, you can read more about how she was finally diagnosed with LPR and went through the Stretta to fix it. As for myself I had been to an ENT who originally diagnosed me with GERD/LPR, in which I started 40mg PPI 2x daily, with no improvments after 2 months. I decided to try Elavil for PVVN, and has helped in the severity and frequency of symptoms, but hasn't fully cleared me of all symptoms. Last Monday I also went to a Laryngologist who specializes in throat and swallowing disorders. He was by far more informative than any of the GI or previous ENT. I told him also that I had sent in my Peptest, which he was certain would come back negative, just because I didn't respond to PPI's or had any other normal reflux symptoms. I received my peptest this morning and all 3 samples surely came back negative 0 ng/ml. I think LPR is overdiagnosed and our symptoms are typically bucketed into LPR. If you have time please look in youtube for LPR overdiagnosed Stanford. This a great lecture from a Stanford Doctor, and anybody who is just going through this process of trying to figure out what is wrong. So the specialist I saw said that since the Elavil is helping to try going up in dosage to 20mg, he couldn't see any motor issues during his scoping, but said that it's not conclusive that there may not be Nerve damage. He did say that most of his patients with these problems he usually waits to put them on any PPI or Nerve medications, as most people with these symptoms will resolve within 6 months. If they still don't get better in the 6 months then he would start on medications. He also worked with the Famous LPR Dr K. in NYC and said he didn't believe in the theory behind the pepsin and the acidic nature of activitating the pepsin. Rather he said that you want to avoid Acid only for the sake of protecting the throat irritation that already exists. Without further testing such as impedance testing or peptest we can't rule out LPR, However there are other possible causes for the same symptoms we are all sharing. This is a long road if you are just starting, and knowing it may or may not resolve in that 6 months is terrible, and can be extremely stressful but I am hopeful that most of us will eventually feel relief.
I have the weight loss a little, for the most part only like 3 pounds, but for the past basically 12 days have eaten stuff that should have made me gain weight. I am off to the ENT in about 15 to 20 mins, so hopefully he can find something. I also look forward to night so I can go to sleep and get rid of the lump in my throat. I also now suck as a mom beause I do not want to do anything. I have bad anxiety and just about an hour ago went to the psyciatrist and she gave me an antidepressant/anxiety pill. I used to be on it almost a year ago, but stopped it and changed to another one. That was the only one that I thought worked, but because of head games with people telling to to change I believed them and did. Hopefully this one will help. I do take the omezaprol as well, but only for about a week. Haven't noticed a difference. No burning in my throat and/or stomach pain. Nothing. Hopefully will have an answer today.
Hi , I've been suffering with acid reflux for almsot 2 years. I did the barium swallow first which showed that I had a small hiatus hernia.
Recently I did the endoscopy which showed that the valve does not closes properly which allows acid to go up.
I feel like a lump in the throat and Im always nauseous and I can't control that, I have nausea 24/7 and it won;t go away. I haven't foudn the solution yet.
I also went at an ENT and he said that it is all in my mind cause I have nothing!
I did all the tests that u are having done, I did a motility study, ph probe, barium swallow, endoscopy....with your same symptons except i have severe chest pain come and go....conclusion HH before surgery dr said was sliding, not after surgery it was found to be the oposite way and large, therefore the 60 % stomach i had was going into my HH causing all this pain. in my case they did HH repair and Nissen Fundoplication. That was done in March and no more indigestion with anything i eat, and my surgeon told me i would never have an antacid again.....we shall see one never knows i can only pray as i suffered for yrs because i was freightened to address it all....Good Luck and research it all liz
Hi, so glad you got some relief!!
I don't want to have surgery unless I know for sure it will cure the symptom. The same symptom this thread is about, the lump in the throat sensation. It goes away when sleeping and it not problematic of any diet issues. It's just there all the time save for when you go to sleep.
Hi cheryl06050, I was interested to read about your symptoms. When you say you were extremely tired, was this due to not sleeping at night or just generally tired? Did raising the head of your bed help you sleep and therefore with the tiredness at all? I've had this and I don't wakeup at night although I think it might be causing a disturbed sleep.
I'm currently trialling 2\mg of omeprazole a day for 2months (just done week 3) for acid reflux although from my symptoms I think it might be LPR. I got a sore throat/hoarse throat (although it feels hoarse to me people don't really notice a difference in the sound, except the odd occasion). My dad and brother both have really bad acid reflux so potentially it runs in the family.
I'm now on week 3 and I've only felt there's a difference these last few days (although I've now managed to catch my kids sore throat today so its going to make it hard to tell if my throat feels better until this passes!). I also seem to get a really bad post nasal drip on and off and when its been particularly bad the back of my throat gets really sore and stings if I eat/drink something really acidic but once the post nasal drip stops I go back to the usual sore throat again. What I wouldn't give to feel normal again! I just feel like its constantly putting a downer on what ever I do which with a 2and a 4year old means being a fun mum is way harder than it should be!
X
I am tired because I can't get enough air, every day is a battle trying to breathe normally. When I can't breathe deeply I don't get enough O2 which makes me tired. I don't sleep well I wake up many times at night, I just can't stay asleep. I take Benadryl 50mg every night just to sleep so so.
Raising the head of my bed keeps the acid from coming up into my throat. It doesn't help me sleep better. I may also have Fibromyalgia??
I had nausea where I would run to the bathroom to throw up and then I would only gag on the phlegm. When I started the Omeprazole 40mg daily, Prednisone 20mg for 10 days. The Omeprazole took away nausea within 45 minutes, however, the lump and phlegm lingered for a few weeks and then it seemed to be noticeably better every day. The Prednisone didn't even help, and I have taken that before at a lower dose for different issues and it was wonderful, it took away all my inflammation within a few hours if even that long. But not for this.
Did your dad or brother ever find relief from this horrible affliction? I'm sure they are a lot of help with guiding you to the right Drs., and answering many questions that we all have. Do they have breathing issues?
I take Zyrtec for allergies which helps with the post nasal drip.
I wish you well, it has to be hard with little ones.
I would not put apple cider vinegar, which is an acid, on top of anything that is inflammed. manuka honey helped me. I am having a flare up and need to get some. Having a lot of pain on the right side of my throat and right ear. I sleep on my right side and have bee told by my MD that I should try to sleep on my left side because of the reflux. Does any one have the ear pain with the throat pain?
PH probe test is that like a PH study 24 hour test..
I had the PH Study test, a tube through the nose down into the throat and it was horrible,and I mean horrible even though the nurse at the time told me I had nothing to worry about Man was she wrong' I had to sleep with it inside of me,
For 24 hours, when I told people about this problem they said oh Iv had similar done to me -my reaction was yeah right " they have no idea what pain youre going through..I also have chest problems as well'. as in pins and needles in my chest on both sides, and when I told or mention this to the nurses in the " Breast Care Centre she had stated that it was hormones but I refuse to Believe that'. I get the pains everyday'. so I take codeine for this and the pain is still there'.. so Yeah Im kind of fed up with what the doctors say'. I think sometimes people dont realise the pain youre going through unless they experience it themselves'. I feel like they are hypocrites' tbh
Omg your symptoms and story is so similar to mine. I however have a burning amonina the smell in the back of my throat and pains in my check. They are non stop now. I too am heading back to the GI Doctor for endoscopy for the second time and my routine colonoscopy. Had the 24 hour prob. Not that bad. Back on PPIs. Again. ENT can't figure it out. Allergist and Pulmanary Doctor is convinced it's not my lungs. H pylori is neg. and we removed the gallbladder almost a year ago. Just so tired of feeling like garbage. Spouse is tired of hearing me complain too. I am much better when I eat nonacid triggers. But this never goes away. I wish you luck in getting better. I don't wish this on anyone
Pains in chest not check
How are you doing after your endo and colonoscopy? Did they find any GERD? I am the same- same damn lump in throat sensation sometimes with pain. It drives me crazy and taking over my life- it has now been almost 5 months just don't know where to turn anymore.
Did you get better? I have something very similar happening. I went for an endoscopy and immediately afterwards had difficulty breathing, chest pain, and throat constriction. A feeling as something has been stuffed in my throat. It has been debilitating. This has been going on for 9 months. Upon exertion my chest and neck have this intense pressure constriction feeling. I too believe I have vague nerve damage? What do you know about this and where did you find help? I've seen a pulmonary doctor an ENT and will be seeing a neurologist.
Hi Kay, do you remember around when you started getting the symptoms? How often do you have the symptoms? Did you have a virus prior to the symptoms? I
Hi Kay- No I have not gotten better though I have good days and bad days. After writing the above email I was so fed up I went online and found one of the best throat doctors in the country. He was at John Hopkins hosptial and made an appointment. Luckily I only live about 2 hours from Baltimore so it wasn't too bad. When I went to him he scoped my throat and he showed me the pictures of what it looked like inside. He said "your throat is not red" - after hearing that for 6 months I couldn't believe it- I had been so afraid that I would never heal my red throat and I would end up getting cancer from it and here it is not even red. He did say I have a lot of thick secretions (phlegm) in my throat sitting there which can be causing the lump in throat. Then he proceeded to write me up instructions on what to do next and here it is:
There are a lot of potential causes for globus pharynegeus (lump in throat) which can be broadly characterized as:
Dryness
Sinus nasal inflammation
Relfux- acid or non acid
Esopahgeal dysmotility and or cricopharnygeal hypertonicity
Sensory neuropathy
Anxiety
Regarding these
Dryness- you have thick secretions in your throat. Possible testing blood work for Sjogrens syndrome,. This may be exacerbated by your mouth breathing, try breathe right strips, increase hydration, use saline spary to nose, humididier etc.
Sinus- you don't have these symptoms though you tested positive for allergies like pollens and cat- treat allergies with medication
Reflux- dual ph impedance is the gold standard for looking at reflux and non acid reflux particularty when it does not respond to PPIs
esophageal dysmotility- can be studied with a modified barium swallow manomety can be done by the same GI specialist who does dual Ph impedance
Sensory Neurothrapy - this is a diagnosis of exclusion we don't have bloodwork or xrays to look at this we generally treat this empirically if everything esle has been ruled out eitehr with gabepentin or amitriptyline. This would cover vagus nerve issues. Ask Neurologist for this
Anxiety- It is hoepfully reassuring that neither EGD or ENT scope has seen anything concerning
In the absense of anything dangerous do as little or as much of the above that makes sense to you. Work step by step try one thing out for a month or so then if it doesn't work try the next.
So from all of that I walked out feeling like I was actually going to get someplace. I stopped my crazy reflux diet after loosing 20 lbs which I didn't need to loose and went back eating semi normally. I notice that when I am away from home I do not have the lump in throat sensation. At home lately I have been getting white mucus at the back of my throat each morning but when I am away from home I don't have it so it is probably allergy. I haven't tried the allergy medication yet but I am going to start. I never wanted to do the impedance test as I did not want something down my throat again so I never did that. I just kept telling myself it is not reflux. Can I ask what the pulmonologist did? I always worry about my lungs and cancer even though I am not a smoker it is always in the back of my head since I like you sometimes feel constriction in my chest. My neurologist gave me the gabepentin but I never took it becasue I read the side effects sounded terrrible to me. So I am sorry I am not more help.