Hi Everyone,
Having spent a great deal of time researching and reading about LPR/GERD I haven’t been able to find an account of what individuals suffer with on a daily basis.
People mention symptoms but not the frequency of them. I was curious to see how often symptoms presented themselves?
I’ve been diagnosed with LPR from July and experience symptoms everyday.
Is this the same for everyone else?
Symptoms include standard sore throat, croaking voice, sore voice box,
pain from the middle of chest, feeling of lump in throat, tired all the time, burning sensation in throat etc.
I’m currently on PPI and Gaviscon advance which has helped but not eradicated it.
I’m sticking to a low acid diet in the hope it will continue to assist.
Does anyone have a time frame of healing? Or the feelings when you are healing?
I’m due for a trans nasal procedure early next year to confirm diognosis but was hoping that someone would be kind enough to reply with their experiences.
Many thanks
Hi Simon
I also have suffered reflux for a year and half now and I have symptoms every day, ranging from burne chest pain to nausea to severe upper back, fatigue, weakness, sweats, poor appetite, stomach pain, I'm on ppi but not helping much, I have hernia which seems to be the cause, hope things improve for you
Thanks Kate for your reply.
I’m sorry to hear that you suffer with this terrible disease.
It’s kind of reassuring to hear that I’m not alone in experiencing these symptoms everyday.
It strikes me that this is one condition that you have to research and try many options before you find the one that works for you.
I’m currently reading The Acid Watcher Diet by Dr Jonathan Aviv. It does make sense and provides some good recommendations on what you should be asking for when you see a specialist.
I also read that it can take many months sometimes over a year to fix.
Do you suffer with a lump in the throat sensation?
Also is it worse later in the day? For me when I wake I seem to be symptom free until about mid morning ish before they appear. Then it’s there all the time 😔
Do you also experience a dry mouth when you wake?
Apologies for all the questions.
Don't worry about questions Simon, we are all hoping for answers, like you I don't feel too bad on morning but as I eat more food as day goes on it all erupts, I try to be careful about what I eat, no acid food, fats, very low fat milk, no wheat, very little bread, I find banana and apple help a little, I take slippery elm tablets with each meal, one probiotic and one milk thistle to try help my liver, soon I will add a good multivitamin to the mix, to be honest I think there may be nothing will fix this for me except surgery but doctors are not very keen to do it, I have been to many doctors in past year and had 3 endoscopies and two colonoscopies, a back mri, and a 24hour manometry test, the result showed night time reflux
Hi there, I was diagnosed with gerd end of June 2017.... it came out of nowhere when after an evening of over eating brought on painful chest squeezing pain, sweating, and nausea.....thinking I was having a heart issue I went to er where they kept me several hours to rule this out....once everything looked normal they said it is probably gerd and sent me on my way......following that I started to develop a sensation there was a lump feeling in my throat...thinking it was just anxiety I ignored it....then a month after I had another episode...again to the er.....again same protocol was done, but suggested I go for further testing on my heart...so I wore a fourteen day heart monitor, had a heart echo ultra sound and a stress test, all normal so again they said gerd and gave me a twenty one day prescription of Ppi......I never took them as I had no idea what gerd was as I had no classic symptoms of heart burn....I had one more episode, went to er....and they said to take a acid blocker.....so I trie and it made me feel like someone was filling me full of air that I could not release, so stopped that got away. Since then I have a daily feeling of a lump in throats when swallowing......on occasion I get burning upper back pain, and sometimes I feel like gas is getting trapped....it is worse wen I feel stressed out, over tired, or is I eat things that I probably shouldn't. As for healing, I guess it depends on the person.....how much dedication of changing lifestyle, diet, and reducing stress. I have a. Referral to go for a modified barium swallow test where they focus on the throat...as that seems to be where I feel it the most....if that is normal then I will request an upper GI X-ray.
PPIs don't have any affect on LPR symptoms because they can be caused by non acidic gastric contents too. Only Prokinetic drugs works by temporarily increasing LES pressure. Problem is no doc will prescribe that for more than a month because it has serious side effects, way more adverse than PPIs.
Hi Linda,
Thanks for sharing your experiences. I hope you manage to get to the bottom of your problems, it sounds as though you're headlining in the right direction.
The one thing I have noticed about this condition, it does rule your life and makes your mind very active in terms of thinking negatively (may be the meds).
There's no doubt that sharing your experiences helps as at least you're able to hear what other people are experiencing and realise you're not alone.
Thanks Linda
Hi Kate,
Thanks for your reply. You wouldn't think that LPR could cause all these problems but it's not until you start reading about it that you're able to understand why you have to keep it in check.
It sounds to me that you're doing exactly the right things. I do hope that you're able to beat it.
I'm heading for a strict diet with PPI's one in the morning and night, Gaviscon advance after meals and before bedtime in the hope that i'll get some peace from it.
I know that PPI's don't cure or heal LPR/GERD but from what I've read they will surprise the acid to allow healing to take place. 28days is the minimal time it takes to start healing and in some cases three months, that's of course the pepsin is not leaking out.
Have you or anyone you know tried Alkaline water?
Also do you find chewing gum helps? I do and I also get relief from the lump in the throat sensation and burning. I'm told it produces saliva which prevents the pepsin from activating.
Have you heard this too?
Thanks,
Simon
Hi Ashley,
Thanks for your reply. You're right they don't. From what I've read they're prescribed to suppress the acid in your stomach to try and reduce the amount of acid containing pepsin are refluxed. As you state and I agree this is not a cure but more of a part of a treatment plan that you have to sign up for in order to try and combat the effects.
I have found the PPI to assist in getting rid of the burning chest but I find that Gaviscon Advance is really beneficial. I take it 15 minutes after meals and before sleep.
Have you tried Alkaline water? I'm interested on some forums that this assists some who drink and inhale it as a vapour. Have you tried this?
Many thanks,
Simon
Hi Simon. I haven't tried alkaline water. I did try aloe vera juice but stopped it as I didn't notice any significant improvement for my symptoms.
Hi Simon
I doubt I'm doing everything right as I'm still suffering so much but I would do anything to be free of it, I often worry about what damage is being done to my oesophagus and stomach, I try to not think of it, I get too frightened, from all I read on posts tho, diet is a big factor, it's very hard to be good all the time
Hi Kate,
I agree it is very hard to be good all the time and just when you start to feel a little better i’ll eat something that puts me right back at the beginning.
I also find it strange that some foods are tolerated by others but for me they’re awful and cause great pain.
Do you have any luck with chewing gum? This seems to alleviate the discomfort for a while but then it returns.
Moving around a lot also makes me aware of the lump in my throat. I can be walking along and then out of no where the sensation will be there. Strange though that it’s not there in the morning???
It is scary stuff and this in itself can cause the stresses that make the situation a lot worse. Catch 22!
Did you have the trans nasal examination rather than the camera down the throat option? If so what was your experience?
Many thanks
Simon
Hi Simon
I don't know what trans nasal is, but I have had camera down three times, and also a panendoscooy where they put a long steel rod down to examine a part of the throat that cannot be seen on any scan, my throat was fine tg despite the fact that I had a very sore throat for, 4 months, the scopes revealed 3cm hiatus hernia and inflammation I also had a thoracic spine mri because of the awful pain between my shoulder blades
Thanks Ashley.
Again some people find great relief from the aloe juice and others like yourself don’t.
I’m going to start on the Alkaline water next week (once the jug arrives)
I get the impression it’s trial and error to find what works.
I’ll keep you posted if the water works!
Hi Kate,
Apologies, it’s where they use a thin flexible tube and rather than go through the mouth they use the nose. Apparently it’s meant to bypass the gag reflux.
It sounds as though your specialists are trying to get all the answers they can in order to try and fix you.
I do hope you’re able to find some comfort from them being so thorough.
Simon
Oh yes Simon had that done on first consultation with the ent surgeon, he suggested the panendoscooy and did it on Xmas eve, I couldn't swallow for almost a week it was so sore
Hi Simon, I purchased an alkaline water system three weeks before I got the GERD attack and now LPR symptoms. I also drank every morning celery juice on an empty stomach....I did all this for another health issue I was dealing with. Three weeks after I was hit with crazy chest pain...and then constant lump feeling. I wondered if I had made my stomach too alkaline......as I don't have the classic burning sensation.....I started adding other water in the mix but still continue to drink alkaline water from the water system as I paid a costly price for it. I am not sure it is helping the situation or making it worse.....I know there are minerals in the water as well so it might have been the minerals who knows......
Hi Kate...did the MRI show anything. I was having upper back pain and still do on occasion but not as excessive as before, I asked for an MRI but was told I had to have an xray first....so I did, the xray showed nothing, but I did have a slight curve in my lower back, so they did not feel it was necessary to order an MRI.....grrrrr....! I find it hard to distinguish if the upper back pain is muscle/nerve pain, or a reffered pain from GERD. I do find when I apply heat it feels a lot better, so that makes me think it is more muscle related. I question if I have a hiatal hernia as sometimes I feel like there is a dull pressure pain in my diaphragm especially if I am over working my muscles. I have't gone for any testing to find this out....yet!!! I spent all last year doing every other test under the sun so I needed a break as my stress levels were getting intense. I will be going for a modified barium swallow to watch my swallowing and check to see if there is anything causing the lump sensation......if not then I will ask for them to investigate the esphagus and stomach.....sigh.....it just seems never ending and not an easy diagnosis.
Hi Linda
Mri showed nothing, the endoscopy showed hernia, you should push for endoscopy, at least you would know how things are in there and get peace of mind
They have offered it to me, but unfortunately I have heard nightmares about it, the worst one was my aunt's father died while having it done. Not sure if it was the procedure itself or the sedation.....where I live they only do them sedated....my husband just had one a few months ago as he has suffered heart burn for over 20 years...and he felt quite a bit of it and he was sedated.....he had scarring on his esophagus, and some gastritis and they never did a biopsy.....so I am not sure that the doctors that do them in our area are educated on what to look for.....I would think if there is scarring on the esophagus a biopsy should have been done....so I don't want to go through all that and make my anxiety worse if they don't do the test proper......I will however ask for an upper GI x-ray, it is the lessor of the invasive tests and it will show if there is a hernia........so that will be my new year round of testing......after that, I hope to just move foreward with peace of mind and work to keep my body in tact and healthy as it can be.