Hey All,
I really would love some advice as I have bad LPR symptoms every single day and its taking over my life.
MY symptoms started about 5 months ago in Dec 2019. My biggest problem is feeling like its hard to breathe or having the feeling of something in my throat. I have to burp constant to get a breathe through. I don’t have a cough or issues with my voice box like many others though. After meals or when laying down at night seemed the be the most common times I have issues but it also happens other times too.
I went to a GI in January of 2020 and they suspected EOE because I had that treated about 4 years before and was solved. He then put me on a PPI once a day starting that week and scheduled a endoscopy for 3 weeks later. After being on the PPI for about two 12 days I mentioned to Dr. that I was getting no relief so he suggested to increase PPI to twice a day. By the time my scope appointment came around I was feeling much better which worried me that they wouldn’t see much in scope. The biopsy showed negative on to EOE and didn’t show much Acid either. During these past weeks I also went to an allergist and he did some breathe / asthma test and came back normal. Although my allergist did suggest LPR I figured that GI would be more verse in that field. I also got an x-ray on my lungs and they also showed to be okay from x-ray. I started to read more and more on LPR. I decided to bring the LPR up to my GI but he didn’t think that made sense. It was odd to me he didn’t even entertain it even though I had seen so many similar symptoms. Even when I’d brush my teeth I’d start gagging like I had mucus stock in throat. I read that people with LPR get irritated by the mint in toothpaste.
About 3 more weeks go by then I started getting some dizzy episodes and was convinced by my girlfriend to get off the PPI. I was off the PPI for about 10 days before all of it started to come back and even worsen. I talked to my GI and got back on the PPI. Keep in mind I had been on a very strict diet as if I had LPR because its what I started to believed even though Dr. didn’t agree.
I decided to talk to a GI with more experience who also worked in the same practice. He agreed it sounded like LRP and told me to continue on the meds twice a day for at least 3-4 more months. He assured me I wouldn’t feel like this forever and it will go away but would have to string off the PPI slowly because many patients relapse and get worse symptoms after coming off all at once. Its been about two months of me being back on this PPI and honestly I think I’ve gotten a tad better but still have issues every single day with some be worse than others. I haven’t had Coffee, Alcohol, Acidic Foods, for almost 5 months now and in last two months cut out other things like fatty proteins, fried foods, raw onions, fatty dairy and limiting cheese. I’m so strict with food that I’ve dropped 16 LB’s in 2 months but doesn’t seem to be working enough. I’m just now introducing alkaline water into my diet as some believe that it helps reduce pepsin which is what causes LPR.
Anyways, I really wanted to see if anyone had similar symptoms to mine and had something work? This is effecting my life some much and making it very hard to stay positive. I’m really desperate from some relief and hope that someone can give me some good advice. I’m terrified that this is something I’ll have to deal with forever. If anyone can shed some light on this I’d really appreciate it