u/pinkcall

I’ve been having problems with my voice (fatigue and sounding airy) since the beginning of this year and I just thought it was acid reflux. To be honest I’m sure all of this was caused by acid reflux but anyway, I just got the diagnosis of muscle tension dysphonia on Thursday and I feel like it’s made my symptoms 100x worse. Now every time i speak i over analyze every little thing about my voice and feel like there’s a giant knot in my throat. Been trying laryngeal massages, breath work, and SOVT exercises while I wait to get into an SLP but honestly i feel like the mental aspect has now really gotten to me. I feel like if i speak or sing the “wrong” way i’m going to ruin my voice forever and set my voice back in terms of healing. If anyone has any tips on how they dealt with their MTD, whether physically or mentally, i’d be all ears.

I (25F) was put on 40 mg of omeprazole by an ENT because he thought I had LPR. Took it once a day for about 4-6 weeks. He took me off of it because he now thinks I have something entirely unrelated to LPR (didn’t even recommend a taper, which is crazy after reading up on it). I did taper over a month and a half and started having bad rebound symptoms a week after starting. The first 4 weeks were brutal: constant burning, bloating, and burping. 5th and 6th week I noticed that my symptoms seemed to be improving to the point that I didn’t need Gaviscon to function and thought “wow this is finally over”. Well, end of 6th going into this 7th week my symptoms have been horrible. Kinda feels as intense as it did during those first 4 weeks but I’ve tried to stay strong and not go back on them. Pepcid and Gaviscon have been my lifeline this past week. Needless to say I will never touch another PPI and will be going to see a different ENT.

With that being said, I honestly don’t know what to do anymore. It feels like this will never end. I’ve had to put my life on pause for the last 2 months because of this and it’s affected my mental health a lot. It normally would be something I could handle but I am a professional singer at the height of my career and the rebound reflux has really done a number on my voice. It’s been really awkward having to explain to my boss and collaborators why I can’t work every time the rebound gets worse after feeling better for a day or two. I’ve even been following a strict bland diet and it’s still debilitating in some moments. I just want my life back. I never felt like this before starting Omeprazole. I know everyone’s different but when did things start to look up for you in your PPI rebound journey? Hoping someone can give me some hope.

Got put on 40 mg of omeprazole for suspected LPR. ENT didn’t want me on them long term and they weren’t doing much for me anyway so he advised me to stop (didn’t even recommend a taper, but glad I researched and did!!). I know PPI’s are a common way to treat LPR so I was just wondering how many of you have taken a PPI and stopped and how long your rebound was. Did your LPR symptoms ever get better either? Currently going through a rebound right now!

It feels like there’s no end to this. I can’t tell if it’s still rebound from the PPI or something else caused by the PPI but one thing I do know is that I NEVER felt like this before getting on this medication. It’s been quite debilitating because I haven’t been able to work for the past 6 weeks (I am a professional singer) due to the rebound reflux making my voice feel worse than before this all started on some days. I wish I would’ve never taken it. If anyone has something that worked for them post PPI’s or any recommendations I’d love to hear them.

Little backstory: I went to the ENT because of some changes in my voice. The ENT did do a laryngoscopy but didn’t see anything too out of the ordinary other than some mucus on my vocal cords. He said he didn’t really know what it could be so he prescribed me 40 mg of Omeprazole to see what would happen. I was on it for about 5-6 weeks and decided to taper off. It’s been 2 months since and it’s been absolute misery. The first 4 were the worst, last week was bearable and I thought I was finally done, but then this week it came back with a vengeance. I feel like my whole digestive system has been thrown off (constantly burping, bloated, constipated) and no matter what I eat it’s still there. I’m just confused because I wasn’t even on them for that long and most people who have severe symptoms seem to have been on them for way longer than I was! I’ve been using stuff like slippery elm bark and reflux raft but my symptoms still seem to break through. When I brought this up to my ENT he just brushed it off and moved on to another diagnosis that I don’t think I even have.