r/LPR

A few months back (May), I developed ineffective esophageal motility; most likely from this condition. I cut out ANY possible triggers. Garlic, onion, anything spicy, citrus, chocolate, etc. And I’m on a liquids and soft foods diet as a result of my esophageal motility so that’s been really hard. I started sleeping elevated, don’t lay down right after eating, haven’t overeaten at all, I take a stronger PPI (dexilant), use gaviscon after dinner and before going to sleep. I also started using sucralfate to protect my esophagus. I am doing EVERYTHING I can. For a long time, I felt myself getting better. But every now and then, I still get random bouts of reflux out of nowhere. I get the phlegmy throat, the soreness, even my swallowing starts to take a hit again. But NOTHING has changed. I did just get my gallbladder out, so maybe it’s bile reflux, but there’s no metallic taste in my mouth. And it’s not consistent.

Are random bouts of reflux just inevitable? Am I just going to have periods where I still get symptoms no matter what? Or is the healing still happening? It’s been about 5 months of this, but maybe it’s going to take even longer?

My doctor has prescribed me lansoprazole too see if it helps with suspected silent reflux. I have often had a tendency to need to clear my throat frequently, so thought for a while I may have this.

The most difficult symptom I’m dealing with though is my voice! It’s not hoarse, but I can’t speak without this feeling that my voice is fatigued and this horrible achey feeling in my throat.

It started off that I would struggle finishing reading a story to the kids, I stopped reading stories 6-8 weeks ago because of this, thinking it would improve. It’s got worse though!

This past week has been awful and it’s progressed from speaking normally day to day but having to limit phone calls and not talk continuously, like reading a book aloud… to 7 days later, I can say about 5 words in the morning pain free and that’s it for the rest of the day.

I’m having to use text to voice on my phone to talk to my kids. It’s so hard and I’m devastated.

- Has anyone else had voice changes similar?
- Did you manage to fix it and how?
- Or does this sound like something more sinister that I need to get checked?

27M, 167cm, 82kg.

Been dealing with this for over 5 years and would love some outside opinions.

The cough: Productive, with phlegm, and worse at noon.

The weird parts:

- When I travel abroad it disappears completely. Like fully gone. Back home, it returns within days.
- Way worse when I sleep on my right side.
- PPIs help.
- Allergy test came back zero, but cetirizine still clearly helps my post-nasal drip.

What's been done: My internist thinks it's LPR (silent reflux). H. pylori breath test was negative (done after properly stopping PPIs). Laryngoscopy is coming up.

Current meds: lansoprazole, Vometa (domperidone), Dogmatil (sulpiride), Disflatyl (simethicone), plus cetirizine and saline spray. After about a month the reflux/stomach stuff is noticeably better, but the post-nasal drip hangs around.

Questions:

- What should I do next?
- Could this be two problems at once, like reflux plus non-allergic rhinitis?
- Any other tests worth asking for? Sinus CT, pH monitoring?

TL;DR: 5+ year chronic cough with phlegm, worse at night, gone whenever I travel, better on PPIs and cetirizine despite a negative allergy test. Suspected LPR, laryngoscopy pending. Wondering if it's reflux, the environment, or both.

Anyone been through something similar? Thanks!

#chroniccough #LPR #silentreflux #GERD #postnasaldrip #rhinitis

I'm writing on behalf of my wife who's had a problem for almost a year now, but most intensely in the past 3 months or so. My wife has lost 45 pounds since this all started and has regular problems eating most foods. She was drinking heavily for about four months because of an unrelated pain issue and started spitting as she ate. She could eat most foods then but as soon as she quit drinking, the conditions quickly worsened so that most foods triggered immediate accumulation of phlegm - ice cream, yogurt and tapioca being exceptions for the most part. Her symptoms get worse as the day goes on but she has no problem once she lies down, slightly elevated, and sleeps all night. She doesn't get any heartburn.

She's had an endoscopy and barium swallow test, neither of which showed any problems. She's had medications for nasal issues, nervous issues and for reflux. Gaviscon works off and on but sort of pointless because you can't take it before eating. She's trying to get into seeing an ENT but that isn't easy here in London, Ontario. Could be months away.
A very frustrating part in all of this is that no doctor she's seen so far has a clue. All we got from our gastroenterologist was the suggestion to double her PPIs. the family doctor has tried various things including nasal sprays and antihistamines, but no effect.

It seems like the drinking may have been the cause for her problems so it may be that she just has to wait until any throat damage done by drinking heals. She also had trouble accepting a hearing aid in one ear, the right side which may be rubbing on the vagus nerve which also is often cited as a related issue for lpr also since this nerve passes by the throat.

Any suggestions for what to do next?

Hello everyone

Im 38y old m and I have lpr for 6 month now.

It all started with a sensation of a lump in my throat, followed by a feeling of mucus. Now I have post-nasal drip and sometimes ear pressure when I swallow (though that happens rarely).

I sleep elevated head, eat dinner early etc.

I quit vaping ,carbonic acid, Chocolate and coffee.

I eat a low acid diet.

But i have a question about the trigger foods.

How can I figure out my trigger foods? Over what timeframe do the symptoms worsen? My symptoms don't change much throughout the day. Please help.

Sorry for my bad Englisch