Daily Struggle - LPR Advice Please

[elbow_geese]

Hello Forum,


My Name is Kyle, I am 22 Years old.

First of all, let me give you some background information that will help you to understand why I am having such difficulty with this.

I am a very anxious person sometimes, the fidgety type, ex-smoker of 7 Years (recently quit!)

at the beginning of the year, I was struggling with what I assume was an Internal Hemmaroiod which was making my health anxiety go wild. my Girlfriend Also 22 was diagnosed with Cancer and she is Currently undergoing treatment. Now I have a real issue with this after family members passing a way. It makes me lose my mind in worry.

Straight after finding out this horrible news, I started to get this really awful throat thingy (March), Now I have done my research. and I have read basically every post regarding Globus, LPR, GERD and all the rest of it.

I went to the doctors they tested me for gastritis and few other general checks. and I was informed it was all negative and I was fine. my Nurse also found out about the situation with my Girlfriend and then I was asked 'Am I sad etc'. This immediately rang alarm bells in my head because I know that some practices have a hobbit of throwing Citalopram/fluoxetine at any and all problems. (No Thanks)

Eventually, I give up. I find myself burping a lot, but it's not exactly burping, it's more like an inward burp? (imagine a plunger and the effect a plunger has, that is how it feels)

So I start to take Gaviscon, Ranitidine (Zantac) to see if that helps. This does nothing.

So I change practices and get a second opinion in June, I tell my doctor everything, he says it sounds like LPR. Which I am okay with if thats what it is. so how do I fix it?

I have Tried Diet changes, I drink less beer. I am currently on 20mg Omeprazole Daily.

I can live with the burping and all the rest of it. but this tight throat thing is awful. really really awful.

In the Morning when I wake up I don't notice it. It gets progressively worse throughout the day, and then in the evening, it starts to settle down a bit. I can eat okay and sometimes when I eat my Lunch the feeling goes away! but it usually comes back around 45 minutes after food.

Thoughts?

[somethingsomething]

hey man I can relate exactly what you're going through. I'm truly sorry to hear about your girlfriend hope she makes a steady recovery.

I'm 22 as well and started this self diagnosed 'LPR' around January after a nasty food poisoning. I've been to so many doctors that they told me and after all the tests in the world got told there is nothing and I have an anxiety disorder and acid reflux. I was put on omeprazole, raniditine and nexium as well as kept swallowing bottles of gaviscon advance and an extremely healthy diet. I had to give up smoking too and switched to vaping. None of this stuff helped!

However, like you I've been going through a very tough time, and I decided to take a break from everything and escape. I started practicing meditation, exercising and a steady healthy diet without any medicine and it worked! I was symptom free for around 4 months because I forced myself to be happy.

However, I was on some painkillers because of an injury and it all started again :(
i'm thinking because this injury really set me back and I cannot do anything at all until I get better. Currently I'm typing this with a huge painful lump in my throat and chest pain. This lump is making me feel nauseous and I'm trying really hard no to think about it and keep busy.

But what I have learnt from this is that it is truly to do with your mood. I also read that stress and anxiety can start and aggravate this and I can relate to it, however for me it came back, definitely because life is stressing me out right now.
Now I'm trying to solve everything that is wrong in my life and hope it gets better, hang in there. As uncomfortable as it is, it gets better.

[Fishmanpa]

Try this...

Cut out alcohol totally and follow the FODMAP diet. Keep a journal of your food and liquid intake and make note of the things that aggravate your reflux. Follow it strictly for at least a month and I'm quite sure the symptoms will abate.

Most of all speak to your GP about your anxiety and see if you can get a referral for therapy and ask about meds in the mean time to help give your brain a rest. The throat tightening is definitely an anxiety symptom based on the pattern it follows.

Positive thoughts

[elbow_geese]

HI Both,

Thank you for your response, I will keep everyone up to date with the progress as it goes. I think it may be LPR as a symptom of an anxiety issue.

The Reason I say this, This weekend I have not noticed any issues with it, Was out with my friends, had some alcohol (not too much) saw my girlfriend and had a good time all around.

Friday I went to the Nurse for a Health check who said my health was normal, but my blood pressure was slightly higher than it should be for someone my age.

Now it's Monday and I am at my desk. and the lump in the throat is bothering me, why? because I'm more conscious of it I think?

Doctors want me to do 1 month more of omezrapole so I will continue with that and update on what happens as I go.

- Kyle

[somethingsomething]

HI Both,

Thank you for your response, I will keep everyone up to date with the progress as it goes. I think it may be LPR as a symptom of an anxiety issue.

The Reason I say this, This weekend I have not noticed any issues with it, Was out with my friends, had some alcohol (not too much) saw my girlfriend and had a good time all around.

Friday I went to the Nurse for a Health check who said my health was normal, but my blood pressure was slightly higher than it should be for someone my age.

Now it's Monday and I am at my desk. and the lump in the throat is bothering me, why? because I'm more conscious of it I think?

Doctors want me to do 1 month more of omezrapole so I will continue with that and update on what happens as I go.

- Kyle

Do let us know! My throat lump has gone miraculously after I switched from wholegrains to normal grains and I got busy and forgot about it. I also experience horrible stabbing stomach pains and I believe mines caused by gastritis or something similar because mine started again after I took some painkillers for a week or so. It's so stressing :shrug:

[elbow_geese]

Hi Guys,

So to keep you updated.

Things I have Noticed:

** It's Worse during work or the day time
** Better at the weekends than the weekdays
** better if I have a beer, but worse a few hours after the beer
** Goes away when I sleep
** barely noticeable when I wake up
** LPR seems to cause Tonsil Stones (I don't think its the other way around)



The throat is driving me crazy, it's like a really sore throat at the moment. I keep getting Tonsil Stones as well which I have put down to a symptom of the LPR. So to resolve that I've been gargling salt water, I bought a mouth irrigator as well after some information suggesting that it helps.

Things I am doing:

** Using a Wedge Pillow at night
** Taking 20mg Omezrapole daily
** Quit Smoking (Use a nicotine inhaler sometimes)
** Hardly Drink Alcohol
** Drinking Green Tea and Ginger Tea
** Cut Coffee Completely
** Trying to increase healthy foods and eliminate anything that may trigger it (Garlic, Onion Tomato)
**Eating More Melon, low-fat Natural Yoghurt and Honey.
** Attempting to Destress myself, Although I am quite a stress prone person.

Considering booking another doc appointment to get an endoscopy planned. Anything I can be doing to get this healed?

Will this go away in time?

[Fishmanpa]

Anything I can be doing to get this healed?

Will this go away in time?

Yes, if you continue to change your lifestyle and eating habits, the reflux can be controlled. I stand by my previous post and advice. Having suffered for years with reflux, it was finding a med that helped (Protonix) and following the FODMAP diet that really helped. It took a few months but everything settled down and I've nary had an issue since.

Positive thoughts

[elbow_geese]

Did you find it difficult to change your lifestyle, I'm 23 and I have to say the hardest thing to change is Drinking, do you drink at all? or have you had to stop completely?

I should be clear, I am in no way an alcoholic and I do not drink every day. But I do drink every week.

The problem I am finding is changing all these things that I enjoy is actually causing me more stress.

[Fishmanpa]

Did you find it difficult to change your lifestyle, I'm 23 and I have to say the hardest thing to change is Drinking, do you drink at all? or have you had to stop completely?

I should be clear, I am in no way an alcoholic and I do not drink every day. But I do drink every week.

The problem I am finding is changing all these things that I enjoy is actually causing me more stress.

I certainly was a wild one in the past but it was those very things that contributed to the physical issues I deal with today. For all intents and purposes, due to the medications I take for my physical issues, I don't drink. What I mean is that I will indulge in "a" beer, maybe two, 2x a month with a good meal. I don't drink spirits and I have difficulty with wine so that's gone too.

I get that at 23 the social aspects of alcohol and food are prevalent but if you're finding a correlation (keep that food and beverage journal) between a few beers and added reflux, it's a no brainer.

Based on your post, the pattern of how and when it affects you is definitely stress related IMO. Getting help for your anxiety will also treat the physical ramifications of it as well.

Positive thoughts

[somethingsomething]

i have tried making lifestyle changes, but it did not actually help it made it worse. maybe because these lifestyle changed are seriously making me depressed about how i cannot do this or that without worrying. i have an endoscopy planned soon and i hope i can finally get to the bottom of this too. i have also gone back to my every day life and i noticed that it does not make much difference.

i have also been doing a lot of research and some people have described that their symptoms of LPR went away with antidepressants. i will look into this more. find it very suspicious on this because LPR is more prominent in people over the age of 50.

[elbow_geese]

I too have an endoscopy booked.

Started getting headaches last week so I went to the doc again, They have decided that due to the fact i have been on the omezrapole for over a month and the symptoms have not changed, they can justify the endoscopy. had a blood test as well for everything under the sun i think.

Waiting to see what those results are, I personally think this is all anxiety. I've had a tough year. a really tough year. I am anxious about health issues anyway. I think my body is reacting to the high levels of stress I have been under.

I have stopped taking the omezrapole. no difference really. wake up with slightly more mucus that normal.

The new thing is the headaches. sudden random dizzyness for maybe 5 seconds. and a feeling of dred. I think this is a panic attack. but I do not know.

the way I see it. I was fine before. I will find a way to be fine again.

[elbow_geese]

Just to Keep you all updated,

I finally had my Nasal Endoscopy and this has confirmed LPR or Silent Reflux.

I will now attempt to make changes to fix this.

Thanks all.

[AQ]

Glad you finally confirmed what it was.
I've had a chronic tightness in my throat for over a year now and it's been driving me insane. For a long time I was convinced that it was LPR, however after 6 months of taking omeprazole and after finding that the diet didn't make any difference I stopped.
Despite this though, apparently stress in general can cause a lot of things to happen in your throat muscles (or so the doctors tell me), and I've also seen many stories of people getting rid of their LPR symptoms from taking antidepressants. I know it's not exactly the same, but I do believe that there is a huge link between globus and lpr.
I'm going to try and look for some herbal remedies for my throat tightness. As of now, I've tried taking both valerian root and l-theanine but I still haven't gotten any results yet. However, if I do find something that works I will make a post about it.
Anyway, really hope you guys find a cure!

[exbenzo]

Hey all, I'm also struggling with this.

- my throat is sore / inflammed daily, getting worse after meal
- therefore, my ears and eyes also sore
- frequent choking / losing breath / wake up during the night sleep
- warm fluid in right throat-ear
- stomach gurgling which goes up to the throat. Sometimes it's just in the thoat

And, yeah, I guess anxiety plays huge part to my throat

@Fishmanpa: I read about your low FODMAP suggestion. Could you tell me how many years have you been dealing with:
- reflux
- is it LPR
- taking meds (I read you take it like a candy in one of your posts)

After I read more about FODMAP I immediately tried eliminating just some foods and I think I feel better, GERD-wise. The problem here is that I think I have histamine intolerance too, as whenever I eat things like lime etc. that has high histamine on them, I got LPR / allergic reaction. I know doing both low FODMAP and histamine diet can really deplete me, but I'm willing to do anything to control my GERD as I'm really frustrated knowing that, medically-wise, GERD can only be cured with surgery. At least, I think I'm going a bit aggresive toward my diet for now, and then later I can add again more heathy foods.

Thanks all.

[elbow_geese]

Hi Guys,

Unlikely anyone following this thread will see this,

a few days off two years ago I posted last and I wanted to give a follow up. Mainly because it would appear on most LPR related threads, you never get that follow up. and people spend forever searching for some form of helpful or even positive story.

* I want to start off by making it very clear I am not a medical professional, please take the following as a matter of opinion coupled with personal experiance. NOT fact.

After having some inspiriation this evening I wanted to let you all know that in the last 6 months. My symptoms have vanished. they were slowly easing off for almost a year with a few (shall we say) relapses here and there.

So what has changed with me in that time?

Well a fair bit.

- Girlfriend (Now Ex-girlfriend, Is happy and well)
- I have switched jobs and moved to a new city.
- Still Smoke (Booo!)

I genuinely am enjoying my day to day a lot more than i was two years ago.

I tried and tried all these different things people suggest.

I have probably spent close to 1000 on random LPR cure stuff. Every pill known to man. every supplement, pillow,diet book, akaline water brand. you name it.

But I can only credit my current lpr remission to one thing. I stopped giving it my time. I stopped fixating on forums, posts and the fear of OMG this is awful. and eventually i forgot about it.
now I appreciate that some people have this worse than others. what works for some will not work for others etc etc. but I think there is definately something worth considering when it comes to stress/anxiety and its manifestation.

I will update with any further updates if I ever need to.

"Sick and tired of being sick & tired"

Life ain't always a party but we gotta do it because its required.

[Lin71]

Hi Kyle

I'm really glad you posted this update and so pleased you're feeling better!
I don't post much here anymore but I check back on this forum occasionally, as many years ago I had throat issues which stemmed from a choking incident and more recently (last 2.5 years) I've had very similar issues to you. I remember reading your original post. Like you, my problems were narrowed down to LPR although I've never been convinced of this because NONE of the LPR remedies (drugs or diet) ever made the slightest difference and I still have the symptoms. Tight throat, constant discomfort, feeling like I need to clear throat all the time and constantly trying not to. Like you, my symptoms disappear when I go to bed and for the first 2 hours or so when I get up. I'm sure it's all anxiety related as sometimes the symptoms also disappear if I'm really concentrating hard on something else. I'm a lot older than you, but having this for nearly 3 years now is really wearing me down. It was good to read your post and know that someday this might disappear. So yes, someone is reading and is grateful for the update :)

I'm glad things are ok with your ex girlfriend too.

Best wishes
Lin

[Annie0904]

I know it's a while since you posted but I searched for LPR and found your thread. I have been diagnosed with this by ENT and waiting for an appointment for endoscopy. I am really anxious about what they might find and I know this is making me worse. Omeprazole doesn't seem to be helping and I have been on the low FODMAP diet for 2 years for IBS.

[Dasani95]

Thanks for the follow up, Kyle. Glad to hear you’re doing better. Keep us posted.

[elbow_geese]

Hello Wonderful People of NoMorePanic!

Its been a while, But once again I will add a followup post to this thread and Encourage others to also share some positive stories relating to their LPR, or Ask questions as neccesary! its great to see some people continue to reply to this really old thread. and the idea that it might help someone somewhere one day is amazing.

Well lets see, I am 29 Years old now!

As you can imagine, many changes have occured in my life since my last post in 2019!

But to summarise -

* Bought a house in a new area
* New Job
* Vape instead of smoking these days
* Still Drink Socially and have a taste for the whiskey!
* Still get acid reflux if i eat poorly. i.e don't eat all day then have alcohol & Pizza in the evening. (big mistake)

The only thing that works for my acid reflux is Gaviscon Advanced Formula (the one with the red banner)

- - - - - - -

Continuing to enjoy life in general as much as possible, I am adamant at this stage that my LPR symptoms are brought on by large amounts of stress built up over time. Has anyone seen the episode of the Simpsons where Ned Flanders loses it and goes on a spree after being so nice all the time? Its kind of like that i think.

LPR for me is a symptom, the acid reflux and Gerd and Globus feeling is brought on by the stress that honestly can sometimes be invisible. I have felt like i am not stressed and actually i am. something i learnt recently is that Stress in general isn't neceserily concsious.

I realised that i had a tendancy to avoid difficult situations and conversations in my life, and tried to avoid dealing with things i deemed where too difficult to deal with. this is a HUGE mistake. those small things add up and suddenly you are a ball of stress and you don't even know it!

I also wanted to add another thing i found out last year which may/may not be relevent and worth checking.

Check your ears people!

There is a reason ENT specialists deal with LPR. the whole system is connected. I found out after having some annoying blockage in my left ear that both my ears were extremely blocked with wax and I booked to get microsuction to solve it. anyway the point of this is to say that after that blockage was removed, I genuinely felt better. less headaches, less dizziness at random times of the day.

Its not directly connected to some of the LPR symptoms but its another thing worth checking out some time.

Anyway I have probably ranted on for long enough.

keep well everyone!

- Kyle