Possible GERD: is here an OTC med to try?

elena88 wrote:hi there..

just tossing this out there.. my experience..

coughing, lump in the back of the throat... choking on vitamins, food, drinks..

it was LPR acid reflux of the larynx..

Doctor said, its nothing to full around with, you can end up with cancer of the larynx if you dont get a handle on it..


ENT with camera scope found it.. have had many friends who had it, but were all misdiagnosed several times because they were not
scoped with a camera..

I don't really want to hijack someone else's thread, but... I've had similar symptoms for months. Whenever I to do anything resembling exercise, the irritation just below my voice box results in a hacking cough and more irritation. Plus, even when my sinuses are clear, breathing on CPAP is labored because I just can't get enough air through them. At my titrated pressure of 6 Ifeel like a fish out of water. My "ramp" has become putting the machine on mask fit (a pressure of 10 for 10 minutes) while I try to to to sleep.

Monday I had a Nuclear Stress Test. They wanted to stop at 136 bpm, but I talked the Doc into running it up to 170. If I am going to blow a gasket, it would rather it be in the cardiologist's office. Besides, I work outside in the 110 degree heat.

Yesterday I had a colonoscopy. Not related to my throat, but they said I should get it done before I get any older...

Today, my first appointment was with an ENT. I didn't get a real good feeling when I noticed a rack full of brochures about alternatives to CPAP... He sprayed some stuff in my nose that numbed and opened me right up. Then he put a scope through my nostrils, down past my voice box. (I do not know if the scope had a camera.) He said my sinuses are narrow and crooked, but otherwise didn't seem all that impressed with anything he saw. My sinuses were already pretty open this morning because I've been taking Benedryl (on top of Nasonex) for a couple of days. (That's because my daughter asked us to watch the kids a couple of days ago without bothering to tell me and my wife (who has COPD) both kids have strep throat - NOW I HAVE IT.)

Anyway, after he did the scope, the doc acted like he wanted to dismiss me. But I pressed him for a diagnosis and solution. He said if I really want to do something about it, he could order a CTscan of my sinuses and neck. His nurse will set it up and call me. (Soon, I hope.) I may or may not let him cut on me, but at the very least, I want a diagnosis and options for treatnment.

I left his office with a prescription for something called a Methylprednisolone 4mg Dosepak 21's. He said it should relieve the irritation and open my sinuses up.

This afternoon I had an upper GI. The Radiologist had me swallow a thick barium shake while he filmed my throat. Then he moved the scope down to my stomach and mixed a shot glass of something that tasted and fizzed like Alka Seltzer, that I chased with a barium milkshake as fast as I could drink it. As I was drinking it, he said "yes you have reflux, it's coming back up as fast as it went down." After that, he laid down the table and I drank several glasses of the chock tasting stuff while he filmed me in a lot of different positions. I won't find out what his report says until next week.

Gosh, at least you know you have reflux now..

Like OSA, you have to research everything you can, and find out what works for you..

there are many home remedies which work for some people.. they did not for me and I had to turn to the dexilant which is PPI.

The biggest setback I have, is when I lean over.. disaster..
Other than that, things are going great.. my friends that had it did not get instant relief as I did, and it turns out they were all taking
different meds, like blood pressure meds, heart meds, even anti depressants, or anti anxity drugs.. and finally one doctor told one of them
some of these meds make the reflux worse, as they relax your swallowing reflex at night, so the acid has a field day coming up without you
swallowing regularly.. something to think about if you taking some of those meds..

in GERD the acid washed up the esophogus, in LPR it washes all the way up to the larynx.. and that is a hundred times more sensitive to acid
than your esophogus.. Many times with LPR you will not have the classis GERD symptoms, because the acid shoots up so fast, you do not
feel heartburn, that is why a lot of doctors miss the diagnosis.. reflux with no heartburn..
When I first went to the ENT I thought I had, strep throat, tonsillitis and bronchitis.. NO, it was all LPR.. the cough, the sore throat, the lump,
the choking.. I had no temperature either.. the swelling was all around my larynx, and I got to see it on the monitor.. She scoped me with a camera,
then played it back on the computer.. If your ENT used a camera, they would have showed you on a monitor what they were seeing..
I hope you find what works for you.. feel free to pm me and I can tell you what worked for me..

Im in my tenth month of treatment, and Im supposed to be finished in two months, but they say it can be chronic and need to be treated periodically..
after the initial healing process, which takes a year, my ENT said.. I tried to make it happen faster, but she was right..