Hot liquids intolerance / hoarse voice/ puzzled

Hi all,
Since getting sick with the 3-b's, I've had some pretty bad gastritis and hoarse voice. I figured that the hoarseness came from gerd as sometimes I have discomfort under my sternum at the same time the gastritis is nagging. I had an upper gi recently and the esophagus looked normal with no erosions or apparent inflammation. There was some inflammation and a couple of mild erosions in the stomach and lower esophageal sphincter. No hiatal hernia. Basically, the Dr report said unremarkable.

I also saw an ent who scoped my larynx and found no evidence of erosions from reflux. What he did find though was some atrophy / paresis to the right vocal cord. I'm a speech therapist by trade so I know some about the anatomy and physiology of the upper digestive tract, larynx and mouth.

So seeing the atrophy on the vocal cord, I ask myself hmmm, could this be a palsy of the superior or recurrent laryngeal nerve? The hoarseness in intermittent but I've noticed it worse when I drink hot liquids. I rarely drink anything hot any more because it also makes my feel dizzy and I get a feeling of malaise and brain fog. I've only just recognized the pattern of hoarseness brought on by hot liquids. Needless to say, I don't drink much hot liquid these days but "oy loves me tea" and miss it.

The laryngeal nerves are branches of the vagus nerve, a cranial nerve that wanders all over and also affects the heart and viscera as well. The vagus may well be the major pathway in the gut brain connection.

I get how hot tea would irritate the stomach given the erosions, and thus send distress signals to the brain via the vagus nerve and trigger the malaise and dizziness. What puzzles me is how the hot liquids would aggravate the laryngeal nerves given there's no esophageal erosion? The ent had no curiosity about this when I asked. I don't believe it practical or possible to do nerve conduction studies on laryngeal nerves for a relatively mild voice disorder. So I'm left to ponder. I've read that bell's palsy isn't uncommon with Lyme and that is definitely a cranial nerve disorder. Maybe this is a vagus nerve palsy?

Has anyone here had similar problems with hoarseness /hot liquid intolerance /gastritis with similar symptoms cluster? Is this part of Lyme?

Thanks.
Best Regards,
David

I've always had acid reflux. Eventually a Dr. recommended raising the head of my bed, which took care of that problem.

But Lyme and co., I've had throat problems related to it 'spasming' when I try to drink hot liquids, inability to carry on conversations for more than 20 or 30 minutes without hoarseness setting in. Sometimes I had trouble finishing a sentence because my voice box would just poop out on me.

I did see my dr. about some of this when I noticed (and others) that my voice had dropped a few octaves.
Nobody could find what they were looking for, like nodules, etc.

The Dr. did try to blame it on the short course of Fosamax an earlier MD had prescribed me. I say short course because my second week of dosage parralized my vocal chords.

At that time I was under the belief that my Lyme was negative, and it was also before my CDC pos. RMSF. But since everything but the laryngitis predated the Fosamax that leads me back to Lyme or co infection.


Gastritis is a common complaint with us, whether from the infections themselves, or from treatment messing up our gut flora.

Have you tried D-Limonene?

Astroman (forum member) swears by it for acid reflux.

Might be worth a try.

I am sorry your voice has gone on sabbatical. Hopefully it will return at some point. I have sporadic hoarseness but I hadn't yet associated it with my lyme & co. I will pay more attention.

my gastritis I can usually control by food elimination. Not always, but usually. I have eaten my last potato chip... ;-)

I did the D-Limonene for acid reflux that lyme created. It is amazing stuff!