How much should GERD burn?

I have painful burning from stomach acid in my throat 24 hours a day. Sometimes the throat pain is very severe and other times it's less, but the burning is ALWAYS there and always painful to varying degrees. The acid burning my throat makes it impossible for me to ever stay asleep more than a few hours at a time... I wake up constantly throughout the night and I always wake up with extreme pain in my throat. During the periods that I am able to sleep, this burning in my throat causes me to have terrible dreams. I have honestly not had a good, full night's rest since 2005.

This has been going on for over two years and all 5 of the PPI's have been a failure for me. I have been recently scoped by an ENT who said there were no throat ulcers and no sign of cancer. He could only see irritation. I also had an endoscopy last month and nothing sinister was found, only irritation and redness in the lower third of the esophagus.

I know GERD isn't supposed to be a walk in the park, but my symptoms seem to be so outrageously persistant and painful. My burning just never ever subsides, no matter what I take for it, and the pain literally has me in agony much of the time. It feels as if I always have Drano or Liquid Plumber in my throat!

Is mine a common situation for GERD sufferers? Is acid reflux supposed to cause such intense pain and occur all day, every day?

I would appreciate hearing from others who are dealing with this terrible illness, regarding the severity of symptoms. Thank you.

I, too, have burning in my throat every day.  Fortunately, I do not have symptoms at night. I am taking Nexium, 40 mg, once a day. I tried 5 different PPI's, and nexium is the only one that relieved the burning in my chest.  However, it does not relieve the throat burn.  I was told that it is possible that my throat burn is due to non-acid reflux (bile, digestive juices, pancreatic juices, etc). Since Nexium eliminated the burning in my chest (i.e. in my esophagus) I assume this symptom is being caused by acid refulux.  Every Dr. I have been to said that LPR (laryngo pharyngeal reflux) is an atypical GERD symptom and is difficult to treat.  I had a Bravo pH test that indicated I have acid reflux.  But no Dr. thus far has suggested how I could be tested for non-acid reflux. I am considering surgery, (Nissen fundoplication) but I have also read that atypical GERD symptoms are less likely to respond to surgery. Have you considered surgery?

Ralmat...sorry for the misunderstanding, but my comment on PPI's was intended for babygirl1234, who posted after you did.  I should have written her name in my post.

I agree with your concern regarding surgery. I recently had the Esophyx procedure performed (4 weeks ago).  Esophyx is an endoscopic procedure that is meant to recreate the LES valve.  From literature I had read, the success rate was claimed to be 85%.  While I have had no side effects, I  have also had no symptom relief.

Hi Ralmat,

re: Insurance payment for Esophyx: my insurance covered it completely.  I have Medicare (paid 80%) and Madigap (Blue Cross/Blue Shield) which covered the additional 20%.  I know that Oxford does not cover the procedure.  I saw the same post you did, and that person had Oxford Ins.

My surgeon performed the procedure on 20 patients prior to me and he said that all felt better (most no longer needed to take PPI's, while a few were able to reduce their meds). I have read that the procedure has an 85% success rate so I guess I am in the unlucky 15%

Thanks for your sympathy. I appreciate it.

Ralmat,

In answer to your question about the feasibillty of having a Nissen fundo performed post-esophyx, below is a post (which I copied and pasted from a different heartburn forum) from someone in the UK who had the esophyx procedure in Europe about 6 mos ago.  As you probably know, the clinical trials were conducted in Europe 2006-7 and the procedure was recently approved by the FDA in the States.  This person emailed the Dr. who performed the Esophyx procedure on him.  Like me, this person had no improvement in reflux symptoms since his procedure.