Voice loss and GERD

From personal experience, this can be LPR.

I've been having this throat/voice issue for 7 years. The ENT said the vocal cords were fine, but the tissues around that area were red and swollen. He couldn't explain why.

Took PPI and different kinds of meds, none of them helped. The impedance test showed that I had 19 episodes of non acid reflux when normal is 1.

Have you done an impedance test?

Dear horse crazy, I too adore horses and have enough land, just not the money to afford the big vet bill. when I feel blue I do go online and look at all the broker horse photos and hope to help them find bail and new homes.
Yikes! 5 years is a long time!
Questions?
Do you have no voice or some voice?
Was your voice loss progressive?
Did you have acid heart burn At night that work you up?
Have you considered making changes to your diet?
Did any of the drs give you print outs of foods that were acid and alkaline?


Anyhow, I want to get a better picture of what u have tried and hope we can do some research together and be "back in the saddle" again soon!

I do see a change when I am careful w my diet and whisper. It is tough being isolated vocally from daughter on mainland, and, I sing and play guitar/mandolin, but, have hope that with patience and descipline this healing will take place!
hopefully the folks that have been cured have moved on and that is why I cannot find them. Except for the lead singer in the band Sugerbabes from OZ. She did not speak for 3mos. Now she sings again
Hope to hear from you soon

Dear Halo,

thank you sO much for prayers and encouragement, it is vastly appreciated. it is wonderful you can get together w other members here,what a wonderful gift.

thank you o much for sharing that other members have been through this situation and are heflin, I too want to be helpful and in heing others go through this difficult Passage I fin value and encouragement.


It has been only a year since my voice stared "cutting out" and three mos since it allows me a few hours total a day of whispering, but, knowing you all are here is great!

have a good Sunday,

Oops, I no longer see the post From The General?? I think my knuckle hit the iPad and maybe deleted it from this thread.?? I will ck in again and see If I can find it.

I am so encouraged bysomeone having success with the GErD
symptom of voice loss!!

thank you all.

Silence,

Have you considered PPI's? I've been taking prilosec OTC every day now for several years, and the prevacid seems to have done the trick back when I had the voice box paralysis in 2001. I believe it shunned the acid reflux enough for my nerve to heal (took ~ 3 months or so). Not advocated taking PPI's, but if it helps....

I'm actually trying to figure out a way to get off of these meds with the unknown possible side effects of long term use. However, it may be worth a try for you or anybody else where the acid reflux was the cause of the loss of voice. I would give it a try for 3-6 months to see what happens. The prilosec box says not for long term use without consultation with your doctor. Mine said it was fine if it helped. But like I said, the unknown side effects of taking this *&%$ for 8+ years scares me a little. I see no harm in a 6 month trial though.

That is what I am working on, trying to modify my diet to get off of the meds. 10 years is way too long to be taking these things.

Are you familiar with the work of Dr. Jamie Koufman? She is perhaps the foremost expert in LPR. I have followed the Koufman diet for nearly a year now. After a couple of months my singing voice came back, and speaking voice back to usual volume. It is a low fat, low acid diet, based on the actual PH of foods. You can search for my thread here for an overview, or I can bump it up if you can't find it. I am now also off my ppi, taking a h2 blocker which doesn't have the long term side effects.

Post Edited (sunbeam48) : 7/17/2012 6:32:22 PM (GMT-6)

so sorry about typos above! that should read (so to speak).

I second Sunbeam's post. Kaufman's diet is a must in LPR. I've been suffering from this for several years now and I had many problems with my voice aswell. Very depressing since I used to sing in a music band...

I decided to go off PPI's few weeks ago, I replaced them with H2 blockers (for now), eat more alkaline and more often, avoid eating late, drink chamomile tea and take gaviscon before sleep.

The cough is there and it's pretty bad, my voice also breaks from time to time, but I hope to see the results after a longer while :) Stay positive!

Incognito, It is a challenge to lose ones voice when we have played music and sang forever...here comes a new phase of life asking for a different focus. Good on your diet changes, I deeply believe that is the hallway that will get me through this Passage. I am confused about the meds...why take them if the symptoms are still so bad? I have no experience w anything but Rolaids but when I Googled the side effects of the PPS it gave me a scare. What is Gaviscon? is it helping ?
yes, you all have encouraged me to drop the Chai Tea and buy Distilled water to keep the acid alkaline ratio the recommended 20-80.

Also, becoming Vegan 14 mos ago I now see how terribly allergic I was to milk, cheese and other animal products. Especially Fast Food which digests s l o w l y...as in maybe never! Ugh.
Love Coconut milk, but Dr Jamie says all process foods are highly acidified...so, maybe Coconut milk is out, except for fresh Coconut water which I can pick fresh and love!
Much gratitude, and, encouragement galore!

Silence, Zantec just reduces the acid, the PPi's nearly cut it off.  Reducing the acid can allow healing to occur, I believe that happened for me.  But GERD in general and LPR specifically have multiple causes, affect different people differently, so it quickly gets complicated.  LPR for some people seems to have a neurological component, so in that case diet and meds may not help.  What attracted me to the diet was the small research study, where 18/20? of the participants improved.  I believe that the pH-based acidity of the foods is quite different from what you may have been working with, which perhaps is from a naturopathic background.  That seems to also help some people, but if its not working, there are other strategies to try.  I have no problem with milk or gluten, some people seem to. I eat lots of veggies and whole grains, a little meat.  I love fruit, but most of it is somewhat acidic except for bananas and melon, so I eat less than I used to.  I supplement my meds with TUMS as needed, if happen to eat something a little more acidic (like fruit!).  Fats are not water soluable, so they take more acid to break down, and that's not good when you have a acid problem.

Hello Silence,

Gaviscon is a medicine in fluid form which acts as a "barrier" for your esophagus should reflux occur. It speeds up a healing process too. You shouldn't eat or drink anything for few hours after using it!

I'm not sure what is the difference, but here in Poland we have "Gaviscon", while in UK and USA you can find "Gaviscon Advance". Probably it's better in some way.

There is also a herbal alternative, flax seed brew which I had to drink as a child due to my gastric problems. It's very thick and has an odd taste but helped me a lot back then! :)