as LPR or Abductor Dystonia and or Paradoxical Vocal Fold Movement (PVFM)

Don't know how long you've been haunting this forum, but to poll members here won't give you perhaps a good sample of possible responses compared with a wider population of GERD patients.  Most here have had poor success, or moderate success from therapies, and are not necessarily representative of the many successful patients out there.

It's not clear from your post, but it sounds like among the symptoms are esophageal spasms?  There are therapies to moderate the spasms, and I'm not sure steroids are among the ones I've heard of.

There are folks who have had resolution of airway symptoms with acid suppression therapy, and also those who have had surgery.  But many who have not had success.  GERD has been assumed as a disease all to itself amongst U.S. physicians, when internationally, it's being viewed as a symptom of something else.  Acid suppression therapy and surgery are only heavy-handed means to shut down certain types of symptoms from expressing themselves, but other symptoms are free to continue.  Also, acid suppression therapy may exacerbate symptoms in those who are predisposed.

I'm not sure I'm convinced you've eliminated the hypersensitivity angle from what you shared in your post.  Skin prick tests only are for Type I hypersensitivity, which probably has no role in chronic GERD.  You mentioned IgG antibodies (EgG?) for foods, but did not offer any more details.  Simply going gluten-free doesn't mean that you've exhausted this possibility, by any stretch of the imagination.  Extreme post nasal drip is an important clue.

It often takes quite a bit of digging to find doctors that can help...sometimes years, unfortunately.  If you're not getting satisfactory results from the one(s) that you are currently seeing, then I encourage you to keep searching.  From 2008 to 2011 I saw two ENTs and six GIs in private practice, a large university hospital, and the Mayo Clinic.  I ended up having TIF surgery, but that failed to resolve what I thought were GERD/airway symptoms, but those seem to be resolving with an elimination diet.

-Bruce

Hi John --

I have not had genetics and muscle testing.  And, as you noted, celiac testing is notoriously unreliable...as are the serum tests for other food intolerances, I might add.  I don't buy into the theory that skin will react the same as more direct influence in the gut in releasing antibodies.  Those represent completely different hypersensitivity models.  Also, the small intestine biopsies for celiac can be unreliable as well, since the disease doesn't always affect the entire intestine consistently.  So, a biopsy site, or several, may actually return normal samples.

I took famotidine for about a year until I developed a tolerance for H2 blockers.  At that point I tried several PPIs, but all produced crippling headaches.  I've had to rely upon timing of meals, sleeping on an incline, and Gaviscon before bed.  (Although, I stopped the Gaviscon about eight weeks ago.)

My asthma symptoms and shortness of breath have completely resolved.  I had lived for so long with reduced lung function, I still marvel at how much air I can draw in each breath!  I was a professional singer before all this began, and while I'm still not singing yet, I have begun retraining my voice, and it's certainly much stronger than it was a few short months ago.

Because of my food intolerance, and discovery that I am deficient, I am on a considerable supplementation regime.  Although, none of what I'm taking could be described as "mega-doses."  I'm keeping dosages lower, and spreading throughout the day when I can, because my absorption is currently poor.

I'm concerned that your doctors may have convinced you, either directly or by their lack of success, that your wife may be suffering from a rare condition.  This may be true, of course, but I would encourage you to not discount the simple.  The only, 100% sure way to test for food intolerance is with an elimination diet and a food journal.  After sufficient time has passed, and if there is still a doubt, the diet may be "challenged" by adding back in the possible antigen.  There is a list of several culprits.

Best wishes!

-Bruce