lewis said...
My acid reflux symptoms started a week ago which involved heartburn, burping, nausea. I went to the doctor and he prescribed me pantoprazole 40mg a day. Now I take it every morning before my first meal. A week later my heartburn, nausea, and burping was gone, but I started getting a sore throat and increased mucus at the back of my throat? A symptom that I never got when my reflux symptoms started. The weird thing is I feel like my throat only gets worse at night.. so is this a cause of my PPI or reflux? I don't get any burning sensations in my throat or anything, but my throat has just been gradually getting worse.
It's difficult to say without knowing the exact cause of your symptoms. In many cases, doctors are making educated guesses. CAGU posted about
one possibility.
The Proton Pump Inhibitors take care of the acid problem, but it does nothing for how your esophagus behaves, your esophageal sphincter, bile reflux (if you have it), food sensitivities, food allergies, etc.
What did you eat and drink 24 to 48 hours before you started getting these symptoms?
I bring this up because in my specific case, sulfites (found in wine, pizza crust, to name a couple of items), MSG, and certain food chemicals were causing my reflux as well as my esophageal spasms. It got to the point where PPIs weren't really helping me so I stopped taking them altogether and put myself on a very restrictive, strict diet (no dairy or gluten for 90 days, no processed foods whatsoever, etc.) and after about
5-6 weeks I started feeling better.
Your throat getting worse at night is what concerns me. Are you making sure you're not eating at least 4 hours before bedtime? Are you sleeping at an elevated angle? Did you eat any processed foods before your throat started feeling worse?