Triggers? Never heard of them.

im seriously starting to consider ive been misdiagnosed. i have many symptoms that matches really closely to LPR but they're not linked to any kind of food maybe except one, chicken, which is said to help reflux.

as the title says ive tried really hard to come up with triggers going as far as eating the same god darn thing all week long but my results were someday fine someday awful. the thought of beverages being my trigger crossed my mind so fasting for 5 days was my testing idea. i wasnt surprised when the results were the same.

but there are more things that dont make sense to me. 1) im always better in summer, oct to april are the worst for the past 2 years, yet in summer i might have 2 weeks of relief with 1 bad day in between. tbh i always associated that with the fact dry winter air makes the throat sore but idk anymore. 2) my "reflux" is inconsistent i could be having strangling throat tightness one day and the next day feel like im 21 again (before it all started). 3) everything that is supposed to make gerd/lpr worse doesnt affect me, coffee? soda pops? fatty food? love them and they have no effects. 4) speaking of effects i have no throat pain but i do have ear pain from time to time, throat clearing isnt that bad maybe once or twice a day, food getting stuck? once in a blue moon, lump in throat? not for 6 years. arent those the main symptoms of lpr? 5) working out actually somehow helps when im having a flare up, last i checked this is supposed to worsen the symptoms. however i do have some of both gerd and lpr symptoms (maybe the least common ones) such as ear pain, stuffy nose and eyes (they will start leaking for no apparent reason but stop in a matter of minutes), shortness of breath (not very often tho), esophagus feeling full yet i can burp without a problem its not even a wet burp, pressure upper abdomen, throat tightness (always at the front) and tongue problems (see below). i think it'd be worth noting that i rarely have 2 symptoms at once usually i experience only one of them and usually only last for a day or two before relief (summer) or different symptom taking over (winter).

so how did i even get a lpr diagnosis? well my first encounter with throat problems were in 2010 i kept feeling a lump in the throat, went to the ER and they scoped me. their official diagnosis was inflammation due to smoking , it subsided on its own after a few months (end of winter). in 2014 is when i got the lpr diagnosis because i went to a doctor for tongue problems of all things, the back of it was as rough as sandpaper but didnt have a dry mouth and i had inflamed taste buds also at the back (both big red ones and some small actually sticking out like a mini spike, terribly uncomfortable). after the original diagnosis of thrush where the treatment made no difference i was referred to an ENT, because my complain wasnt throat related she never scoped it but in her mind she had no doubt it was lpr. following the diagnosis my doctor had me do a barium swallow which showed no hernia and nothing leaking out. not long after that however is when the throat came into play so i went back to the doctor which simply said "put 1 and 1 together, you have a lpr diagnosis, of course you will have throat problems!" i accepted that for 2 years but now im questioning it.

so this is where i stand today im questioning my diagnosis but at the same time i cant find any other disease that would have closer symptoms. to make matters worse the lack of triggers give me no lead to where i should be looking. if you've read this far thank you and what do you think? should i be going to a new ENT for proper scoping this time? maybe you have a suggestion, something obvious im not seeing?

thanks for the reply and sorry for the delay ive been thinking a lot about you said. actually it makes a lot of sense the more i think about it. i never really thought about allergies because the only person ive known that have them had all the typical symptoms of runny nose, red eyes, difficulty breathing - she even had an inhaler for it, it was a cat allergy.

one thing that i remembered but thought nothing of when it happened is the first winter this started we did a deep cleaning in the house - moved everything, vacuumed multiple times, even washed the walls, etc and i remember a 2-3 weeks of freedom when we did that, the first and only time during winter.

i also google'd quite a bit and found surprising infos about how allergies can show themselves and that typical symptoms only accounts for maybe half of allergies. another surprising thing ive found is apparently ive been experiencing migraines instead of headaches all my life, as an adult i rarely get them anymore but as i kid it was once or twice weekly. they're said to often be allergy related so my problem might be dating back for decades at this point. sadly i dont remember if they were more frequent in winter lol.

i'll keep looking around and also buy some allergy meds at the drug store see if they have any effects. will also go on the allergy forum see what they think but i think this is a good lead, hopefully if this is the cause i can find exactly what im allergic to, i guess the fact its mostly winter related already narrows it down quite a bit.

as a side note, i currently dont have a humidifier but i have thought a lot about getting one maybe this is the right time. at the very least it should help and if after a few weeks i experience an increase in symptoms again then as you said mold spores would be a good indication.