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LPR - Finally found something that is working for me!

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Posted 9/29/2017 1:55 PM (GMT 0)
Hello, fellow LPR sufferers. I've got good news! After suffering from LPR and trying H2 blockers, Carafate and everything under the sun w/ the exception of PPI's (bad past experiences) I have found something that has improved my symptoms immensely. I'm almost back to normal!

First, the things I'm doing: I've been eating according to the low fermentation diet for several weeks. It made a huge difference in my bloating and I do think it's helped my LPR symptoms. I weaned myself off of Pepcid and Carafate. I've also been drinking a small amount of alkaline water a few hours after I eat and right before I go to bed to help wash away any pepcin. I upped my D3 and started taking sublingual B12. I think all of these things have helped.

However in the past three days, I believe I am 90% better due to diaphragm breathing. Yes, breathing. I kept coming across articles about breathing from the diaphragm and strengthening your LES. But, earlier this week, I read that breathing from the diaphragm stimulates and helps to tone your vagus nerve. If any of you have dealt w/ panic disorder and/or anxiety like I have, your vagus nerve is probably involved.

Guys within one day, I could tell a difference. It's remarkable. Three days later, I could swallow w/out any pain. It isn't painful when I breathe and my asthma symptoms are 90% better. I try to do the diaphragm breathing for a minute or so throughout the day when I think about it and also in the evening for about 5 minutes.

Maybe I'm jumping the gun, but this is the first time in forever I've felt so good and I wanted to share w/ all of you. In fairness, I'm still eating fairly low fermentation foods, so that could be relevant. However, I plan on having a couple beers and some other "off the diet" foods this weekend, so we'll see how it fairs!

I'm not saying this will help everyone, but it certainly won't hurt and at the very least it will help w/ anxiety and stress, which in turn will help w/ GERD & LPR. Google it! Try it! It costs nothing! I hope it works for all of you as well as it has for me and that you can have the same relief I have found.

Hang in there and big hugs to all of you.

Post Edited (whitelodge) : 9/29/2017 11:37:48 AM (GMT-6)

Posted 10/2/2017 9:17 PM (GMT 0)
Whitelodge, That is so great that you found something that works for you. I hope it keeps working. I just started having signs of LPR 3 months ago, and have been keeping it at bay with sucralfate (carafate), alkaline water, baking soda water, D3, and PPI's (which I just quit 3 days ago). Let me know how you are doing. Too bad you can't bottle this remedy and sell it. You could make a fortune.
Posted 10/3/2017 2:16 PM (GMT 0)
Hey Wade Ray. So far so good! After a long bike ride, I had pizza and a beer last night w/ zero problems. Pizza AND beer! I still can't believe it.

Congrats on getting off PPI's. I know it's tough. Even though they caused a lot of problems for me, I know they help many people w/ acid and there can be a rebound effect after stopping them. Keep us updated on how that goes and on what is working for you.

After I posted this, I thought of a few other things that have been helpful to me. Again, I don't want anyone to think that I have all the answers, but I browsed this board constantly for answers before I found what worked for me, so if this can help even one person, it would be 1000% worth it.

Two things that I suppose are common sense, but it took LPR for me to realize: posture while eating and chewing your food to the point where it's almost mush. Your saliva helps w/ digestion as much as the acid in your stomach. Also, taking a break from any acidic, spicy or potentially fermentable foods. This, along with using alkaline water, allows your throat, etc. to heal while also washing away pepcin. Otherwise, it just becomes a vicious cycle.

Along with drinking alkaline water to help get rid of unwanted pepcin, I have also been using alkaline water in a small personal steamer to help w/ my sinuses. This definitely helped, especially during the worst times. If you have sinus, ear/eustachian tube, asthma or any breathing symptoms, I highly recommend trying this. You could also just boil some alkaline water in a pot, but just be careful not to burn yourself.

Like many others, I believe my truly terrible symptoms of LPR began after an upper respiratory infection. We may have had symptoms of LPR that were minor before, I know I had chronic hoarseness, sinus/eustachian tube issues & asthma symptoms, but I believe the URI caused the irritation and or damage of the vagus nerve which caused the symptoms to increase tenfold.

I know this doesn't apply to everyone, but if your symptoms began after a URI and/or you have or have had severe anxiety issues, this may be related to your vagus nerve and I would give the diaphragm breathing a shot. It has been a miracle for me.
Posted 10/3/2017 6:27 PM (GMT 0)
I posted this on another post. Does this sound like LPR. Sorry, very long winded.

I have had heartburn and Gerd for appx 5 years now. Prior to that, I had never had any real symptoms of heartburn or Gerd worth noting. My first experience with Gerd was slight pain my lower esophagus (only when I dipped tobacco or drank red wine) and extreme unexplained non-stop ravishing hunger (even when I was full). I finally went to a general doctor to find out why I was experiencing such extreme hunger and she told me probably an ulcer and prescribed me Dexilant. After quitting dip and wine and taking the Dexilant for the two weeks I noticed the burning, gnawing and slight pain in in my lower esophagus (Xiphoid Process area) started to be more consistent and the hunger pains were not subsiding. I then went back to the doctor and she recommended me to a gastroenterologist for an endoscopy which ended up revealing that I had a huge ulcer at the base of my lower esophagus, 1 cm hiatal hernia and Barrett's esophagus.

The gastroenterologist ended up taking me off of the Dexilant and put me on 20 mg omeprazole and sucralfate. The pain and tenderness in my lower esophagus (Xiphoid Process area) continued to worsen during that time, however, the hunger pains slowly subsided. So the gastroenterologist upped the omeprazole to 20 mg twice daily, Then over a 3 month period ended up at the max dosage of 40 mg twice daily but the slight burning, gnawing, pain still remained in my lower esophagus (felt almost like someone was pushing their finger into my xiphoid process area with slight burning and pain accompanying it).

Slowly over time (appx 6 months) I got used to the slight / burning pressure and pain and was relieved to find out the ulcer was healed and the Barrett's esophagus had slowly regressed to like 1 mm. At that time, I decided to ween off of the omeprazole (Which I did by opening the capsules and removing 5 granules every 2-3 days until all was removed) and totally quit taking the sucralfate. The funny thing is that every time I lowered my omeprazole the pain pressure and burning would go away throughout the whole lowering process. Which led me to believe possibly the omeprazole was causing the problem. But then after a month of being completely off the meds the symptoms would start coming back and I would end up back on the omeprazole. Which would help with the strong symptoms in my lower esophagus, but would leave me with the same mild to medium gnawing, burning pain as before in my lower esophagus (Xiphoid Process area).

The last time I decided to quit was after extensively reading and viewing articles that were saying that Gerd is caused by too little stomach acid. The articles stated that taking apple cider vinegar would increase your stomach acid. In return, causing the LES to close and not let any acid into the esophagus. So, I weened off the omeprazole once again (with little issue). However, after about 2 weeks after being fully off of the omeprazole, I started the apple cider vinegar. The first couple of times that I took it, I could feel the warm burning in my stomach and my sphincter close to the point that I couldn't even burp. But, the Apple Cider vinegar would only last about an hour at a time, then the acid would regurgitate back into my lower esophagus with extreme burning pain, then my throat, mouth, and teeth. After a couple of days, it got so bad that I felt the ACV was doing more harm than good, so I stopped taking it. But, the regurgitation throughout the day all day, everyday, and nothing helped (Tums, Gaviscon, Baking soda water, Slippery elm, marshmallow root, ect...). So, I went back on the omeprazole. Which helped with the strong burning and pain from acidity in my lower esophagus but did not the regurgitation into my throat, mouth, and teeth. The regurgitation is accompanied by an extreme sour taste (like a mixture of spoiled milk and vinegar) in my throat, mouth, and teeth was/ is painful and unrelenting.

After dealing with this issue for 2 months and the omeprazole not helping, I decided to go with the Linx surgery. I had all of the tests done 3 years earlier and was a prime candidate for the Linx procedure and the GI Surgeon said all he needed was the test results.

After the Linx procedure / Hiatal hernia repair, I was in a lot of manageable pain. But, not bad enough to continue pain meds for more than 1st day. Just Aleve for 1 day after surgery. As for swallowing. No problem for the first week. Second / third week, I had a hand full of times where the food was slow moving and I could feel it wanting to get stuck so I would slow down my eating and food would work its way down. Then, I also I had a hand full of times that food would get stuck, saliva would build up in my mouth, and I would have massive esophageal pain and spasming for sometimes up to 20-30 minutes. I am on my fourth week now and I still have food getting stuck and some spasms, but I am learning how to work around it so its not so bad.

However, the real problem started on day 3 after the surgery. The whole reason I had the surgery was because of the reflux burning in my lower esophagus and the regurgitation accompanied by an extreme sour taste (like a mixture of spoiled milk and vinegar) in my throat, mouth, and teeth. Well, they all came back. Three days after the surgery I noticed the sour taste in my mouth again and it slowly got more strong and frequent. Now it is back to the same as before the surgery. I followed Dr's orders to a T. ***!! I now live on bland food, omeprazole, sucralfate, and Gaviscon. Its getting ridiculous. The funny part is this sour, stinging, vinegary nasty fluid and mucous gets into my mouth. Then, my throat and lungs get all congested and tickle, and my teeth/ gums burn and hurt. And, I don't even feel it coming up. Its like every hour and it doesn't even matter what I have eaten or if I have eaten. I am 4.5 weeks after Linx procedure.
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