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Posted 3/20/2014 11:17 AM (GMT 0)
A little more off-topic this. While I was looking for answers about my symptoms, I found these two papers. I'm not sure what their conclusions mean in regards to the rapid spit test for LPR/GERD. Do they mean that having negative samples doesn't necessarily disprove me having reflux?

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22447277 (Only 22% of people with GERD had positive spit tests?)

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2658799/ ("Pepsin was not detected, with an activity assay, in the saliva of patients with a clinical diagnosis of LPR." ?)

Meanwhile my post nasal drip, sinus problems and nausea are worsening again. I'm hoping deducing these papers could help me find more answers. :p

made links clickable

Post Edited By Moderator (dencha) : 3/20/2014 10:29:36 AM (GMT-6)

Posted 3/20/2014 4:38 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Daxter,

I read both papers, and it seems to me that they are saying that the Pepsin test is effective in diagnosing GERD (typical type), but not an effective way of diagnosing LPR. In other words, if you have LPR, then the pepsin test is not a good indicator of whether or not there is reflux.

The thing is, many people with straight up GERD (not LPR/atypical symptoms) get reflux regurgitation. Because of this, there is more likelihood of a positive pepsin test. LPR is different. Many LPR patients have much smaller reflux episodes, but their sensitivity makes them more debilitating.

I had LPR/atypical asthma symptoms induced by reflux. My DeMeester score was always very low. At its highest, it was something like 14.8, which is just a bit higher than "normal". That's why it was hard to find a GI doc who thought the surgery would help. There are GERD patients with very high DeMeester scores of 45, 60, or even 80+. You'd be hard pressed to find an LPR patient with scores like that.

I'm just drawing my own conclusions here, but it seems to me that because LPR causes suffering/symptoms at lower reflux levels, it's less likely to find it in the saliva. Just my read on the results. Maybe someone else will come by to disprove my theory, but it's the best I can do!

Hang in there,
Denise
Posted 3/20/2014 4:54 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you. I guess what confuses me most is that there are plenty of papers saying people with LPR do show pepsin in the saliva. I wish I knew what the significance of my negative results was as a result.

Needless to say, learning this is heartbreaking. I thought my negative spit tests would bring me closer to freedom from LPR, but I continue to worsen. Every time I find good news, it gets turned into bad news.

Post Edited (Daxter) : 3/20/2014 11:25:02 AM (GMT-6)

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