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Lifelong GERDer just got LPR - Seeking advice

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Posted 9/17/2014 10:23 PM (GMT 0)
Hi friends.

So I've had hearthburn and reflux all my life, and been on ppis daily for about five years. For these years the ppis have been taking care of my symptoms well. about two months ago I got off the ppis for 6 weeks under my doctors supervision. During this time I had pretty bad refluxing, despite being on an extreme GERD-diet.

When I had been off the ppis for about 5 weeks somethig wierd happened. I was talking to my friend and I noticed my voice started to feel uncomfortable. By the time we said goodbye I had almost lost my voice completely.

Since that day I've been having trouble with my throat and voice. I have a sore throat but only on my right side, and it gets worse as the day progresses, probably because I use my voice more. I also have alot of mucus in my throat and it feels like that's making my throat and voice worse.

I've been back on the ppis for about 6 weeks and I have zero hearthburn so thats great. The wierd thing is my voice problem just don't want to resolve. It feels strange that it's refluxing that's causing this, since I'm hearthburn free and feeling pretty much like for the last 5 years.

Does anyone got any idea what is going on here, and maybe some good advice for me? I'm feeling like a pretty big idiot quitting the ppis now..
Posted 9/21/2014 1:13 PM (GMT 0)
The symptoms you are describing sound like LPR (silent reflux) sore throat, mucus, hoarse voice .... Did your doctor explain to you that you will experience acid rebound when you quit taking a PPI?
Posted 9/23/2014 10:58 PM (GMT 0)
No he didn't, but i was prepared for that. I've learned not to expect anything from the doctors when it comes to GERD. Since I never experienced LPR before I wasn't prepared for that to be a part of the rebound.

I'm now on the Koufman LPR diet, and I have not used my voice at all for almost a week and I'm starting to see some improvement. It just seems Unlike my chestpain, it seems like it takes a really long time for the throat to recover from acid expocure.

I've just been refered to an ENT for the LPR, and I'm finally meeting a surgeon to discuss the surgery. I'm just not sure that I will have the curage to go through with it.
Posted 9/25/2014 4:02 PM (GMT 0)
Before you consider surgery, I would get tested for delayed gastric emptying to see if this is why food & acid is coming back up. Delayed gastric emptying is where food is staying in your stomach too long and is not being broken down quickly enough.

Symptoms of delayed gastric emptying would be reflux (worse cases vomiting). Other symptoms may include abdominal fullness, stomach pains after eating, bloating, burping

PPI's can actually cause delayed gastric emptying. I developed delayed gastric emptying after being on omeprazole.

I would definitely rule this out before considering surgery.
Posted 9/25/2014 4:16 PM (GMT 0)
Here is a link below that list some of the symptoms of delayed gastric emptying. At first I did not think I had delayed gastric emptying because I did not have all of the symptoms, but as time went on other symptoms started to show up.

http://www.healthhype.com/slow-stomach-causes-of-delayed-gastric-emptying.html
Posted 9/25/2014 4:22 PM (GMT 0)
Gewarn - when was the last time you had an endoscopy? Have you had a barium swallow, manometry, pH study? These are all tests that will need to be done before you can even consider surgery.
Posted 9/25/2014 8:07 PM (GMT 0)
Hi again and thanks for taking time aswering me.

CAGU I'm going to ask my doctor to perform a delayed gastric emptying test. I had some problems with extreme fullnes and bloating a couple of months ago, but with Iberogast and changed diet it has been sorted out. I've also gotten some concerning IBS symptoms and gotten alleric and intolerant to a bunch of different food. The doctors have done almost every stomach test possible and come up with nothing, so I'm suspecting my long term PPI use can have something to do with it. I've read someone saying that because you have to little acid in you're stomach, you can't break down the different food-proteins as well. This makes you more likely to develop food allergies and intolerances. This makes sense since I'm an allergic since before. Because of this in combination with a bunch of possible PPI side effects and my young age I want to get of the PPIs as soon as possible

SharonZ: I've had two endosopies, the last one a couple of months ago. It showed a pretty big hiatal hernia, eosinophilic esophagus and some mild irritation. I've had two manometries wich seems to have been normal. I've also had two 24 hour ph measurings. I can't remember my first DeeMaster score, but it was so high my doctor didn't believe the test had been performed correctrly so he ordered a new one. Now after that secound one he called me and asked me if I could come in to his office to discuss the results, so I'm waiting for that. I live in Norway and I do not believe they perform the Barium swallows test here. Do they show anything the other tests can't?
Posted 10/1/2014 4:59 AM (GMT 0)
Gewarn, I'm going to look into the gastric delay as well; i have terrible bloating, fullness, and LPR.

You are correct in that PPIs do reduce the stomach acidity over time, and this is not helpful to us (even though they reduce the *symptoms* of heartburn). So, I wonder if you are not feeling the *pain* of the reflux, but the LPR is showing you that it's still happening...

I would recommend getting off the PPIs, and doing some more investigating. I will also say that I'm a newbie at this, but after working with some nutritionists and doing some research, it does seem that PPIs are not the solution--just a temporary bandaid.

Let us know what you find out!!
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