LPR/Silent Reflux - desperately in need of a miracle. Has anyone recovered from this?

Hello everyone,

I just went to a chiropractor who helped me a great deal in the past. He is Chinese and at some point has been medical doctor back in China but then came to US and I guess decided to pressure acupuncture. He is well known here in Connecticut. So long story short, he examined me today and told me that he can help. He said that all nerves that control different functions of larynx, esophagus and stomach are all in the spine. He put me on my stomach and showed my husband the acupressure points that regulate throat, esophagus and stomach along my spine. He started to apply pressure to some points that control different areas and was watching how I react. It was extremely painful in the throat and esophagus but not so much in my stomach. So he concluded that the problem is right there. He assures me that with acupuncture along with acupressure he can rebalance and bring it back in normal function.

Has anyone done any research about chiropractors and if they can help with LPR condition? I'll do some research on my own but was wondering if you heard something in this area.

mikyl I can tell you that for me it has been almost 1 year since I started having silent reflux. when the doc stuck the camera down my throat he saw the redness, so I take Prilosec 1 pill twice a day, it helps a lot when I went back my throat was no longer red. I had bad breath before taking medicine but it's better now. my most annoying and worrisome symptom is the breathing problem, it seems to effect my breathing thats how I knew something was wrong with me, mine started right after I finished a 10 day water fast, I did it to improve my health and now I got this dam reflux. I have heard that different medicines work differently on different people so try another medicine and see if you notice a difference, I would also check with the doctor on what he saw in your throat. Please tell me what kind of candida tests you had done, I am very interested in that. I do a lot o burping too.

Hello all,

I've been suffering from LPR for about 16 months now. I had all the classic symptoms for many months. It is about 99% better now. I have tried everything under the sun for relief. I will pass on what seemed to work the best for me.

I use a good, natural aloe vera juice daily. I add a teaspoon of baking soda to the bottle to raise the pH , and lower the acidity (almost all aloe juice has added citric acid as a stabilizer).

I definitely eliminated the common trigger foods and beverages from my diet....soda, coffee, chocolate, citrus juices, spicy foods, tomato sauces and dishes, etc. Easier said than done...I know.

And I chew a lot of gum. Non-peppermint, and non-xylitol (both triggers for my LPR) gums work the best. I like Juicy Fruit and Double Bubble. And, I recently started chewing mastic gum (the good stuff, imported from Greece...available on Amazon. I chew it 4-5 time s a day...sometimes mixing it with regular gum.

I also treat my acid reflux accordingly...a sensible diet, some Rolaids, and ranitidine work for me. I did the PPI's for the first 2 months...the stopped because of the side effects.

I wish you quick healing...be patient and have faith....

God Bless,

-Sean

Sean - bottle of water of what size? I just need to know the proportions...thanks!

I have had very good luck so far from a chiropractor. I posted here first I think in November of last year and its only been a few months for me of learning I have LPR.

At first I was having bad asthma symptoms, pain in chest, heartburn, tickle in throat, cough, a few times waking up in the middle of the night from throwing up acid and having the burning in the throat. (nasty feeling!).

I went consistently to a chiropractor who helped with the hiatal hernia (and the normal spine connections as well)-- starting with a couple times a week and now down to one time a week.

MOST (but not all of my symptoms are gone...or very slight and liveable. Of course i want them to totally disappear so we will see what happens. I still have a light cough but its much more infrequent-same with the tickle in throat. Sometimes heartburn at night but not nearly as often. The pain and asthma are gone- and the things i do still have are very light in compared to what they were a few months ago. I am still watching it and if in a short time this doesn't go away completely I will try another route since I fear the coughing and tickle in throat long time can lead to throat cancer if not healed....so we will see.

Hi everyone,,

I'm very relieved to have found this forum. I am a professional singer who has had many voice problems over the last few years. Other symptoms include sinusitis, increased asthma, sore glands and nasty taste in mouth. After many visits to the GP I was eventually referred to ENT last August who told me I had silent reflux and immediately prescribed Omeprazole and steroid nasal spray. I was told to renew my prescription and return 3months later.

My voice was worse by the next visit so, after the specialist had examined my vocal chords and found it red again, she doubled the dose of PPI. I asked about possible side effects and was told the only risk was a slight increase in the chance of getting osteoporosis .

Throughout December my voice deteriorated rapidly to the point where I couldn't talk atall let alone sing. I returned to the GP at the beginning of the month and was informed that increasing the Omeprazole could worsen the symptoms and to change the PPI.

At this point I started researching silent reflux/ LPR and decided that I did not want to continue on the PPI route. My voice is much worse and I can only put it down to omeprazole. I am struggling to work and feel like a fraud trying to teach. I am dieting the reflux like crazy and taking various supplements like everyone else on here. Been feeling incredibly depressed......

Just wondering sn1 if you can let us know the outcome of your appointment in Bath. I too have lost confidence in the NHS and want to see someone privately. Why are so many people being prescribed PPIs with little or no information regarding alternative treatments, side effects and the rebound people experience when they come off them?

Hi ninja9,,

I can sympathise with your problem, I've had something similar happen three times in the past four years.

Each time it's lasted for almost six months.

The first twice, in spite of seeing GP and consultant (privately) I really got no help of any value, although my GP eventually suggested it might be acid reflux. My initial reaction was that I'd had no symptoms so I was dubious but he pointed out, correctly, that if it happened in my sleep I wouldn't be aware of it. When I thought about it a bit more I decided that it was quite a possibility and I could see that lying on my side, fully relaxed, it would be quite possible for any reflux to get past all the usual barriers and get to my Larynx.

So I decided to try and prevent recurrence by sleeping well propped up. To get any worthwhile amount of elevation it's no good just putting something under the feet of the bed so I bought an inflatable bed wedge.

I used this every night, including taking it with me to hotels and holidays. It seemed to work very satisfactorily for about a year. But one night it developed a leak and I woke up to find I was lying flat on my side. I didn't think it would matter much but by the middle of the afternoon I suddenly realised my voice had gone again.

Back to the GP and he prescribed Omeprazole, which I didn't get on with, then Lanzaprazole which I took for a month with zero benefit. I then found this site and went back to him and said I would try stopping all the medication and try the Alkaline ideas which jpt had suggested. This started to be beneficial and after four weeks I had largely recovered, just in time for Christmas. Since then I've continued with a small alkaline drink after a main meal and I'm now fully recovered. The method I used was to dissolve Sodium Bicarbonate in water, a teaspoonful to half a litre. This produces a high pH of more than 12 and the Chemistry is such that dilution makes little difference until you get down to miniscule concentration. So rather than drinking any quantity of this mixture I gargled with a small mouthful before swallowing it. I also experimented with putting it in a spraying bottle which gave a fine spray and spraying this into my throat as i breathed in. Repeating this into each nostril in the hope that a small amount might get through to my Larynx.

On the physical side, which I think is vitally important, I bought an adjustable bed so that I can be assured of being well propped up. This is much better than pillows or a bed wedge because by raising the legs and feet a little it provides a hollow to prevent sliding down the bed during the night, which tends to lead to bed sores.

I feel fairly confident that the combination of the chemical and physical arrangements will avoid a recurrence. I hope my experience will be of some help.

Hi Gingerhut,

Thank you for all the advice......really appreciated.

I have just taken the bicarbonate of soda out of the baking cupboard and I have extra pillows ready for tonight. Fingers crossed there will be some improvement.

Are you following an alkaline diet aswell or are you able to eat normally?

I forgot to mention...I also take 100mg of CoQ10 and 1000mg of vit D3 at breakfast and at dinner.

-God Bless

Hello everyone

I'm from US and was about to order Gaviscon Advance but it is not available here in US. We have similar but it's not the same. I found a website where I can purchase this product from UK but I need to know the exact name of this suplement and if =it should be in the liquid or tablet or chewable form. Can you please let me know the exact name of this product that is currently ONLY available in UK?

Thanks in advance

Yasha

It is just called Gaviscon Advance and is taken in liquid form. I was surprised that it wasn't available in the US, so checked on Amazon US and found it there - Gaviscon Advance Liquid Peppermint or Aniseed Flavour. It's quite expensive, but I think it would be cheaper than buying it from the UK.

Best wishes.

Thanks Rosiemags!

I read an article and several reviews that the US version is not helpful at all with the LPR that is why I want to order it from UK. The only thing I'm not sure about the flavor. Peppermint seem to affect LES ( lower sphincter) and not recommended food item for people who suffers with reflux. But maybe the dosage is not so big and it has no effect.

Thanks again. I will order it from UK amazon.

Yasha,

I am in the US (Indiana); I bought Gaviscon Advance on Amazon. Amazon has several sellers, you just pick the one with the best price or the highest rating. It took a little longer to arrive (about 9-10 days),whereas my normal Amazon purchases arrive in 2-3 days. When I got it, it came from the UK. I have no idea why this is not available generally in the US. I was in Johannesburg in October, and I bought some there at a drug store cheap.

For me, it works best at night before I go to bed to help prevent reflux at night. I also take a powdered alkalizer blend called Acid Defense that helps alot most nights. Between the two of them I have gotten quite a bit of relief. I've had about 10 very good days in a row, with gum providing a backup on days where it bothers me during daylight hours.

I don't take the Gaviscon Advance every night (it's so expensive); I can usually tell if I'm going to need it. After I take the Acid Defense, I pay attention to how my stomach feels. If it "feels reflux-y", I take the Gaviscon Advance; if it feels stable, I don't. Occasionally, I'll guess wrong, and I have to take it at 1 or 2 oclock in the am.

I am weird in that coffee (caf or decaf) doesn't bother me). An empty stomach in the daytime bothers me, an empty stomach at night does not. Lemon drops (hard candy) and gum help alot in the daytime. I drink alkaline water, but it doesn't help me as much as it helps some others on this forum. This condition is so individual that it is truly trial and error, and doctors by and large aren't much help.

I'm considering trying to find a chiropractor who is knowledgeable about this. I'm also going to look into gentian root.