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

Give up everything on the list of things they say to avoid and take zantac and you will be ok after awhile.

I can vouch for Zantac - I turned down PPI's which y gastro precribed for Zantac 150mg morning and evening plus mastic gum and a pepzin supp, I can go for weeks with nothing.  I do avoid spices now and drink skimmed milk or Almond milk.  Vinegar and lemons are def out - used to have that in warm water in the morning.  I still drink red wine but if I overindulge I get the reflux - so my fault.  I have read that Zantac can be taken for decades without harm, whereas PPI's do harm.

Glad you mentioned that about the zantac. I knew the ppis were not good long term, but I was not sure about the zantac and often worried about it. I am sure I will be taking it a long time. Maybe forever. I am still trying to lose weight and have not given up on that for relief yet. Maybe when I lose the weight I won't need the zantac.

Hi Lori! A question for you ( and anyoneee else on the site!) I went to the gastro. He diagnosed me with some minor deduonial ulcers and NERD( non erosive reflux disease) my doctor and I agreed to avoid omeprozole. He has me on 300mg zantac twice a day. He sounds hopeful that after 2-3 months I should fully recover with little need for medicine( I am 30, thin and extremely fit and healthy) I have never had health issues and this has been destroying my quality of life.. and bank account. The reflux symptoms have gotten better and the gloves knot in my throat has been getting less frequent. Lately my symptoms are more short of breathe ( don't seem to breathe deeply easily) although heart rate is normal. Do any of you get the fluttering heart palpitations with some shortness of breathe?!? Just making sure this is a normal side effect... my heart and EKG was normal per my primary doctor

Also, no esophagus damage or any other endoscopic findings were shown. Negative for everything he said.. I've never had heartburn just the difficulty swallowing my spit and globus feeling in my throat.. I am just terrified something else is going on. It has given me healthy anxiety I think( I've never had any anxiety in my life lol)

Couldn't the shortness of breath just be anxiety though?

Maybe? I don't have much experience with anxiety. Strange thing is shortness of breathe happens even when I walk in the gym or randomly when I am not obviously upset or stressed.

Anxiety is strange like that, especially as we age. I get panic attacks and anxiety and normally have no idea why I am stressed.

Thanks for the insight. Symptoms typically fluttering heart, deep breathes aren't very deep. Gets me to panic. Hard to tell the difference between anxiety and the SOB described with a lot of us reflux sufferers .

Currently on PPI's?

This sounds like both to me.  LPR causes tight feeling in chest with me and it does cause shortness of breath in people.  It affects me in the dentist on my last visits.  When the water spray goes up my nose, it makes me catch my breath and the dentist has to try and aim it down.  Only started happening since LpR.

I also have anxiety and panic and do get the feeling I am not breathing deeply enough many times.  The more I think about it the worse it gets; if I distract myself by say reading, it goes.

No I wanted to avoid them if possible, on zantac twice a day

Hi lori

I can agree with everything you say. I have it under control most of the time and measure my success by how frequently I take gaviscon advance - which does settle me down albeit temporarily. I am practically vegan now, but use an odd bit of milk in cooking but use plant milk if it will work. I use olive oil and flaxseed oil. I use a little butter but not if it will melt. No spice or tomatoes or anything that tastes acid. My weakness is decaff coffee (not instant) and white wine that doesnt taste too acidic. Definitely nothing carbonated not even water. (although the odd glass of cava seems ok) I eat spaghetti but it is spelt spaghetti and I use pesto as a sauce but with no garlic. The onion family are a no - no to me.

I only take ranitidine (zantac) at night and Ive tried periods without and it does make a difference. PPIs didnt work at all.

Ive had gastroscopy, barium swallow which revealed nothing. Ive been to the gastro enterology department (after seeing ENT because of difficulty breathing) and have only seen a nurse practitioner, despite me asking to see the consultant and getting my GP to write and ask for this. The final straw is a letter from the 'consultant' following the barium meal saying he will pass me back to my GP as I only have a little phlegm. I despair. No acknowledgement of LPR at all from him.

Lots of questions still to ask. In the meantime, still suffering from hoarseness, etc and can only cough up foaming spit.

I went to a reflexology session recently and deliberately didnt mention this to the girl. Just told her about arthritis etc and she picked it up from my feet. She said I had a lot of congestion  - and that was a good  day.

I think my next move is back to GP and ask to see someone else.

What to do?!?!

I know. I feel your pain. I feel like I could still tweak my diet a little more because I still do onions, carbonated sodas, and many other spices. I had used the gaviscon for awhile, but seriously developed an addiction to them. It was ugly and I am not even all that confident that they did something to help. Lol. I don't know what it was but I just kept chewing chewing chewing them. I am giving up on this for awhile and working more on the diet. I need to lose about 25 pounds so it is just as well. Also, I have been diagnosed with lpr by the ent

Good luck with the diet. Once I dropped sugar and fat, I didn't need to worry about a diet. Gaviscon Advance is the only gaviscon that helps. It's a thick liquid that forms a barrier at the top of your stomach. Some say only aniseed flavour which didn't work for me, so I have peppermint. I forgot to say how good peppermint tea is for me, particularly after a main meal.

I am going to try both those things

Hi Janet!

Thanks for all your info from your posts. Very interesting about the peppermint tea as I was told mint is a huge no-no. Can I ask when do you take the gaviscon? Again thanks for your time.

Hi . I take Gaviscon Advance  always at night. The doctor says after evry meal, but I try not to if I'm not suffering to much reflux. If Ive been tempted by something on the forbidden list, then I usually need it. I have also read that mint is a no-no but I can only say what works for me. (other herb teas work well too)

Kind regards

Thanks so much, Janet! Appreciate your time. The Gaviscon has aspartame so I hate taking it because I feel like one of the remedies is no chemicals and whole natural food. As far as the mint tea, I love mint tea so I might try it since I have nothing to lose at this point! Thanks again.

I know how you feel. I only take it when things are bad. I.e.usually when I've eaten or drunk something I shouldn't have. Like ranitidine, I wish I could do without it., good luck

Hi, for some reason gaviscon liquid hurts my stomach but the tabs are ok.  Mint tea is out for me also.  I take Ranitidine am and pm 150mg each time.  I refused PPI's.  I tried a food diary for my LPR but what would cause no pain one day, would then hurt.  Nightmare to try and keep up.  I have realised that I am going to have this for good.  At least the Ranitidine is cooling and toning down the acid we are producing and am thankful for that.  Best wishes to all for this horror we are dealing with.

Hi Gwen - don't know why my last reply was deleted. didnt mention anyone personally etc. Anyway I just wanted to say we all seem to be different. I personally don't get pain, but am so careful what I eat and drink. I have discovered that not all mint teas are the same. I have also used alkaline water and thyme infused drink with some success especially at night. I think it may depend on whether you suffer from acid reflux and I don't. It has not taste - just there at the back of my throat all the time causing breathing and speaknig difficulties and made worse by certian trigger foods and drinks.

Kind regards.

Keep sharing.

Hi Janet....sorry I'm crashing your convo with gwen lol but you said something very interesting. You said your reflux was not caused by acid. How do you know this? I suspect that mine might not either because I never have anything that comes up or a taste or anything like that it's all just in my throat. Very interesting.

No crashing in - its a forum to help anyone. I might have been misleading by saying that I dont suffer from acid reflux. The ENT specialist said it was acid but what I meant is that it doesn't taste of acid and it doesnt burn. I dont have pain. But cutting down on acid foods does help cut down on the amount of acid/phlegm/spit whatever it is called.  So - it sounds similar to you. One doctor said that's why it's called silent reflux.  Acidic foods on the 'banned' list all make it worse; it increases in volume , is a nuiscance and hinders my breathing. The tests I have had have ruled out anything physical, like a loose valve.I have had h pylori and the 3 pronged attack is supposed to deal with that. I'm hoping to be able to see a different consultant.

Hope that helps.

Yes, coffee is a no no.  I have the same as you.  A food diary does not help me at all.  I can be really careful and be fine for weeks.  Then the same foods will kill me for days.  I like red wine and that can be fine for weeks, then it hurts.  Tomato sauce is defo out.  Peppermint out.  Even my toothpaste hurts when some of it slips down even though I rinse.

The strangest thing is that when I make a chilli - with plenty of chilli in, along with the usual onion, garlic, tomatoes, it does not affect me and I brace myself for it but it never happens.  

I don't really have coffee - but now and then like a cup - I use the one in the bottle (can't name it) it contains inulin (think that is right) and it is said to lower stomach acid.  It does not hurt me at all....