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LPR that causes mostly hoarseness and swollen vocal cords

Posted , 34 users are following.

CoolBreeze
CoolBreeze

My chief complaint is hoarseness and feeling like my vocal cords are always swollen. I have had my vocal cords looked at several times by ENT docs . They always say cords are red and look swollen and I was DX'd with LPR. I am back on twice daily PPI's (prilosec) but it does not seem to be helping that much. I read a post by JPT here about the role pepsin plays in all of this. I have been adding a little baking soda to my drinking water to alkalize for the last two days and this seems to help the hoarseness more than the PPI's so JPT may be on to something here. Seems like twice daily PPI's medical therapy is not of much help to most of us with LPR. I would like to talk to anyone whose chief complaint is loss of voice and frequent hoarseness from LPR and have you found anything that works or helps your condition. It is very depressing and anxiety provoking when you have to strain to talk. It makes your speech very difficult to understand sometimes and then your throat starts to hurt after short periods of talking. It seems like a vicious cycle. I also have an anxiety disorder but I don't think it is playing a major role here in my voice loss. My cords just feel dry and swollen. Help anyone or if you wish to just talk about things you have tried or thinking about trying. Thank you for reading.

4 likes, 54 replies

54 Replies

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  • beth61505
    beth61505 CoolBreeze

    Posted

    Hi, I suffered unexplained voice loss for years, eventually I discovered that gluten was the cause and of course, as it is in so many foods the symptoms never went away properly until it was out of my life forever. I had a very supportive GP who I worked with until we finally worked it out by following an exclusion/reintrodution diet. Once I changed to a gf diet, I realised that I began to feel well - the voiceloss and associated feelings of isolation were so overwhelming I had almost not noticed how generally unwell I was. Generally diet is easy to manage and nothing would make me choose to eat anything with gluten in now. Occasionally it creeps in and during those times I have also found that a salbutamol inhaler and a short course of steroids can help me recover. I do hope you find an answer soon.
  • andrea65862
    andrea65862 CoolBreeze

    Posted

    I'm suffering with LPR and vocal cord nodules it's been 5 months and now I have anxiety because of it. Please respond with any advice that helped, I'm currently taking pantoprazole and ranitidine.

  • gwen45436
    gwen45436 CoolBreeze

    Posted

    Hi there, hope you don't mind me jumping in to help.  I have GERD, HH and LPR - last few years.  Refused PPI and take high dose Ranitidine.  I also take Pepzin and Mastic Gum at night.  This really calmed it down but if I go naughty on food I should not eat it is back again.  Food diary no good for me.  A food one day does not hurt at all then it suddenly does.  Trial and error.  But I have noticed that I am going more days being good days even when I have had my guilty pleasure of red wine (white kills me) but red goes down well.  What I have had different is Kefir yoghurt drink.  I read up on needing loads of good bacteria to kill the bad.  So I have a large glass in the morning 30 mins before I eat anything to allow the Kefir to work it wonders.  Then before bed I have a Yakult light.  Something is working, I have stopped having the HH pinching feeling, the GERD is easier and the LPR much much improved.  It was constant pain up my esophagus in into my throat and going into my back.  It was every day, now it is maybe once in three weeks.

    Just thought I would share.

    G.

  • Flygal
    Flygal CoolBreeze

    Posted

    Me too! I am so scared! I had polyp surgery many years ago and now allergic to sedation. Hoping I don't have them again. Seeing ENT in a week. Voice hoarse and cracking, feeling like something stuck in my throat and vocal chords feel real dry and swollen. Getting worse over the past month- too long to be laryngitis. Have post nasal drip and GERD.  Haven't talked for a week and no better. Anyone going through this?

    • Flygal
      Flygal

      Posted

      Oh, and constant throat clearing- like something stuck on my vocal chords and thick opaque white sticky stuff comes up sometimes.
    • miley40800
      miley40800 Flygal

      Posted

      how has everyone been? i had a severe case of laryngitis last October and as i recovered from that i clearly ended up with this...im assuming lpr slight hoarseness, globus, phlegm, sometimes soreness, the feeling of straining to speak i have not seen a doctor. Do you think i can be relatively sure this isnt cancer? i am a 49 year old female non smoker but have a past history of smoking i tried omeprazole for a month no luck please someone respond thank you

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