Unexplained nausea/gagging and throat tightness truly related to GERD?
Posted , 55 users are following.
Hello to everyone, i am a 19 year old guy and for about 3 months now (soon to be 4) i have had a very strange problem with constant nausea and gagging. Could this truly be related to GERD or LPR?
This might become lengthy as i will try to explain everything in detail, but i would very much appreciate any thoughts. This interferes with my daily life and i am so frustrated with it.
Before all of this started i was very active, not overweight at all.
I refer to my feeling as "nausea" because it sometimes feels likely that i am close to vomiting but more than often i actually really only feel like i need to gag and i usually do.
I will list as many of my symptoms as i can before i get to the part about GERD.
When this all started i did not experience any other real symptoms during the first month. But my "nausea" and gagging was very intense. i would gag during the day almost every 5-10 minutes and it would last for a few hours until it eventually died down, only to return without explanation during random hours of the day. It would happen regardless of what i would be doing and it would interfere with my daily activities. At first i thought it was related to eating, but later i realized i would feel it regardless of whether i was eating or drinking anything.
I tried to ignore it for one month but then i couldnt anymore and decided to check it out at the doctors. I had an echo scan done on my entire abdominal area and i was told nothing appeared to be wrong in terms of swelling or lumps etc.
Around this time i suddenly started experiencing a tight feeling in my lower throat, on both sides of my neck.
Also a feeling as if something was stuck in the middle. I mostly felt it when i swallowed.
I explained these things to a few doctors including my nausea and gagging but most of them said it was due to anxiety or stress. I was given antibiotics (amoxicilin) for my throat because i was told it appeared a bit red or irritated. It seemed to help a bit but the tightness remained.
Eventually i kept checking and i was finally given multiple blood tests, urine tests, and even an upper endoscopy.
All of these tests i was told returned with good results and nothing appears abnormal. I even had a biopsy done with tissue samples from the endoscopy and those returned with good results as well. I am constantly being told that this problem has nothing to do with my stomach, as all appears to be fine.
About 3 weeks ago i started feeling better and worse at the same time. My gagging and nausea reduced dramatically. i would only feel it maybe about 2-3 times a day randomly with no explanation, but at the same time my throat started feeling a lot worse. The tightness increased and it would feel randomly itchy/scratchy. I then would experience a burning sensation in my throat and chest. The burning was terrible and after the very first night of experiencing it, i visited a throat specialist and she diagnosed me with GERD. I was prescribed a proton pump inhibitor. 40mg of Omeprazole. After that i didnt experience a burning sensation in my chest again. So yes, basically i experienced what my doctor thought was heartburn, but for literally one night only. I had never in my life, ever experienced anything similar or any form of heartburn and could basically eat any and everything i wanted.
The itchy/scratchy throat lingered for a while longer though.
So currently i am still suffering from random nausea and gagging. But it is very minimal and random. Sometimes if i relax the entire day, i can go 24 hours without a single gag or nausea feeling. But i notice that my nausea and gagging reflexes come on a lot stronger and intensely while i am active. (long walks, basic house chores, moving around for a while etc) after my gagging has subsided, and i begin to rest, i notice my body feels a bit shaky. only a tiny bit. as if it has been weakened from the gagging experience. But during my rest my nausea and gagging subsides almost completely for the day or until i begin doing more "strenuous" activities.
Over the past 3 weeks the tight feeling in my throat has become a lot less. i definitely still feel it a bit, but it is not extremely uncomfortable as it was 2 months ago. I am currently on a second round of antibiotics as well, prescribed by my throat specialist. there is no more burning sensation in my throat either.
The one other troublesome symptom i have (this one is the most uncomfortable and "painful") is that i cannot speak with a normal tone of voice for more than 20 minutes without feeling discomfort. If i continue speaking my throat feels suddenly very tight and contracted. My neck itself feels stiff and numb around all sides and there is pain in my throat area until i stop talking and rest my voice for a long time.
So that is basically it. I am still taking the proton pump inhibitor medication, along with antibiotics. I havent experienced any other symptoms apart from everything i described here. I have no coughing, and i have never once actually vomited through all of this. My throat specialist says apart from some redness and simple irritation which is was prescribed antibiotics for, nothing else looks abnormal, no scarring, swelling etc. in my throat.
These feelings are rather uncomfortable though, and makes me nervous at times since it has yet to be 100% confirmed what my problem might be. I was planning to take up my gyming activities again this coming month but i am nervous how i might feel since my gagging and nausea increase so much from simple activities and chores.
If there is anything anyone can suggest so that i can look into it, i would very much be thankful. I cannot even speak to people at a meeting or get together without having to stop due to the discomfort in my neck from it.
Could all of this really be GERD or LPR even though i have never experienced it any other time throughout my life? I have so many doubts about that and i worry at times if there is an underlying disease that i should know about. Doctors have told me the fact that i have never vomited throughout all this or experienced any form of bleeding is a sign that nothing is too serious at the moment, but i would like to figure this out before it might get to that point.
Thank you to anyone in advance.
5 likes, 125 replies
Kristiana87 jar0081
Posted
Hopefully someone is still following this thread...if you are suffering from these symptoms, do you know what your alkaline phosphatase level is? It seems that doctors are more concerned with elevated levels but there's not a lot of research or information available for individuals with low levels of alkaline phosphatase.
mckenna26034 Kristiana87
Posted
Kristiana87 mckenna26034
Posted
No, probably not. I know someone that is experiencing the same symptoms and he has been seen by several doctors/specialists. He tested negative for Lyme disease but they still think that it's an autoimmune disorder. His blood work came back perfectly fine except his alkaline phosphatase levels were lower than the referenced range. Docs are more concerned with elevated levels so we're trying to rule out this enzyme or lack of as the cause.
mckenna26034 Kristiana87
Posted
I’ve been tested for celiac, Lyme’s and pretty much everything else under the sun plus a extensive food allergy test and the only thing that was abnormal was the allergy test, I have a food intolerance to wheat, gluten, dairy, soy, and eggs. And I had never experienced the gag until after I cut out all of those foods.
bev636 jar0081
Posted
Hi. Don't know if you found an answer yet, but I'm convinced by the sounds of it that you have what's known as Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE). Look it up online. I took my 7 yr old to a GI specialist who didn't know diddly squat about it, and then I went to the U of M, and it was a prediatric GI specialist with the U of M that knew all about it, and lab tests proved it. All GI specialists are not created equal. You have to find one that knows about this, and has a lab that knows how to see eosinophils. I gave an answer about EoE with great detail in my response to Dan below but it has to be approved by the moderator before they'll post it. Read that for more information.
Kristiana87 bev636
Posted
I know that they completed an endsoscopy on him and they didn't find anything. I'm hoping that they'll give this another try - I can see how a doc that is not familiar with the disorder can overlook the signs. Thanks for sharing!
Basketcase2020 jar0081
Posted
I am having very similar issues and have been searching for an answer. I see an endocrinologist next week and will see an ENT after that if its not figured out. I do not have nausea but a very intense tightness in my throat and even more intense feeling of throwing up and gagging. I had an endoscope done in October that turned up serious post nasal drip and H Pylori, completed the treatment and still have the symptoms. It comes and goes throughout the day but it is very disruptive to my life. I am very eager for an answer. I will post here if I learn anything new. Side note: I also suffer with severe anxiety so this could also be a symptom of that but I will hopefully know more very soon.
olivia88357 Basketcase2020
Posted
This sounds like me, minus the post nasal drip. Did you find a solution?
birgen79726 jar0081
Posted
anyone still on here with some news on their condition? or how they maybe resolved it if that's the case?
jj7711 birgen79726
Posted
I hope someone is still on here and can provide an update. My teenage daughter is having a similar and frustrating experience as all of you. Constant gagging and nausea. GI docs cannot figure it out. Bloodwork revealed nothing. GERD medications did nothing. Really affecting her life in a negative way.
birgen79726 jj7711
Posted
I'm still suffering from the same thing and I have no idea what to do. ent's find nothing. doctors find nothing. ppi's did seem to help a little bit. but still, I have no idea what to do.
If there are any updates from your part, I would love to hear them as well.
asianjanedoe jar0081
Posted
all right, I've tried everything to cure my bad breath and the only thing that helped was quitting coffee. that solved my problem.
neurosphere jar0081
Posted
I know this thread is pretty old, but I found this really eye-opening to read through. I don't really have that much substantive information to add in terms of advice on what to do, but I just wanted to comment that I'm suffering many similar symptoms that people mention in this thread. For about the last year, I've had this problem where my throat feels tight. Normally, people say that nausea comes from the stomach, but I feel it all concentrated in my throat. Sometimes, the sensation is so overwhelming, it physically hurts, and I feel an urge to gag. In particular, whenever I eat, I almost feel like I'm going to gag every time I swallow.
Recently, in August, I had a barium swallow x-ray that confirmed I have acid reflux that goes up to about the mid-thoracic esophagus. Actually, on the way during the Lyft ride to have the test done, I gagged for the first time throughout this whole thing, mostly due to anxiety. While anxiety isn't the root cause of my symptoms, it does make the throat tightness much worse. Gagging in a stranger's car was an incredibly low moment in my life; it was embarrassing and shocking, since I didn't think it could actually happen. Now, I've developed a phobia of the same thing happening every time I go out in public because the first incident has now set a dangerous precedent, that real gagging is indeed on the table.
Even though my symptoms are probably caused by acid reflux, given that most people in this thread have suffered for years, or in some cases decades, without any real form of treatment, I'm not holding out much hope that my situation will end up any different. It's not made any better by the fact that I have no health insurance and usually have to wait months between medical appointments (it took nearly a year to get to the point of having that first test). Short of learning an actual skill and getting a real job with health insurance, there's nothing I can do about that.
I make no exaggerated claims when I say this condition has upended my entire existence; things that used to require no thought at all are now a daily struggle. It's hard to eat. I can't talk for long without straining. Every time I go out anywhere, I have a panic attack. I can't swallow larger pills. I would give anything to go back to that day in October 2021 when I woke up with that feeling. Every day is a struggle, but I try to live.
rohan88091 jar0081
Posted
were you able to vomit and how? i tried putting fingers in throat but only mucas is coming and not able to vomit at all. i think its due to lpr or pantoprazole which i m taking.