L P R D , Thailand doctors..?

[tic-toc]

as a new comer to the world of . L P R D , here's my story, after having an endoscope done i was diagnosed for the first time as having.. chronic gastritis, gerd, and a hiatus hernia. I was prescribed the drug esomeprazole, ( NEXIUM ) my symptom's were stomach pains, and a constant soar throat but " NO " signs of heart burn, ever !!!. On reading up on this subject i noticed that in most cases of gerd ,the person nearly always has the symptoms of heart burn. on looking through more information i came accross " LARYNGOPHARYNGEAL REFLUX " and the symptom's for this are identical to my own. ..( a) pain or sensation in the throat.. ( B ) feeling of a lump in the throat . ( C ) red irritated larynx. ( D ) small laryngeal ulcers . ( E ) evidence of a hiatal hernia ( may or may not be associated ) .. * patients with LPRD, do not normally experience signs of heart burn.... " BINGO " on more reading i noticed ive never had a 24 hour Ph, test, so i asked my doctor ( i am living in Thailand ) to do a Ph test, his reply we do not use the probe down the nose method, as its now the " OLD WAY " and now we use a small remote capsual that you swallow whole, ( it has a camera in side it ) it stays in side your stomach , until nature takes its course ..?, .. has any one heard of this type of test ..? ( may be in my doctors translation from Thai to English i missed a point ..? ) i noticed in the information , how the stomach acid comes up to your throat and burns the membrain, i cant get my head around just how the acid can come up hill to my throat when i am standing all day ..?, and burns my throat...?, now after 2 weeks of Nexium, my stomach pains have gone but ive still got a chronic soar throat, my Thai doctor just said ..it will go away, ( one day ) after many month's of having this soar throat, its now getting to me, can any one offer me hope and advice on just what i can do to rid my self of this "DAM " soar throat...

[Dante]

My sore throat only went away after my doc doubled my PPI dose (prilosec 40mg to 80mg / day). At that point, the lump in my throat also went away, but it still took a couple weeks for that. I don't understand why someone can't come up with a better solution to acid reflux than meds or fundo. It seems most people with severe reflux have a hiatal hernia, so why in the world can't they just fix that? I've heard of procedures where just the hernia is fixed (without doing the fundo) but no doctor I talk to recommends it because they say the stomach will just herniate again. IMHO, the hiatal hernia is a primary cause of acid reflux in most people (those that have one) because it weakens the LES valve. I do believe stress, food, and weight play a role, but not as much as the hernia.

-Dante

[Rebecca]

Hi tictoc,

I also have really bad LPR (but no heartburn ever). It took several months and higher doses of PPIs to get it under control. I started taking one PPI a day, and saw significant relief after about 5 months. Then I switched to two PPIs a day and got ALOT better within about two months, but still not 100%. Yesterday a new GI told me to step up to three PPIs a day. For some reason, with LPR you need to take higher doses of PPIs for longer periods of time to get better. In hindsight, I wasted too much time on one PPI a day in the beginning. I think if I had started then with 2 or 3 a day I would have improved much quicker.


Sounds like you have a good GI that at least understands LPR, which is good. I think there are many GI's in the U.S. that don't understand anything other than standard GERD with heartburn.
Hope you feel better soon. -- Rebecca

[Diana]

I would ask for a pharyngeal probe. an ENT pH study It is a double probe pH with the second channel in the laryngeal inlet?. It is different than the probe in the proximal esophagus.

[sergio]

Hello Thailand.
It seems we are sharing the same symptons and soon the same country for a while.
How is medical treatment over there regarding LPRD and have you tried the much cheaper supstitute medication .
When you mention sore throat does that include the voice as well as that is my biggest dissability on the moment.
Have you been told the costs of this ph probe and what are the waitinglists like.

All the best, Sergio

[stacybrevin]

I was on aciphex for 3 months and it took 7 weeks for it to work at all. 7 weeks.....Can you believe it? I just kept being faithful and boy did I see results.....I felt like a new person! Lpr is not fun! I know eating low carbs helped me a whole ton. I am pregnant now and I find it very impossible to eat that way....but I am going to try. My LPR is in full force now. Good luck!