LPR - Throat Wheezing/Shortness of Breath

Hi all,

I've been dealing with LPR for the last year or so now, and some days are better than others. Lately, I've been having problems with throat wheezing, voice loss, and shortness of breath. I've already had a Methacholine challenge done, and they've concluded that the wheezing is coming from my larynx, and I don't have Asthma, but to be on the safe side, I'm going to have the test repeated this Thursday.

My Pulmonologist feels that I am suffering from VCD, as a direct result of the LPR, so I am scheduled to see a Larynologist in another week. When I try to talk, if it's over a few minutes, I get really hoarse, and I start to lose my voice, on top of that I start to get really short of breath and my throat begins to feel swollen. I also have chronic nasal congestion, and near constant throat clearing.

My question is this: Is there anyone else out there who has LPR and suffers from these symptoms? Specifically the throat wheezing and shortness of breath?


Thanks,

Michelle

[Sue15582]

I have terrible shortness of breath which tends to be made worse by talking.  Sometimes I feel like I am suffocating.

Am having scopes soon....I definitely feel like LPR is my problem.  Sore and dry throat, difficulty swallowing food sometimes, throat clearing, weak voice, waking up in the middle of the night gasping for air....all horrible.

Apple cider vinegar helps.....just want to get scopes first.

Sue

[MichelleH.]

Hi Sue,

I have ALL of the symptoms that you mentioned above, including waking up at night gasping for air. I just had my throat scoped again last week, and the ENT tells me that everything is still really swollen. I've started going to a Speech Pathologist in an effort to get some of these symptoms under control.

There is a website that I frequent, where there are others who suffer from LPR and it's negative effects: www.heartburn-help.com

Tried ACV, it burns my throat too much.

[shadrico]

I have just been diagnosed with LPR. I have the same symptoms. Wake up in the middle of the night - can't breath at all - trying to gasp - but have to wait to actually get air. So scary. My wife wakes up. I run to the sink - when I do finally get some air - so much of it goes to my stomach that I start belching - which in turn causes dry heaves as I feel like I have to cough and the cycle repeats. It happens during the day too - but I can tell when It's going to come so I can prepare myself and almost control my air passage from closing if I stay calm.  My voice gets weak easily, constant clearing of throat - slight burn in back of throat but not the major symptom. Mostly just clearing throat all day - then it gets dry, etc. What's so odd is I'm 37 and have been healthy my whole life - after a recent sickness with congestion - this has started. I do recall waking up prior to getting sick but I thought I was choking on lint or something in the air - as I didn't loose my breath like I do now. I realize now that it was something starting - but now so aggravated that I have worse symptoms. I really want to get this under control. I'm on generic priolsec - omaprazole. Haven't seen any benefits. After the spasm last night - slept with head elevated on left side - and helped a lot. Tonight I'm afraid to go to bed - as it is scary waking up with no air. I want to really collaborate to find what works for you all.

[runner57]

I am in the same situation. I have been an avid runner for over 30 years. I started noticing deminished air intake when running. I thought I was just getting old. Now, I run out of air walking from one end of the house to the other. Also have major issues at night. I have seen the cardiologist, pulmonologist, allergist, and GI doctors. They say I am the healthiest person they have seen in months. I am one week out after seeing my ENT. He has me on 40mg of omeprazole (PPI) twice daily and 10mg of amitriptyline (elevil) once before bed. I have not seen any improvement this past week. He believes this to be LPR. I have had no symptoms of reflux and have been able to eat any foods. I hope that this regimen helps. I seem to have major breathing issues after physcial activity, eating, and at night. I am praying for healing.

[kis954]

For all those people supposedly suffering from LPR, I wanted to throw out something for consideration.

A year ago, after a very difficult and painful surgery which taxed my immune system, I suddenly suffered from a chronically tight throat with a feeling of suffocation at nighttime. I kept clearing my throat, hacking, coughing; I could feel spasming in my throat, difficulty breathing, and there was the constant feeling of something being stuck in there. I went to a gastro doctor who scoped me, and he discovered a rash all over my esophagus and inner stomach, as well as a very enlarged larynx and swollen vocal cords. He promptly diagnosed it as LPR/ acid reflux/ GERD and gave me a PPI prescription.

I never had acid reflux in my life; in fact, I used to always joke that I had a "stomach of steel." It was a shock. Dutifully, I took my PPI meds, enduring terrible side effects with very little reduction of my tight throat/ suffocating feeling. Something didn't seem right, so I started questioning the diagnosis and doing my own investigation. I noticed that, curiously, my throat got worse after eating certain foods. So I was starting to wonder if it was a food allergy of some kind. Yet, the scoping doctor had taken samples of my stomach and esophagus and sent them to the lab for allergy testing and all the tests came back negative for allergies.

Still, the acid reflux/ LPR diagnosis seemed odd. And the symptoms wouldn't really get much better with the PPIs. I started doing elimination diets only to discover that I got severe stomach and abdominal pain, and an extremely tight throat, within a day after consuming CANOLA oil--a man-made, genetically modified, highly processed oil that is in virtually all processed food and restaurant fare in the USA.

So I eliminated all foods made with canola oil. Miraculously, my "LPR" cleared up within a week after this change in diet. I was literally symptom-free and could breathe normally and sleep again. I also learned that the reason this allergy doesn't show up in lab tests is because canola oil doesn't have any protein in it--which is what allergy tests are sensitive to.

I offer this information to all of you who have suffered from chronic LPR symptoms and throat tightness, without any recourse. Friends, this country’s food supply is killing us. (Even the vast majority of olive oil is adulterated with other oils--just Google “fake olive oil”). By being very careful about what we eat, I think we can heal ourselves better than any doctors or PPI meds can do.