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3 months later, throat still burning
I'm posting here as something of a last resort. In short: my throat just isn't getting better. Please help! I need some positive reinforcement, and when I'm better I promise I'll pay it back and post my success story here!
I'm a 33 year old male, and I was diagnosed with GERD 2 years ago when I would get noticeable chest pain and acid gurgling up after triggers like alcohol, spicy food, and orange juice, although a gastroscopy as far back as 2009 found scarring of the oesophagus. Until last year, I took the doctor's GERD diet as more of a guideline than a hard and fast law, although I pretty much stopped drinking alcohol and coffee most of the time.
Last year, in May 2013, after a couple of weeks of my throat burning and not realizing that I was causing progressive damage, I must have caused a serious burn to my throat because even drinking water was agonizing. I got on Nexium 40mg twice a day for a few days, but stopped that and just followed the GERD diet very, very strictly for 3 weeks. And then I was healed.
I went back to my normal diet, except I cut out the main triggers: zero alcohol, zero coffee, zero orange juice, etc. But by October, I remember visiting Berlin, and I was bold enough to eat Indian food and drink a cup of coffee (with some Rennies on hand.)
By New Years 2014, I had a tremendous relapse. Agonizing throat burning and terrible acid. I blame Flomax, which I was trialing for chronic prostatitis for 2 weeks before my throat took a huge turn for the worse.
Flash forward to today, March 23, almost 3 months later. I've been on an absolutely bland diet for 3 months. I've been on 20mg Omeprazole twice daily for about 2 months, and for more than a month have taken 40mg Famotidine, an H2 blocker, before bed. For the last 10 days I've been ALSO taking Gaviscon after every meal, up to 4 times a day. And I suck on plenty of Rennies, as well as Lemocin and even a prescription throat pain killer. Nothing really helps. I don't eat for at least 5 hours before bed. I've raised my bed head several inches. I've lost 10 kilograms, and am now 84kg (at 174 cm, that's not bad.)
The problem is that my throat simply isn't getting any better. Now I should say that I'm not getting any serious acid anymore, because my diet is extremely simple. But it just ain't improving, no matter what I do.
In case you're wondering, a typical day's eating will consist of fried eggs with virtually no oil in the morning with 2 cucumbers and some wheat crisps consisting exclusively of wheat, water and salt. I may drink fresh carrot juice, or carrot and beetroot juice, or carrot and red apple juice. I may also have some 1.5% yoghurt and a glass of rice milk or hazelnut milk. All very low fat.
Lunch and dinner might be a chicken breast with 2 cucumbers and more wheat crisps. Or a salmon sushi combination consisting of raw salmon, rice, avocado, carrot and cucumber, and of course a little seaweed.
Nobody could accuse me of indulging. My friends think I'm some sort of monk. No alcohol. No coffee. And that'll remain pretty much for the rest of my life, it appears.
Now none of this really triggers acid, and indeed my throat calms down while I'm eating or drinking. But perhaps half an hour or an hour later, my throat feels like I'm breathing fire, and it hurts a little to swallow. The family doctor and ENT have seen my throat and they say it's quite red.
But none of my doctors, including the gastro, seems to think this is much of an emergency. I have a gastroscopy scheduled for about 7 weeks from now, and they'll be doing a pH monitor and oesophagus motility test in the next few weeks. I expect that the gastroscopy will probably show what it showed last year - minor scarring of the lower oesophagus - and I'm trying to get the scope done a bit earlier but I don't feel it's all that pressing.
My guess is that my throat simply isn't recovering from the initial burn it got back in early January. I know exactly how I'm going to behave once it heals: I'm going to stay on omeprazole indefinitely, I'm going to keep my bed raised, I'm not going to eat late at night, and I'm going to keep a simple diet.
But how do I get this damn throat to heal? What am I doing wrong? Surely someone else has experienced this?
Would love to hear from you all!
I'm a 33 year old male, and I was diagnosed with GERD 2 years ago when I would get noticeable chest pain and acid gurgling up after triggers like alcohol, spicy food, and orange juice, although a gastroscopy as far back as 2009 found scarring of the oesophagus. Until last year, I took the doctor's GERD diet as more of a guideline than a hard and fast law, although I pretty much stopped drinking alcohol and coffee most of the time.
Last year, in May 2013, after a couple of weeks of my throat burning and not realizing that I was causing progressive damage, I must have caused a serious burn to my throat because even drinking water was agonizing. I got on Nexium 40mg twice a day for a few days, but stopped that and just followed the GERD diet very, very strictly for 3 weeks. And then I was healed.
I went back to my normal diet, except I cut out the main triggers: zero alcohol, zero coffee, zero orange juice, etc. But by October, I remember visiting Berlin, and I was bold enough to eat Indian food and drink a cup of coffee (with some Rennies on hand.)
By New Years 2014, I had a tremendous relapse. Agonizing throat burning and terrible acid. I blame Flomax, which I was trialing for chronic prostatitis for 2 weeks before my throat took a huge turn for the worse.
Flash forward to today, March 23, almost 3 months later. I've been on an absolutely bland diet for 3 months. I've been on 20mg Omeprazole twice daily for about 2 months, and for more than a month have taken 40mg Famotidine, an H2 blocker, before bed. For the last 10 days I've been ALSO taking Gaviscon after every meal, up to 4 times a day. And I suck on plenty of Rennies, as well as Lemocin and even a prescription throat pain killer. Nothing really helps. I don't eat for at least 5 hours before bed. I've raised my bed head several inches. I've lost 10 kilograms, and am now 84kg (at 174 cm, that's not bad.)
The problem is that my throat simply isn't getting any better. Now I should say that I'm not getting any serious acid anymore, because my diet is extremely simple. But it just ain't improving, no matter what I do.
In case you're wondering, a typical day's eating will consist of fried eggs with virtually no oil in the morning with 2 cucumbers and some wheat crisps consisting exclusively of wheat, water and salt. I may drink fresh carrot juice, or carrot and beetroot juice, or carrot and red apple juice. I may also have some 1.5% yoghurt and a glass of rice milk or hazelnut milk. All very low fat.
Lunch and dinner might be a chicken breast with 2 cucumbers and more wheat crisps. Or a salmon sushi combination consisting of raw salmon, rice, avocado, carrot and cucumber, and of course a little seaweed.
Nobody could accuse me of indulging. My friends think I'm some sort of monk. No alcohol. No coffee. And that'll remain pretty much for the rest of my life, it appears.
Now none of this really triggers acid, and indeed my throat calms down while I'm eating or drinking. But perhaps half an hour or an hour later, my throat feels like I'm breathing fire, and it hurts a little to swallow. The family doctor and ENT have seen my throat and they say it's quite red.
But none of my doctors, including the gastro, seems to think this is much of an emergency. I have a gastroscopy scheduled for about 7 weeks from now, and they'll be doing a pH monitor and oesophagus motility test in the next few weeks. I expect that the gastroscopy will probably show what it showed last year - minor scarring of the lower oesophagus - and I'm trying to get the scope done a bit earlier but I don't feel it's all that pressing.
My guess is that my throat simply isn't recovering from the initial burn it got back in early January. I know exactly how I'm going to behave once it heals: I'm going to stay on omeprazole indefinitely, I'm going to keep my bed raised, I'm not going to eat late at night, and I'm going to keep a simple diet.
But how do I get this damn throat to heal? What am I doing wrong? Surely someone else has experienced this?
Would love to hear from you all!
Boy, do I feel your pain - forgive the pun! My case is somewhat different than yours. I wake up in the morning with a raw and parched feeling in my throat. Once I get a glass of water down, along with my morning Prevacid, I am mostly good to go unless I indulge in a bad trigger food. I am also on a strict diet and pay attention to what seems to trigger any possible discomfort while eating so I am sure not to eat it very often. I always make sure it has been 3 hours or more after eating before laying down and the head of my bed is elevated 6 inches. I also use a wedge pillow for added inches. I keep a glass of ice water on my night stand every night and if I wake up in the night with any discomfort, I drink and it seems to help calm it down and gets me back to sleep. However; I still experience the burn most mornings. I also went to see an ENT about a year and half ago and my throat looked fine just some redness to indicate there was silent reflux going on. I was prescribed Prevacid which I took for a few months and then stopped when I started feeling better, but not keeping to a good diet as I should put me right back to square one within a year. I am back on Prevacid and drink Aloe Juice which seems to help with the healing. Tastes pretty good and beats drinking water ALL THE TIME! I have even increased the Prevacid at times to both morning and night, but still no complete relief. I have researched Prilosec versus Prevacid and may try Prilosec once I have completed the Prevacid regimen. I also have eliminated alcohol unless it is a rare glass of wine with lunch or 1 beer with an early dinner, maybe once a week.. Beer doesn't seem to be as bad as wine or liquor, at least for me. Not being able to enjoy foods we once loved is a real bummer, but I am always looking for recipes and experimenting with safe herbs and seasonings in an effort to create new flavors with my food. Your diet doesn't have to be so bland - just mainly stay away from the trigger foods. I have found that I can have a sandwhich with light tomoato on it and even a slice of pizza once in awhile if eaten before 3:00 pm, the earlier the better and in small portions. It is a condition I wish I didn't have and which causes some sleepless nights but there a few things in life that one can truly enjoy and eating foods that we love is one of those, so I refuse to completely eliminate those things from my diet forever. That's just no way to live. There are some really good cookbooks out there for reflux suffers too and I use mine at least several times a week. Hang in there! It may take awhile to heal but we will both make it, learn from it and be healthier!
Thanks for your responses. I had a gastroscopy done a couple of days ago and my doc found nothing to worry about in my oesophagus or my throat. Three ENTs have said the same thing about my throat. Biopsies come back in a month, but assuming nothing wrong there, I've still got this throat problem.
Perhaps it is slowly but imperceptibly improving. I've been using fewer Rennies and fewer lozenges during the day. But when I wake up in the morning, boy is the throat burning! And that's after eating absolutely nothing for at least 4 hours before sleep. In fact, this morning I got up at 6am with a minor sore throat, and had a nap from 9am to 10am but woke up at 10am with a roaring burning throat. Very very strange, especially considering I crashed till 6am on the couch but took my nap on my bed whose head is raised by a foot.
I suspect the nighttime burn is aggravating and prolonging the damaged throat. It's reassuring that they don't see much wrong with my throat (perhaps a bit of redness, though they didn't say) but it's disconcerting. Because I truly can't eat properly - if I eat the wrong thing, my throat burns nonstop for several days afterwards.
Any further thoughts from contributors would be greatly appreciated.
Perhaps it is slowly but imperceptibly improving. I've been using fewer Rennies and fewer lozenges during the day. But when I wake up in the morning, boy is the throat burning! And that's after eating absolutely nothing for at least 4 hours before sleep. In fact, this morning I got up at 6am with a minor sore throat, and had a nap from 9am to 10am but woke up at 10am with a roaring burning throat. Very very strange, especially considering I crashed till 6am on the couch but took my nap on my bed whose head is raised by a foot.
I suspect the nighttime burn is aggravating and prolonging the damaged throat. It's reassuring that they don't see much wrong with my throat (perhaps a bit of redness, though they didn't say) but it's disconcerting. Because I truly can't eat properly - if I eat the wrong thing, my throat burns nonstop for several days afterwards.
Any further thoughts from contributors would be greatly appreciated.
Hi acid trouble, I'm having the same problem like yours. I am dealing this problem for 2 years now. I was diagnosed acid reflux Dec 2012 and since I was on strict diet too like what you did. No spicy, no tomatoes sauce, no softdrink and soda. No oil.
Last October 2013, I had this burning in my throat, chronic coughing and throat irritation. That I need to go doctors to get antibiotic. And it happen again today. I am taking prevacid 30mg only in morning and nothing in the evening.
My throat is also red and it was bad. I understand that too much producing acid from our stomach backing up to our throat and caused burning in our mouth. Keep doing the strict diet and continue taking PPI medicine. I am also seeking for help..
Last October 2013, I had this burning in my throat, chronic coughing and throat irritation. That I need to go doctors to get antibiotic. And it happen again today. I am taking prevacid 30mg only in morning and nothing in the evening.
My throat is also red and it was bad. I understand that too much producing acid from our stomach backing up to our throat and caused burning in our mouth. Keep doing the strict diet and continue taking PPI medicine. I am also seeking for help..
Hi acid trouble, I'm having the same problem like yours. I am dealing this problem for 2 years now. I was diagnosed acid reflux Dec 2012 and since I was on strict diet too like what you did. No spicy, no tomatoes sauce, no softdrink and soda. No oil.
Last October 2013, I had this burning in my throat, chronic coughing and throat irritation. That I need to go doctors to get antibiotic. And it happen again today. I am taking prevacid 30mg only in morning and nothing in the evening.
My throat is also red and it was bad. I understandthat
Last October 2013, I had this burning in my throat, chronic coughing and throat irritation. That I need to go doctors to get antibiotic. And it happen again today. I am taking prevacid 30mg only in morning and nothing in the evening.
My throat is also red and it was bad. I understandthat
Try cabbage juice and aloe vera gel to heal your throat. Once it is healed, take hydrochloric acid tablets with pepsin before each meal.
Believe it or not - it works. We don't make enough acid to digest our food and the rotting food causes the bloating, gas and suddenly our stomach throws too much acid on it. That comes up the esophagus and burns it. If we take hydrochloric acid, however, the acid helps to dessicate the food and we can digest it easily and it moves along to the intestines. No pain.
If I forget to take the hcl, I quickly grab the enzymes to help digest whatever is in there. Helps a lot, but the hcl works better.
I take Gluten Cutter from Walmart (lots of different types of enzymes in one little package. Love it.
Believe it or not - it works. We don't make enough acid to digest our food and the rotting food causes the bloating, gas and suddenly our stomach throws too much acid on it. That comes up the esophagus and burns it. If we take hydrochloric acid, however, the acid helps to dessicate the food and we can digest it easily and it moves along to the intestines. No pain.
If I forget to take the hcl, I quickly grab the enzymes to help digest whatever is in there. Helps a lot, but the hcl works better.
I take Gluten Cutter from Walmart (lots of different types of enzymes in one little package. Love it.
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