Sore throat for about 8 weeks. PCP sent me to ENT because I've done all the allergy meds (Claritin, zrytec, flonase, netipot, etc.). They didn't help, no other allergy type symptoms. Thick mucous in back of throat most of say, worse after eating.

Allergy test showed cedar and dust mites.

ENT suspects LPR. Put me on antibiotics, tums, Mucinex and a follow up 2 weeks after, potentially for laryngoscopy. It's been a week on honestly not much better, maybe slightly.


Anyone have experience with LPR mind sharing experience?

I treat a lot of people with LPR. You can do quite a bit to mitigate it with "dietary and lifestyle modifications", essentially taking all of the fun out of your life. But, seriously, try to limit caffeine. Push meals earlier in the evening to maximize the amount of time between the last meal and sleep. Even though LPR is not classically the same thing as nighttime reflux, the overlap is huge. Caffeine late in the day, alcohol before sleep, a big, fatty, or spicy meal especially at the end of the day - all bad.
I would try a several week course of Prilosec or Prevacid in the morning on an empty stomach. One thing I have had a lot of luck with is having patients get Gaviscon Advance and use it at bedtime. The formulation is different than what is available in the U.S., so you need to order it online.
If you've done all this and your symptoms persist and your ENT sees nothing on mirror or flexible fiberoptic examination, you need to see a GI doctor and have an upper endoscopy.
Also, try food elimination and food challenges. Start with dairy first, might also try wheat, gluten. Two week elimination followed by a challenge, see if symptoms change. Good luck.

Thanks I very much appreciate it!

I've limited caffeine to 1 cup of morning green tea and that's it for several months actually. Zero coffee. Cutting out alcohol as we speak, been a week.

The hardest will be spicy things like salsa, etc. but definitely doing it because this is pretty miserable. If I end a pretty big meal with spicy things will get thick phlegm coming up.

ENT also mentioned eating earlier. Been eating sometimes as late as 90 mins before bed which ain't helping.

I had the same symptoms as you do. Did everything short of a scope. Then in an effort to lose weight (about 35 pounds) I started on "slow carb". No sugars, starches, flour, dairy and fruit. It's low-ish fat.

After about two weeks my reflux symptoms were much improved. Now 6 weeks in and my throat isn't sore unless I push it with spicy food.

I guess it was an elimination diet of sorts

Thanks for info. Were you eating particularly bad before the symptoms showed up?

I've never had reflux issues in the past and relatively young (31) , decent weight (23 BMI) but my habits did get kinda bad lately.

I'm doing pepcid 2x a day, Gaviscon after every meal and before bed, zyrtec, flonase, netipot, humidifier at night, you name it. And eating extremely bland like chicken breast and corn bland.

Not much improvement yet but hopeful another week will change that because 10 weeks of sore throat is terrible

Yeah, besides 16/8 IM, I didn't care about what I ate. I'm on nexium twice daily for the last year or so. That kept the worst of the symptoms at bay but still didn't feel great. Also doing claratin, flonase, neti pot on the chance that allergies is causing it.

AgsMyDude said:

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I'm doing pepcid 2x a day, Gaviscon after every meal and before bed, zyrtec, flonase, netipot, humidifier at night, you name it. And eating extremely bland like chicken breast and corn bland.

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Just a heads up, getting dependent on pepcid can lead to something called rebound acid reflux. Essentially taking pepcid, or nexium, or anything like that causes your stomach to be less acidic (which is what you want), but your body detects this as an abnormality and tries to compensate, over the course of a few months it increases the cellular machinery that produce acid. So eventually if you stop, that machinery keeps going and gives you symptoms that are way worse than what you originally had. Eventually it'll reset, but it can be a brutal reset.

Thanks I appreciate that and had read up on the rebound reflux as well. Will definitely bring it up to ENT ar Fridays appointment.

Really hoping this isn't a long term issue that requires multiple months of treatment and more of a short term fix while improve habits like eating too close to bed, etc.

Quick update. Had laryngoscopy done last Friday which showed some signs of LPR. ENT said could take a couple of months to fully heal.

Changed my diet about 3 weeks ago. Been on Pepcid for 17 days. Gaviscon Advance for 11.

This Gaviscon Advance (UK) seems to be working very well along with the complete diet change.

Soreness in throat seems to be slowly tapering off. Mucous still gets thick depending on what I eat.

Pushed it with a beer the other evening and pretty bad reflux the next morning, guess I have to hold out for awhile there

Yes, losing weight if that's an issue, then dietary changes to less carbs and fats often helps, in my experience.

I went from a chronic sufferer of reflux to never having it by losing weight and cleaning up my diet, and simply quitting eating once I started to feel close to full.

AgsMyDude said:

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Quick update. Had laryngoscopy done last Friday which showed some signs of LPR. ENT said could take a couple of months to fully heal.

Changed my diet about 3 weeks ago. Been on Pepcid for 17 days. Gaviscon Advance for 11.

This Gaviscon Advance (UK) seems to be working very well along with the complete diet change.

Soreness in throat seems to be slowly tapering off. Mucous still gets thick depending on what I eat.

Pushed it with a beer the other evening and pretty bad reflux the next morning, guess I have to hold out for awhile there

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Glad to hear it. Just this week I saw a guy in followup that I had put on Gaviscon Advance a month earlier. He had LPR and ETD, but only had ear symptoms. He joked to my MA that when he left my office he thought I was a quack but now he says I'm a genius. The stuff works well. Especially with nighttime reflux sufferers.

Haha that's pretty good. I had tried a ton of different meds but that stuff finally started helping about 4 days in.

Do you know if the tablets work just as well as the liquid? My ENT indicated it does so trying them as the liquid is $55 for about 12 days worth at my dose.

AgsMyDude said:

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Haha that's pretty good. I had tried a ton of different meds but that stuff finally started helping about 4 days in.

Do you know if the tablets work just as well as the liquid? My ENT indicated it does so trying them as the liquid is $55 for about 12 days worth at my dose.

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Can't imagine it would be any different. Perhaps the liquid works more quickly. People say it tastes like you-know-what, though.

Yeah, it tastes HORRIBLE. Have to chug it and wash it down with a few sips of water.

But if it works, I can stomach that taste for a few mins.

Randomly clicking on this thread has been a game changer for me. Kool is a genius!

Have suffered Gerd and reflux forever, literally since high school. Pretty well controlled with ppi. But with the recent trend toward suggesting these are bad, I have looked into ways to stop. Even discussed surgical options. Specialist said ppi was still the best option .

After seeing this thread and figuring wth, I order some of the mint chewable GA. Have initially tried cutting the ppi dose in half, Something that previously was immediately noticeable uncomfortable, and it is absolutely fine. No symptoms or difference at all. Thought I would do that for a week then experiment with eliminating the ppi completely.

Makes me wonder what other things we are treating here in America with heavier duty drugs than is really needed.

Good luck! I started noticing improvement with GA liquid after about 3-4 days for my LPR.

I still have symptoms but ENT said it could take awhile to fully heal.

I'm like you and will probably start weening off my pepcid and stick with just the GA after another week or so if continued improvement.

Well still dealing with this chronic sore throat on an off 2 years later.

Saw Gastro and they did an endoscopy November of last year. A hiatal hernia was seen. 2cm. No Barrett's or anything. They put me on a mega dose of Omeprazole 40mg 2x a day. I also take Gaviscon Advance after meals when flare ups occur.

Changed my diet a bunch and earlier when possible. We have a newborn and 2 other kids so it's hard. I've eliminated coffee for 1 cup of green tea in the morning.


Things were going well in late March. They wanted me to try reducing dose SLOWLY. A couple days in and my throat was horrifically sore. UC gave me a steroid injection to reduce the inflammation it was so bad and was a weekend.


Trying again now to taper. Was doing evenings every other night, then a week later every 2 nights, now down to 40mg morning and once every three evenings before dinner. Was about to cut out the evening entirely until last night I was woken with a horrible sore throat again.

Planning to try and get into Gastro early next week.

I don't want to be on these meds much longer, it's been 2 years but was 20mg daily for more than 1 of them.

This is is very frustrating.

I'm wondering if I need to go down the allergy path at this point too. I had testing done 8 years ago and dust mites were off the scale but never pursued anything. My throat seems to be worst overnight or early in the morning. Probably mouth breathing because one of my nostrils gets clogged nightly.

I can't imagine that your dust mite allergies would make things all that bad. If it has been a while, see the ENT again and make sure they scope you. Also, go through your med list and make sure that you aren't on something that might make you have pharyngitis. Those things often get overlooked. Lastly, make sure your PCP has done recent bloodwork including autoimmune panel to make sure you don't have an issue there. Best of luck.

Kool said:

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I can't imagine that your dust mite allergies would make things all that bad. If it has been a while, see the ENT again and make sure they scope you. Also, go through your med list and make sure that you aren't on something that might make you have pharyngitis. Those things often get overlooked. Lastly, make sure your PCP has done recent bloodwork including autoimmune panel to make sure you don't have an issue there. Best of luck.

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I did go to ENT last month actually. I forgot to mention that. He said he saw some inflammation but nothing major like ulcers, etc."run of the mill inflammation that I see all the time"

It's weird because it's not ALL the time but flares up here and there

Saw my PCP in June and everything looked phenomenal blood work wise. As it usually does. Mid 30s.

Could anxiety be a major factor? Had to put our 14 yr dog down in May, our son was born in March, oldest is going through sleeping issues so there's minimal sleep going on, and the sore throats don't help ekther.

I've had anxiety issues off and on for a long time but been worse lately. Have been doing therapy for a few years now though.

That's ALWAYS a possibility. Most people just st don't want to admit it. Whether it's the cause or not, anxiety just makes everything worse. Sounds as if, with your work up, at least you're dealing with the annoying and not the worrisome.

Kool said:

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That's ALWAYS a possibility. Most people just st don't want to admit it. Whether it's the cause or not, anxiety just makes everything worse. Sounds as if, with your work up, at least you're dealing with the annoying and not the worrisome.

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Do you mean the sore throat or anxiety?

Yeah the sore throat is definitely more annoying than anything.

Tha anxiety has been trending towards worrisome for sure over the past month or two. I mainly attribute it to sleep deprivation and life changes but trending the wrong way...

I mean that the anxiety may be the cause of, if not just exacerbating, the sore throat. The throat is a strangely emotional area. What happens when you get scared or nervous or are intimidated by something? You get "a lump in your throat". Very frustrating for patients and for providers, because it's always difficult to tell what anxiety might be doing to you. All the best, just happy that you've looked in the right spots and haven't had anything worrisome return.