Those of you who follow this blog probably know by now Mike's Health has been more or less on hiatus in 2012 due to my battle with acid reflux. It's been nine months of hell now; however I'm optimistic regarding my recovery, and expect to be relatively normal in 2013. But it's not over yet. I still have to adhere to a daily routine that involves taking an antacid that contains alginate before every meal and bedtime, sucking on DGL licorice and slippery elm lozenges throughout the day, and sticking to small, low-acid, low-fat meals throughout the day rather than three normal-sized meals. As recently as a month ago, eating anything vaguely acidic resulted in immediate pain and swelling in my throat. Now I am able to eat a small amount of acidic foods, including a limited amount of fresh and cooked tomatoes, though I am instinctively avoiding citrus fruits and juices. I sleep on a wedge or, if I sleep on my side, only on my left side, which minimizes the chance of nighttime reflux. Some days are better than others, but there seems to be a very slow progression in the right direction. Only a few weeks ago, the slightest burp resulted in pain. Now that has mostly passed. Most days I feel pretty normal in the morning, but in the late afternoon and early evening my throat starts to feel a little lumpy and ragged- not quite the globus that used to present itself regularly, but not comfortable either.
One thing of which I am convinced: this is not the result of too little acid, as the health food store guru believed. I tried taking a supplement with Betaine HCl (that's hydrochloric acid, kids) and pepsin, wishing to test the theory that my reflux is caused by not enough acid being generated by my aging digestive system. My system reacted very badly, in fact wiping out all of the progress I had been making. I was starting to feel almost normal. In the aftermath of taking that pill, my throat was re-damaged and the globus came back on as worse as it ever had been. It's taken a few weeks to get the discomfort back down to a manageable level. So, be warned if you suffer from LPR and want to test the low acid theory: wait until your throat is fully healed before trying HCl supplements.
I am more convinced than ever LPR would not exist if it were not for the easy manner in which Americans, encouraged by the pharmaceutical industry and celebrity shills like Larry the Cable Guy, can take very dangerous acid suppression drugs like proton pump inhibitors. I have never had much trouble with acid reflux and certainly nothing at all like the throat damage that characterizes LPR before taking PPIs. I was misdiagnosed with GERD, I now believe, when really what I suffered from was intermittent gastritis due to my atrocious diet. Ever since I was on the PPIs I have been struggling with a number of reflux-related symptoms. Now that I have been off of them for a month, my digestion seems to be normalizing, though the process is very, very gradual.
I am not out of the woods yet. Every day I experience symptoms which make me fear I might be slipping backwards. But when I calm myself and look back at the trouble I've had in the past, I realize I am a very slow road to recovery.
10 comments:
I to had been suffering from LPR which I think was caused by PPI,s as I initially had Gastritis caused by H Pylori however when on the PPI's I experienced burning pain in my throat which diminished when I stopped the PPI's and H2 Blockers I am now on Sucralfate which has helped a lot and I do hope the longer I have been away from PPI's that my condition will improve you are correct in every aspect about these horrible drugs.
Hi Mike, I'm an LPR sufferer too, here in Australia. I've been taking PPI's for around 7 months now (and H2 Blockers). I haven't had any reflux symptoms in a couple of months though so I've gone down to one nexium a day and an H2 Blocker when I think I need it (after a large meal or something). It's tough. Especially, stopping eating all the foods I love.
The biggest problem I have now, however, is I've developed Papilloma on my vocal cords (from the reflux). This has effectively destroyed my voice and I'm now struggling to just function on a daily basis. I went from a little hoarse - caused by the reflux at first - to being unable to raise my voice, and then unable to speak at all. I then had an operation to remove the crap on my vocal cords, and since them I've struggled to get well as they papilloma keeps growing back. My boss has been pretty good about it, but his patience has worn thin; I fear I won't be able to continue working much longer as it's so bad as he's talking redundancy.
Scary times and amazing to consider that eating tomatoes and mint and chocolate and all the "normal" things, caused it. Of course there are other factors, especially for me - and probably for you too - STRESS! That's the worst thing for me I think. Stress. I've begun a daily 4 minute routine in mindfulness meditation, in the hope it might calm my stress, reduce the reflux and also increase my immunity against the papilloma's. Here's hoping, anyway. My wife has some great recipes for LPR so I'll forward some to you. She's Indian, and of course our favourite food is - you guessed it, Indian food. Hot food! Well, I can't have that anymore, but she's created a few dishes that I think you'll like that don't cause any LPR problems. Let me know how you're getting on.
I would love to see the recipes! my email is salmonsm at gmail dot com if you want to send them my way.
What have you done to get your LPR under control? Did you do it naturally? I've had sore throat for about 21/2 months now. ENT says Gerd/LPR -- working with naturopath (probiotics, HCL-Pepsin, etc), diet was already clean 6 weeks before sore throat started. Go figure? I am really frustrated, but I want to heal naturally and am looking for inspiration.
Thanks!
Hi Mike,
If you are reading this I hope you are feeling better. Please take a look at my ebook on LPR at http://amzn.to/11C3RDp and my blog, allaboutlpr.tumblr.com. Thanks!
Tom Lee
@codium99
If anyone has this, much research on pepsin that has travelled to larynx and lungs not the acid. Lemons and grapefruit may actually help because they are on the list of foods that start kick start bicarbonate production that stops the digestion process. Once the person is there, it can be reactivated by certain foods and begin digesting your throat cells. Alginate and small changes to diet should help. Doesn't need to be to drastic. I avoid caffeine and carbonation, including wine and beer. Trying to cut out cheese, the enzymes might be a trigger. Also adding probiotics here ad there. Doctor was no help, had to do all my own research. Still have episodes but getting better by the day! Also caused some copd with me.
Correction "one the pepsin is there..."
Hi I just discovered I jave LPR.For 2 years I thought I had GERD. I had been taking Betaine FCL with pepsin. I have just been off the betaine for 2 days and notice the difference.My conclusion...Betaine makes my LPR worse.So...will do strict diet.There is a lot on the internet on how to cure LPR naturally.
Anon, I think that means low acid production is not your problem! You might take a look at the Koufman diet as well. Take care!
" Trying to cut out cheese, the enzymes might be a trigger."
Now, that is interesting! Please report back if it helps you. The fat in cheese might be the culprit as well.
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