I would appreciate any recommendations for myself and for my students.
I recently went through a long bout of hoarseness and throat pain. It came at the end of a respiratory infection, but stuck around for several weeks after I had already taken the antibiotics and recovered from the infection.
I went to see my ENT and had a scope done. He told me that my cords were functioning fine (no polyps, nodules or scarring), but he could see redness towards the back walls of my throat indicating inflammation from acid reflux. He also suspected that it was inflammation that left my throat in a more vulnerable state and helped to exacerbate the initial laryngitis into a prolonged state...
I am recovered now, although from time to time I still feel a touch of irritation around my larynx and throat that's reminiscent of the pain I had during my illness. I have learned that I have very severe acid reflux. What is frustrating is that I was on strong medication for it (300mg Zantac a day) before I got ill. And it seemed under control at the time. My ENT's response to that was - although I was taking many measures to control my reflux, I may have a weak esophageal sphincter and therefore I would need to take even stronger measures to control it.
I continue to try to make lifestyle/behavioral changes to reverse this issue, so I am not necessarily asking advice about remedies for reflux. (I'm well-read on all he acidic foods to avoid, weight-loss, putting the bed-on-stilts...and other than the weight-loss, I've done it all!) My question is: is there anything I can do or take to deal with the inflammation directly? It seems like, even if I have reduced the reflux, it's never reduced enough to allow my throat to recover completely from the irritation. Are there are lozenges or sprays that could help soothe the inflammation while still protecting my throat from dryness?