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NancyDrew

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NancyDrew last won the day on April 17 2018

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  1. Hello, Just my two cents here. I've experienced burning in my throat for about a year which was only a problem on days when I used my voice often. (I'm not working a present so this is mainly volunteering work where I visit shut-ins and stay and talk for 1-2 hours. It also occurred when I was renting out two properties at different times and I had to talk a lot on the phone with prospective tenants. I have had GERD for 20 years. Well controlled on Aciphex (like Nexium) it's a PPI (Proton Pump inhibitor) that can stop a good deal of acid in the stomach from moving into the esophagus I often take the meds only 2-3 xs a week but the last year I could tell that it wasn't well controlled. In the interim, I started eating only one meal a day (supplementing breakfast with a protein shake). I believe that contributed to a sudden intense burning not only with talking but EVERYDAY. My Gastroenterology put me on several medications. The aciphex (PPI) can take a month or so to work effectively so she also put me on prescription strengh Pepcid (20 mg twice a day) in the hopes of getting the acid down. When the burning continued after 10 days, it was my family doctor who suggested Carafate. (It's been around for 40 years and not well used today). It works VERY WELL to relieve the burning - but it's kind of a pain in that you must wait an hour after taking it to eat or take other medications. You can't take it for two hours if you've eaten SO you have to really coordinate things....a little price to pay for burning relief. GERD: My Gastroenterology said that ANYONE who is having throat burning should see an ENT (I did but she only saw mild inflammation on Vocal cords most likely to the acid reflux. BY THE WAY - I had NO other symptoms which was odd because I always have either bad heartburn or dysphagia (where food feels like it gets stuck). THESE are classic signs of GERD (a more damaging degree of "acid reflux". The ENT has me going to Voice Therapy twice a week which I started today. I've had NO BURNING for last 5 days (again Carafate really helps with this) but four hours after speech therapy (lots of talking and voice exercises the burning was intense! THE IMPORTANT PART AND THE REASON I"M SHARING: If you have burning and your ENT doesn't find anything causing it, you should see a GASTROENTEROLOGIST. You should agree to go onto acid reducing medications BUT ONLY for a short time (10-12 days). You should absolutely get relief by 10-12 days and if the burning continues it's CRITICAL that you have what's called PH Monitoring (the BRAVO test is most recommended). This test which is well tolerated by most involves having a tiny fiber optic tubing inserted in your nose and into your throat. Sounds weird BUT if you can tolerate the ENT doing a quick 30 second scope to see Vocal Cords, you can tolerate this. I get it done without numbing agent because it's so quick and absolutely painless. If you need to be numb - go for it!!!! The PH Monitoring will tell your Gastro IF the reflux is CAUSED by 1) Acid Refux 2) Non Acid Reflix or 3) Bile. These are ALL treated differently so if the test shows NO ACID REFLUX you can immediately come off all the acid reducing medications. I have a friend who had this done and discovered his "REFLUX" is caused by a non acidic fluid. This is more tricky to treat and takes a little more time and patience. He didn't know about Carafate so he's planning to try it to see if he gets some relief. Also BILE reflux (often with folks who've had gallbladder removed or are very heavy) is another type of reflux and it also tricky to treat but you really NEED TO KNOW what's refluxing up into your esophagus and throat. IF IT"S ACID - lots of things to try but you REALLY should go on a GERD diet (stay away from alcohol and chocoloate and big heavy meals 3-5 hours before bedtime. There's also ANOTHER problem that can mimic GERD symptoms and if your PH Monitoring doesn't show reflux you may have a "stomach motility" issue. That's unfortunately another test BUT well worth it to get to the root of your problem. It's treated with Baclofen a medication works very well for spacisity (patients with MS etc) use it. For some reason it has worked will with folks whose stomachs are not moving the food out quickly enough. TO recap: If the ENT does not find the "REASON" for your throat burning don't just ASSUME (Or let your doctor) ASSUME it's acid reflux. My doctor immediately ordered the PH Monitoring after 10 days of several GERD meds not resolving the problem. Having it next week AND cannot wait although I'm a little anxious about wearing a small cord up my nose for 24 hours...None the less I've made the decision to get through this as I know the answer may soon follow!!!! Sorry for the length but I'm reading SO many forums where people suffer for years and their doctors NEVER suggest any of these tests!!!! Good luck with getting your problems resolved.
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