Maybe someone will end up on the forums through Google, I know I was googling this stuff every night for hours... Just wanted to post this here in case someone is thinking that LPR cannot be fixed without surgery. I also don't think protein-pump inhibitors are a good idea; they might give temporary relief but will probably lead to more serious problems in the long run.
I suffered from LPR for over a year. I think it started when I changed from a decade-long low-carb diet to one with resistant starch, since that was supposed to be the next great health miracle. It wasn't; it just gave me SIBO symptoms and made me gain more weight, along with other issues.
My symptoms were a burning sensation in the throat, redness in the back of the throat, postnasal drip, an acidic feel in my mouth all the time, chronic cough and a feeling of a "lump" in my throat, especially when lying on my back.
There are some good articles about LPR online, such as this one: The LPR Cure: Everything I've Learned - Chris Aram
I tried a ton of stuff to fix it, but the ones that made a difference were:
- Drinking and gargling with baking soda to neutralize pepsin
- Sleeping on your left side to block pepsin from travelling up the throat at night
- Taking a melatonin supplement at night (not Peaty and not sure why it works but seemed to help)
- Gaviscon (contains sodium alginate which forms a protective layer above the stomach)
- Avoiding resistant starch and eating Peaty
I used to love all kinds of sour drinks but had to give them up for a year. A gin & tonic would make me feel horrible, for example, as did IPA beers. I still drank coffee and orange juice, however.
While abroad, I had another episode of burning throat and went to the pharmacy to buy anti-acids or something. Due to a bit of a language barrier, however, the woman at the counter gave me a product called Iberogast, which is a blend of essential oils basically. I took 10 drops of it and within 20 minutes I started feeling horrible. I had a fever for two days and felt like I was sh***ing out my insides. I was sure the pharmacist had misunderstood my issue and given me the wrong product and I didn't touch the stuff again for a long time.
It was only long afterwards that I realized what I had experienced was most likely a Herxheimer reaction from bacterial die-off, and that something had been wrong with my gut and this stuff basically flushed it out. It also seemed to relieve the LPR issues (though I didn't realize it at the time), which made me think there's a connection between SIBO and LPR. I never had the same reaction from Iberogast again, but I did try oregano oil and it produced a milder version of the same thing. I would feel terrible for 6-12 hours and then I'd feel much better. I still use oregano oil occasionally, along with activated charchoal when I feel gastric upset. Another product to try is N-Acetyl-Cysteine, a biofilm disruptor, which can be handy with getting rid of bad bacteria.
TL;DR: Try the usual stuff (baking soda, sleeping on your left side, melatonin, gaviscon, avoiding sour things) but also try to clean your gut from bad bacteria. It's probably all connected. Hope this helps.
I suffered from LPR for over a year. I think it started when I changed from a decade-long low-carb diet to one with resistant starch, since that was supposed to be the next great health miracle. It wasn't; it just gave me SIBO symptoms and made me gain more weight, along with other issues.
My symptoms were a burning sensation in the throat, redness in the back of the throat, postnasal drip, an acidic feel in my mouth all the time, chronic cough and a feeling of a "lump" in my throat, especially when lying on my back.
There are some good articles about LPR online, such as this one: The LPR Cure: Everything I've Learned - Chris Aram
I tried a ton of stuff to fix it, but the ones that made a difference were:
- Drinking and gargling with baking soda to neutralize pepsin
- Sleeping on your left side to block pepsin from travelling up the throat at night
- Taking a melatonin supplement at night (not Peaty and not sure why it works but seemed to help)
- Gaviscon (contains sodium alginate which forms a protective layer above the stomach)
- Avoiding resistant starch and eating Peaty
I used to love all kinds of sour drinks but had to give them up for a year. A gin & tonic would make me feel horrible, for example, as did IPA beers. I still drank coffee and orange juice, however.
While abroad, I had another episode of burning throat and went to the pharmacy to buy anti-acids or something. Due to a bit of a language barrier, however, the woman at the counter gave me a product called Iberogast, which is a blend of essential oils basically. I took 10 drops of it and within 20 minutes I started feeling horrible. I had a fever for two days and felt like I was sh***ing out my insides. I was sure the pharmacist had misunderstood my issue and given me the wrong product and I didn't touch the stuff again for a long time.
It was only long afterwards that I realized what I had experienced was most likely a Herxheimer reaction from bacterial die-off, and that something had been wrong with my gut and this stuff basically flushed it out. It also seemed to relieve the LPR issues (though I didn't realize it at the time), which made me think there's a connection between SIBO and LPR. I never had the same reaction from Iberogast again, but I did try oregano oil and it produced a milder version of the same thing. I would feel terrible for 6-12 hours and then I'd feel much better. I still use oregano oil occasionally, along with activated charchoal when I feel gastric upset. Another product to try is N-Acetyl-Cysteine, a biofilm disruptor, which can be handy with getting rid of bad bacteria.
TL;DR: Try the usual stuff (baking soda, sleeping on your left side, melatonin, gaviscon, avoiding sour things) but also try to clean your gut from bad bacteria. It's probably all connected. Hope this helps.