Help with GERD (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease)?
I am 22 years old. For about a year now, I have had this chronic clearing of my throat. It is somewhat uncontrollable and it persists for about an hour and happens 4-5 times a day. It feels like my throat is filling up with mucus but when I try to clear my throat nothing really comes up. I just find myself clearing my throat over and over again for about an hour until it passes.
Now, I used to smoke for 5 years, but when this cough came up, I immediately quit. I went to a doctor. They took a throat culture and told me it was GERD. I took some medication for 2 months and it didn’t help. I kept clearing my throat.
I went back after those 2 months and a different doctor told me it was just allergies. She put me on meds and those didn’t help either.
Again, I went to the doctor another month later and they told me it was GERD again. I am currently on a new med, Omeprazole, for almost a month and this doesn’t help either.
Reading up on GERD, it can have symptoms such as chronic cough like I have, but it also comes with acid reflux and heartburn, which I don’t get. If this is the case, what are the chances that I actually have GERD?
If I do, in fact, have GERD, why wont any of the medications I am taking work? What would you suggest I do?
this coughing usually happens when I eat, drink alcohol or workout
Filed under: Gerd Symptoms
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I have pretty much the same problem as you do. I have GERD but don’t get the heartburn however I know what you mean about the cough, plus I used to have horrible stomach pains. First let me tell you you’ll get better results getting this problem under control through your diet. That cough, from what I’ve read, can be caused by acid in your system. You’ve got to eat more alkaline foods to balance the acid in your stomach. Start by focusing more on fresh fruit, vegetables, soy, honey, and raisins. You can have citrus fruits as well, and whole wheat breads and pastas. Keep away from all meats, alcohol, milk, sodas, eggs, tea, coffee, fish, flour based products, beans and oatmeal. The list of acid forming foods is very long. For a more complete list of what you can and can’t eat just google acid/alkaline diet. Add lemon to your water when you drink as this will help to make your stomach more alkaline too. I found that this helped much more than the medication I was given and now I pretty much don’t have those symptoms anymore. If I do I just drink water with lemon and that pretty much clears things up. I hope this helps you out. Good luck. Also wanted to add that I now can eat any thing I want to, you don’t have to live on that diet. At least I didn’t. I used it till I got my symptoms under control.
It doesn’t sound like gerd to me.
Try seeing an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor. It could be severe post nasal drip or something similar.
In the meantime try sleeping on a higher pillow. and use Mucinex.
It won’t be GERD- your stomach is full of acid and any reflux is painful!
You’re just producing loads of saliva.
Coughing clears your windpipe (trachea), not your food pipe (oesophagus)-
Think about it- the cough is air from your lungs.
In order for stomach contents to get into your trachea; it’d have to come up almost into your mouth, before turning back to the oesophagus
The (non surgical) treatment for GERD is, I think alkali to counteract the acid. We use sodium bicarbonate preoperatively on known reflux patients to reduce the chance of them getting mendelsons if they aspirate.
(in the UK we also perform cricoid pressure to prevent it)
For excessive mucous- an anti-muscarinic?