Cricopharyngeal spasm versus laryngopharyngeal reflux

 

I have struggled for about 15 + years intermittently coughing, not being able to breathe, and having a lump in my throat with associated swallowing troubles. Sometimes I feel great; other times I think I am breathing through a straw. I do not smoke, eat pretty well but I love spicy foods and am not overweight. All this while bouncing around from doctor to doctor, multiple ER visits and thinking I am crazy... and I finally think I figured out my issue and what a lot of you bloggers/posters may have. Vocal Cord Dysfunction (involuntary closing of the vocal cords) brought on by LPR (laryngopharyngeal reflux). For some of you wondering why you can't breathe and/or swallow and why the symptoms are different is because the primary 2 functions of vocal cords are swallowing and breathing - not speaking/singing! So it only makes sense that the LPR exacerbates the VCD which causes multiple but confusing symptoms. And since the medical field does not get it as a whole, we are diagnosed with anxiety, muscle relaxers, depressants, asthma (which is really just a generalized condition) instead of LPR which is a variant of traditional acid reflux, I would describe LPR as GERD on steroids since you not only have acid reflux if you have LPR but a faulty esophageal sphincter, which opens when it should not and allows acid back up to the throat.

 ***this post is edited by moderator *** *** web addresses not allowed*** Please read our Terms of Use

 An ENT finally recommended it to me and it puts most of these doctors, ENTs and GEs to shame. Ensure you ingest high ph level foods / low acidic content and you will get better. No coffee, no alcohol, no soda, no spicy foods (that was my downfall). Man is it boring and tough to do but not being able to breathe is pretty good motivation to stay on it.

PaulyB, I too suffered two years with severe unbearable acid vapor up my throat.  The devastation of this illness is to difficult to recount.  After oodles of medications, after surgery...nothing worked for me.  I withered away.  And I was in unbearable pain.  After a retirement and move I had to get new Drs.  What an ordeal that was.  I worked so hard to get a definitive diagnosis from the previous Drs.  They all said LPR (silent acid reflux/burning throat syndrome).  After the move, the new Drs disagreed with the previous Drs.  I was put throught the a horrible ordeal.  I went into ER 5 months after surgery as the pain in my throat was severe and unrelenting for two years.  The ER Dr sent me to mental health.  I was falling apart after two years of pain with no pain relief.  Fianlly they got me into a ENT but they treated me horrible like I was fabricating it.  They kept asking me what stress did I have in my life.  I told them none.  I was happy, retired and could have a great life if I wasn't burning to death.  Well when I finally got into ENT he exclaimed, "you are burned severly...I have to do a tissue sample as I think you have cancer."  I was so anger as I had been telling all my Drs for two years I was burning to death all day and all night long.  Well to make a very long story shorter I had the tissue test.  To my relief I didn't have cancer just a very very badly burned thorat.  The Drs in GI dept apologized barely.  And they tried a few more medications.  Nothing worked...I knew that they wouldn't but no one listened.  I had reached the depth of dispair...I knew I would die a slow death.  I had lost 30 lbs.  I had kept my studying up on what I had as my Drs never sat and talked about what was wrong.  None of them had the time.  And no one sent me to a top specialist.  Even though I waited 6 months for an answer to get a specialist.  It was denied.  So on a hope and pray I tried probiotics.  To my surprise I had a 20 % improvement.  Better than all the medciations and surgery...it was stunning to me.  At least I could push myself out of bed now.  I mentioned it to my GI and she said if I wanted she could give me a stronger dose of probiotics (medical/prescription).  I took it and got about a 30% overall improvement.  I was still in bad pain but I felt little better.  I was beginning to be depressed even though I worked hard to hide my pain and push through my days.

One day in Aug 2011 the Regional GI told me that they would not send me out to a specialist outside of their system.  He told me I did not have LPR but they didn't know what I had.  And he told me I had to learn to live with the pain.  Severe LPR is like being a burn patient that has the burn agent constantly burning through throat nerves that radiate throughout the body and head.  It is impossible to live the rest of one's life in that kind of pain with no pain killers.  It simply was the twilight zone.  My Drs treated me with distain and my spouse believed the Drs and I was left alone to manage and deal with an impossible situation.  I came home fromt that specialist denial appointment and cried deep and long.  But my mind was running through everything I had read on my case for two years.  And I sat down and went on the web and asked it, "What strengthens muscles".  Up popped alot of articles but a few mentioned Vitamin D.  I happened to go into one and when I read that it was a pre-hormone I sat up.  The more I read the more I realized that I could potential find some relief.  I knew that hormones are so important, especially as we age.  I quickly studied what D I should take...D3.  Ordered the drops.  Next  I ordered via email a D lab test.  I told my Dr to have it waiting for me at the lab.  I didn't bother telling them why.  But I had a feeling it would help me from what I was reading.  D strengthens muscles and moves calcium where it belongs.  And the entire gastro system is dotted with Vitamin D receptors.

I took the test, got the D3 via mail and took it based on my weight.  (At the time I had also developed for 5 months shoulder pain where I could not wash or brush my hair or lift my arms.  And I developed incontinence.  I didn't even bother telling my Drs as they treated me so indifferently)  Within 2 days the shoulder lock up (which was very painful) disappeared and the incontinence disappeared.  I was shocked.  And the LPR took two years to improve to about 92-99%.  I am so grateful I never gave up reading and putting the pieces together.  I now have quality of life if I keep my D levels at 80-90 score.  Latitude, weight, age, skin color can effect significantly D scores.  My ENT says the burn spot is healed, I still have a red throat but I'm not in severe pain like before.  I'm off all medication for LPR.  My Drs don't say much when they asked me what I did to heal the burn spot.  I will never forget how horrible I was treated at my most desperate moment of illness.  It taught me alot about how cold Drs are.

I am so sorry to hear of your ordeal. I have been SUFFERING for almost 3 years now with this ache/burning?lump sensation in my throat. Sometimes I want to gag..others I feel like I have licked a battery on the left side in the buccal area. Very weird. I feel...oppressed and depressed. I can't imagine how this will go for me but day to day is a struggle. I too have lost weight-about 20 lbs and I prefer softer foods and shakes to eat as food gets stuck in my throat and I choke. I think I have a conbo of LPR and cricopharyngeal spasms. I too have been told "it's anxiety/stress" etc. I have mild reflux and a tiny hiatal hernia. But the thing that strikes me, the thing that really sticks out to me is that I had a bout of reflux in my sleep prior to the time I started feeling this hoarse/dry/burning lump sensation . The episode was so bad, I thought I was going to die because I just kept aspirating and vomiting because my body was pushing so hard to get the stomach contents out of my lungs. I constant;y clear my throat now. I really feel like it damaged the nerves that affect the sensations in my throat and even my skin and neck partcularly on the left. I have seen Rheumatology,Gastro -gave me nexium,dexilant,omprazole-all which did nothing. Also saw Dentist and had tooth pulled(didnt help),movement disorder specialist and ent. All minimalize my situation and I just feel like-If they only could feel this sensation in my throat for just one hour let alone every waking hour-they would figure this out or try harder or make me feel like what Im going though is REAL and Im suffering...sorry to ven but, as you know, this is an emotionally taxing thing to go through. My VitD is low and I have neglected to take my supplement. I will be picking that up tomorrow! I hope to hear that your condition is improving-Take care,

Acid and nerve damage...hmmm. I had Upper GI end. after this feeling for a couple weeks. One trip to the ER, where the first question was about anxiety but they could not set my mind at ease with the term "cricopharyngeal spasm" I had to find out for myself on the interwebs.

I have GERD and hiatal hernia confirmed by the endoscopy....oh and a shatski's ring. My upper GI is a mess :) I have always eaten the wrong things at the wrong time and all other things bad for GERD. Plus divorced mom, work injury, disability, 4 kids, school full time, terrible ex and a new full time job...STRESS MUCH? I think the stress just put my already compromised GI over the dang top.

I am curious to see if "nerve damage" has come up in any one else's diagnosis, maybe there is no test or it doesn't really change treatment.

Hello.im spanish girl and i would like to know how many injections in a year are necesary for the cricopharingeal spasm and how many years your mum is taking those injections.thank you very much

i have cricopharyngeal spasm too.cold weather is one of the most triggers for me.

Mandapanda, did you ever get a Vitamin D test? What was your score? Did you ever get your vitamin D score at least to 65-70? How are you doing now? My LPR is so much better. I don't have a cure but by keeping my D score high (70-80ish) has given me between a 92-100% improvement. I recently went down the latitude to Mexico on a cruise and got lots of sun and I had 100% no LPR. And I ate 6 x a day and enjoyed myself. Coffee, wine and good food and dessert everyday. My personal opinion, the sun on the skin does something extra that gives me a total feeling of no LPR. (Since then I now go nude sun bathing 11 minutes on the front and 11 minutes on my back). I've often thought that I need to live down the latitude of the planet to completely reverse LPR and have no symptoms. I live at the 38th latitude and the sun in my latitude only produces D on the skin from mid-April through mid-Sept each year. That means that from Oct thru March I'm not getting the D from the sun to totally eliminate the LPR symptoms. Still the vitamin D pills are life saving and I continue to take D3 based on my weight (35 IU x each pound of weight) and I test once at the end of March and end of Sept to see what my D score is. And I enjoy reading the Grassrootshealth site for the latest research on Vitamin D. I've been very lucky to have stumbled onto this simple, inexpensive but extremely important evolutionary need. And I'm not shutting down my proton pumps with dangerous PPIs. I shudder to think I took the highest doses of PPIs...the only reason I had to stop was that they caused me to get severe pneumonia that would not clear up even with antibiotics. The moment I stopped the PPIs the pneumonia disappeared. I think we are still in the dark ages when it comes to understanding the needs of the body. To think that I avoided the sun since the early 70's, after reading the sun was dangerous shows that one must be careful to change something that is so necessary for life and health. What a big mistake I made for 40 years ago. Now I wonder if 40 years of avoiding the sun and low D levels causes permanent damage that is irreversible.

Maria how is your mom doing now. I am hoping the botox injections will work for me, as well.

As I found it according to my experiences and despite of general belief, Laryngopharyngeal Reflux is not the cause of Cricopharyngeal Spasm. It is quite vice versa.When there is a spasm in your throat it pulls all organs below it and they will have dysfunction. C.S is caused by tightness of extrinsic muscles of neck and it is a postural problem. It is unbalanced extrinsic muscles that make intrinsic muscles unbalanced and eventually cause spasm of internal organs such as esophagus. For  resolving the problem one should stretch the neck muscles specially the muscles of the side of neck and also prevent from having bad posture in head and neck and avoid habits that put pressure on throat(such as putting hand under the chin while sitting and rely upon it).

This common exercise can be of help:

             ·  Sit on a chair

Take your right hand and anchor it onto the chair, so your shoulder doesn’t moveBring your left ear towards the left shoulderWith your free hand apply a little bit of pressure to the right side of your headYou should feel the stretch on your right neck musclesHold for 90 seconds and switch sides

repeat the exercise until you feel the deep muscles of your neck is stretching. At first it stretches superficial muscles and then go to deep layers.   Good luck

Seriously? You read this whole post and that is all you got?
Are you an english professor or just anal? Does it annoy you if I mispell this wurd ?

All,

I feel for all of you. I can sympathize with LPR, lump in the throat, globus, throat clearing amd feeling like my world is ending maybe every 2 weeks as my throat feels like it is being strangled at its worst. Throat/swallowing/breathing discomfort off and on all day, sometimes it will go away for an hour or so. It can happen anytime and anyplace. Sometimes in the car, sometimes at night trying to sleep. I even had fundoplication (stomach) surgery to tighten my lower esophageal valve and repair my hernai after being diagnosed with reflux, most notably LPR. I sometimes want to find the next bridge and........ it is really bad and worse than any pain I have ever had. I am still searching for some answers. Definitely look at FODMAPs - foods that promote/protect against vocal. The surgery did not appear to do much good. Initially I thought it did but I think I was fooled because I had stopped eating and drinking a lot after surgery. The more volume for me, the worse I feel. I wish I had an answer but I am still looking.

Thanks

Hi there, i will keep this as short as possible. I am a 34 yr old male with this globus sensation in my throat. While i am not a full time smoker, im a full time drinker, who on occasion smokes. About 5 months ago, i was on a pretty solid 12 pack buzz with not having any food in my system all day. Needless to say i decided that i didnt wan to feel that way an longer and i jammed my middle finger down my throat in a ridiculous attempt to 'fix' my problem. After gagging for awhile i finally was able to vommit, but only liquid. What i thought was beer coming up was probably bile from my stomach. The next day was a nightmare because i had the feeling of a lump in my throat as well as a sore throat. Now, this is when my brain went into crazy mode. I immediatly assumed throat cancer because of smoking. This continued for a month where i would almost creat an alternate universe to escape to everyday telling myself nothings wrong. Enoughs enough, went to an ENT, stuck a tube down through my nose and looked down at my throat. Your fine is what i was told BUT...there may be something down further that i cant see. So after another few weeks with no relief i decided to have the EDG scope done. Again, no signs of anything wrong. He actually dialated my throat which did absolutly nothing for me as well as putting me on 40 mg of pantoprozole twice a day. So after all this stress and thinkng i was dying, you would think a guy would clean up his act right, wrong!! Back to having a drink or two every night and then on the weekends its party time and lets smoke some more while we do it. Its been 5 months and i still have this sensation and im ready to deal with it. I feel like there is a lump in my throat. I am satisfied that its some kind of spasm and not cancer because it started after i vomited violently and has been there ever since, as well as the fact that when i drink any fluid,..or eat anything,...the feeling disappears completely for like 15 seconds. Im not a doc, and i know nothing of cancer, but my nderstandng of throat cancer imvolving the sensation of a lump is that it would show up and make it increasingly more difficult to swallow. My problem has never kept me from swallowing anything, ever. Some days are worse than others but again never any pain or difficulty swallowing. Im now on the hunt not so much for a cure as ive read there really isnt one but rather how to cope with this until the day ir disappears as ive read it can happen. This is the 5 millionth post ive read on this subject and i hope im getting closer to understanding this. I wish you well and any additional insight would be GREAT!!!!!! Thanks.

I found that chiropractic care lessened the constricting feeling. The lump diminished after herbal relaxants. But I too still get the patch of dry prickles that need immediate water as mentioned earlier. Is that when the reflux occurs?? Also the soft palate feels swollen. I feel like I'm starting to sound different when I talk. My throat is all scratchy. I think this is from deep breathing all the time trying to "catch" my breath. Has anyone had success with breathing treatments?

Hey! I'm 27 y/o F. Your post was 9 months ago -- wondering if you found any relief? I vomited from drinking 8 days ago and the globus sensation started 2 days later. It's only been a week and I'm totally not worried about cancer, but AM worried that it will take months-years to go away, like some cases I've read! It feels fine in the morning but progresses throughout the day. Any advice?

Hey! I'm 27 y/o F. Your post was 9 months ago -- wondering if you found any relief? I vomited from drinking 8 days ago and the globus sensation started 2 days later. It's only been a week and I'm totally not worried about cancer, but AM worried that it will take months-years to go away, like some cases I've read! It feels fine in the morning but progresses throughout the day. Any advice?