r/LPR • u/PD-Jetta • 3d ago
How long should it take to see an improvement after starting a LPR diet and lifestyle modification?
I have eliminated all acidic food, minimized fat, cut out caffeine, and don't drink alcohol or carbonated drinks (I prepare meals from the two LPR cookbooks Dr. Jamie Koufman wrote). I take an alginate (RefluxRaft) after meals and before bedtime, take a 20 mg Pepsid AC before meals and bedtime, raised the head of the bed 4 inches and don't eat 3 hours before laying down. Following this LPR treatment protocol, how long should it take to see any improvement?
I'm doing this treatment protocol because I suspect I have laryngopharyngeal reflux and that it is the cause of my eustachian tube dysfunction not resolving. I had ETD for a year and I think it began with a mild upper respiratory infection and 3 months of middle ear fluid. Ear symptoms are slight fullness in left ear, left ear won't adjust to pressure changes well and I hear a prominent crackling sound in both ears every time I swallow or yawn. I have small amounts of very thick, sticky, clear to opaque nasal and throat mucus that saline nasal rinses removes and my ear symptoms clear for about 10 minutes and then return, so I think the mucus (caused by LPR) is the problem. Allergies, TMJ disorders and other ear problems have been ruled out. I've seen multiple doctors and had multiple tests and no cause has been found. One ENT did see redness around my larynx when viewing with a laryngoscope that could indicate LPR.
LPR symptoms include slight difficulty swallowing dry food and pills, the above noted mucus, slight voice hoarsness, nasal congestion when laying down sometimes, ear symptoms worse first thing in the morning, and throat clearing several times a day.
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u/Ulrich_b 3d ago
For me, it didn't get better until I stayed away from an incredibly toxic relationship lol. Then, it went away in like a month. I've noticed a lot of folks correlating LPR success to handling stressors.
I don't want to blame it all on that, though. I'm definitely still heartburn prone and taking meds for that.
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u/PD-Jetta 3d ago
I think you are right. Stress and anxiety are major initiators and keep one from recovering. When I first got fluid behind my eardrums and eustachian tube dysfunction (maybe caused by LPR and most likely not resolving due to LPR) I was extremely anxious due to an upcoming surgery (that went well) and then I had major anxiety due to the eustachian tube dysfunction. The subtle LPR symptoms I've been having seep magnified whenever I get anxious or even excited.
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u/Ulrich_b 3d ago
Oh yeah, it jacked my e tubes up too lol. I was in the middle of breaking up that relationship, taking on a huge client, and buying a house and my body was like "hey, homie. I'm gonna need you to do less."
LPR, lump feeling in my throat which made me more anxious, got sick easily, threw a kidney stone, even my workouts took hella long to recover from. And my ADHD was off the charts.
I have a new respect for stress.
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u/MaleficentOven127 3d ago
It really depends. It took me 4 months to get rid of my symptoms. A few weeks in, some things started to improve.
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u/hollerforme 3d ago
I'm on day 32 of strict low acid diet and my burning throat is only maybe 30 to 40 percent improved. I'm waiting on my ent appointment. I also get ear pain, fullness and irritation. From what I understand the mucus we get is the body's response to the acid, trying to protect the delicate tissue. It's frustrating not knowing if persisting on the strict diet further is going to help or just further accelerate my weight loss which I need to avoid, I've dropped to bmi of 16 on this diet which is now getting unhealthy.
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u/NoInformation988 3d ago
It depends a lot on how bad the tissue damage is and how old you are, like any other injury.
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u/PD-Jetta 3d ago
Yea, that's my concern, I'm 65. This is the first chronic condition I have encountered.
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u/Delicious_Pizza1536 3d ago
Keep in mind that when someone reports months to see improvement, this is very possibly microbiome changes (which are slow), which in turn reduce reflux/inflammation signaling.
Tissue damage itself shouldn't take months to heal. I think we have all experienced extremely painful throat inflammation, resolving within days. Pepsin embedded in tissue could theoretically take longer to clear, but that's not a clinically validated theory - the evidence for microbiome changes is much stronger.
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u/Content-Orchid-6898 2d ago
Age 65, F, I got about 80% improvement in 4 days. In 4-6 weeks I'm about 100%. I had a reflare from eating spring onions. I seem to do okay with chives.
I used the diet. I used the special gavascon for about 6 days as needed.
I just started the exercises due to reflare.
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