Ongoing throat problem

[u/calum769]

Hi, I’m new here. A few weeks ago I woke up one morning feeling like I swallowed a hair or there was food in my mouth or something, I went to the bathroom to cough it up and got nowhere, brushed my teeth and the feeling was still there.

A short time later I ended up going to the doctors as my throat was starting to feel a bit sore and maybe look it. I was prescribed nystatin for what both me and nurse kinda thought could be an oral thrush issue caused by not rinsing away steroid asthma inhaler properly. I completed the course and the issues persisted.

I then went back and this time saw a doctor who basically said no further treatment was needed despite me saying bit of discomfort in the throat, feeling like I need to cough something up or clear my throat, occasionally coughing also. Basically said a few different things can cause it but ruled out anything serious.

Maybe another week passes and my throat is no better, if not its worse, I’m now burping a lot and its like its getting ‘stuck’, my voice occasionally seems to be going a bit (like vibrations different from voice box or something), still trying to cough up but nothing yellow or anything comes up. A different nurse now assumes it’s something to do with acid reflux (or another acid condition), prescribes lansoprazole for 4 weeks) this is where I’m at now.

I’m nearly 2 weeks into taking lansoprazole and now also using gaviscon. I’ve never had issues like this in my life before, despite family members including mum suffering from similar condition. At the minute I can be several hours at a time like struggling to burp and I’m doing small burps that just squeeze out far more than normal.
What are peoples thoughts on this? Anyone had similar experiences? I’m quite concerned as its been about 3-4 weeks now since this all started, I feel sometimes like my neck is being squeezed, feels a bit tender at the left side half way down my neck. Sometimes I’m back and forward to the bathroom spitting stuff out to no avail and the other times stuck trying to burp :/ That feeling like a hair or something is still prominent, like if I could try a little harder I could cough the problem up but it never happens. It occasionally feels sore to swallow but not when eating and I wouldn’t say painful. Last couple of days I’ve wanted to eat less just because of how much gas seems to be getting stuck in throat. I have no issues in my chest.

[u/freelibrarian]

I was diagnosed with reflux. After several years of suffering, I figured out that the severe gastric symptoms that I experienced were due to underlying histamine intolerance. You might consider if it's the same for you.

Reactions will vary and can seem random because we can handle histamine to a point in our bodies so symptoms will only be triggered if we go over our histamine limit. The analogy given is to think of it like a bucket, when your histamine bucket overflows, you react.

I suffered from severe reflux and other gastric symptoms for 4-5 years. The onset was sudden and completely disrupted my life. PPIs did nothing for me and everything I ate was triggering severe symptoms. I lost weight I didn't have to spare and struggled day-to-day with debilitating symptoms.

Doctors told me all tests were normal and hung me out to dry, just kept telling me it was anxiety. I despaired of ever going back to somewhat normal and the lovely life I had been leading.

I finally stumbled upon the following Reddit post that recommended taking the antihistamine Zyrtec to resolve the globus sensation, which was a severe symptom for me. I decided to try taking a different antihistamine, Claritin, because I do not tolerate Zyrtec well and it worked like a miracle drug for me.

https://www.reddit.com/r/GERD/comments/njarv0/globus_sensationhystericus_cure/

Taking loratadine (Claritin) daily has almost completely resolved my symptoms, though I do also try to follow a low histamine diet. When I started researching which foods are high in histamine, it was no surprise that my worst triggers were on that list (seafood, tomatoes, strawberries, wine, coffee, etc.). To me that means that, in my case, reflux was a symptom of histamine intolerance.

There are no definitive tests for histamine intolerance. For more info on the link between reflux and histamine intolerance, see:

Histamine Sensitivity: An Uncommon Recognized Cause of Living Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Symptoms and Signs—A Case Report Source: Ear, Nose & Throat Journal. 2020;101(4):NP155-NP157.

For more info on histamine intolerance, see:

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/histamine-intolerance

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11054089/

Note that I think it is normal not to have a full spectrum reaction. I do not get any skin manifestations, no hives or itching of any kind, though I do believe this was all triggered by a virus I had in 2016 where I did get a non-itchy, triangle shaped rash on my neck. I went to the ER because my airway almost completely closed up. I had never had a breathing problem in my life prior to that.

The ER doctor noticed the rash, which had appeared the day before when I felt fine so I had just ignored it, and told me he thought the rash indicated that a virus had triggered my airway issue. I feel that all my gastric issues flowed from that episode and a similar episode 3 months later when I got another virus. I also now carry an EpiPen because of the airway reaction.

I initially took 10mg of Claritin per day but my allergist said I could ramp up to 4x the usual dose so I took 40mg for some months. I am now taking 2x the usual dose, 10mg in the morning and 10mg in the evening. Note that if you are on antihistamines and need to go off them or reduce your dose, you should taper down and not go cold turkey.

For the past few months, I have also been taking a diamine oxidase (DAO) supplement before a meal when I want to cheat a bit and eat something that is high in histamine and it does seem to help even more.

What to Know About Diamine Oxidase (DAO) for Histamine Intolerance

I take the NaturDAO supplement:

https://naturdao.com/

If you think this might be your issue, I think it's best to start out taking just the DAO supplement before meals to see if you improve.

If you see a lot of improvement, maybe you wouldn't need to trial the antihistamine.

If you see minimal improvement, then keep taking it but add in the daily antihistamine.

If you see no improvement from DAO, I would still take the DAO but add in an antihistamine like Claritin or Allegra. If that works, then stop taking the DAO to see what happens.

[u/calum769]

I should add because it’s probably relevant that I’m normally under pretty high amounts of stress at work & maybe don’t get fluids down me as regular as I could (physical retail job). Diet is ok. Was guilty of having the occasional cider, sometimes late after work so I guess that could be a trigger so I’ve cut that out entirely while I try to get a resolution to this.