What are some of the things this could be [medical diagnosis]

In My Humble Opinion
1

What are some of the things this could be and what questions should I ask my doctor and get checked out.

My wife and I are at a lost of what this symptom is or even called that alone what could be causing this.

For the past week I have been getting a lot of Heartburn ( burning sensation and acid) in the laryngeal area and I’m even belching now and then in the day!! And having problems sleeping at night because of this.

  • continuing swallowing when I’m having a bad episode (swallowing every 10 seconds)
    -some times eating seems to pushes it down!!
    -acid and some times water by the upper esophagus!!
    -feel like stomach acid,water or vomit may come up!!
    When I lay down or slouch it makes it worse!! It is better when I stand or walk!!

Some web sites say GERD but I have no burning or pain by the chest or stomach or acid by the chest or stomach!!

And my symptoms I have called GERD is NOT in the chest or stomach but the laryngeal area!!

I’m concern it may be some thing more serious but the doctor may dispatch this only GERD problem or stomach contents that back up into the esophagus. And say take some acid pills.

If I can know of some of the things that could cause the symptoms I’m having and what tests to talk about with the doctor.

If some people here believe that my symptoms sound like it could be inflammation of laryngeal or inflammation of the esophagus or ulcer,infection,peptic ulcer, hiatal hernia, achalasia , Barrett’s Esophagus or some thing else more of a concern.

I hate the idea of a endoscopy done on me if an ultrasound device and neck x-ray could pick up any thing of what is wrong with me.

I’m concern the doctor may dispatch this only GERD problem and say take acid pills and if it gets bad than come back and see me.

I’m concern it may be some thing more serious like inflammation,ulcer,infection,hiatal hernia or worse. Some thing closing or blocking so on.

I’m also afraid when push comes to shove with the doctor is going to push Endoscopy on me over an ultrasound device and neck x-ray.

I don’t know if an ultrasound device and neck x-ray can pick up more serious things like inflammation,ulcer,infection,Hiatal Hernia or some thing closing or blocking so on or even worse.

2

Is this the first you have had this? Have you introduced any new foods into your diet? Any new chemicals in the house?

3

Yes this is first time having this. I’m having the same foods and other people are not having this problem.

My concern the doctor may dispatch this problem only GERD problem or Laryngopharyngeal reflux problem where some other things should be ruled out first.

And reading on GERD the medical symptoms normally in stomach and chest not laryngeal area.

Well the Laryngopharyngeal reflux problem is normally upper esophageal sphincter area but the symptoms don’t match what I have.

•** Sore throat
• Hoarse voice
• Trouble swallowing
• Coughing
• Persistent nausea and vomiting

Excessive throat clearing, Persistent cough,Hoarseness,“lump” in the throat that doesn’t go away with repeated swallowing, Trouble swallowing,Sore throat , postnasal drip.**

Where I have none of this in bold.

4

IANAD, but would suggest trying, one at a time: (1) antacids such as Tums (2) antacid and anti-gas such as Mylanta (3) proton pump inhibitor such as Nexium. The first two are readily available. Nexium used to be prescription-only, but I believe it’s now available OTC.

Taken as directed, these are generally low-risk. After a week or so, if none of them work satisfactorily, or you have unpleasant side effects, then see a doctor. You will then have more information for him/her to go on to help decide what’s wrong, if anything.

5

I kept getting bouts of indigestion and occasional acid reflux, not necessarily often, but sometimes lasting for more than the odd day (which might be accounted for by something to do with what I’d eaten). I just happened to mention it to the doctor during a routine review, and then he organised a whole series of tests (from an embarrassing sample to ultrasound to - ultimately - an endoscopy), to rule out ulcers/helicobacter, Barrett’s disease and the fortunately remote chance of oesophageal cancer before the endoscopy revealed a small hiatus hernia*, too small to justify an operation, and the consequences (so far) controllable with a protein pump inhibitor (rather than relying on OTC antacids).

Moral: if it’s not obviously linked to something you’ve eaten, go to the doctor rather than trying guesswork to diagnose yourself.

*The hospital kindly gave me a copy of the photos of my innards to prove it.

6

Could be heart attack symptoms. Suggest you get this checked out asap.

7

sweat209, I’ve edited your thread title to make it more descriptive.

On a personal note, get it checked out, and good luck.

8

So the only way to rule out ulcers,helicobacter,Barrett’s disease, cancer or hiatus hernia is by endoscopy? A neck x-ray and ultrasound can not show this?

9

That is lot of problem I fear with some of these doctors to today they are too fast to jump on the downplaying of the problem than doing detective work.

Like I say I’m concern it may be some thing more serious but the doctor is going to down play problem and say take acid pills and if it gets worse come back and see me.

I don’t want to say may be I should get check out for infection,peptic ulcer or hiatal hernia where the doctor may say that would not cause the symptoms I have. Where others here may say helicobacter,Barrett’s disease,inflammation or some thing closing or blocking so on may be cussing those symptoms. And the doctor agree to do tests to rule it out.

Or the doctor to say to rule out ulcers,helicobacter,Barrett’s disease, cancer or hiatus hernia you need a endoscopy.

A biopsy, bowel sample or endoscopy not pretty.

Not sure if neck x-ray and ultrasound would show this or a good chance the doctor is going to jump on the bowel sample or endoscopy thing.

10

Stop trying to out doctor the doctor!

Don’t make assumptions about what he’ll do and why. You’re not a doctor! You’re going to get a professionals opinion, you’d be wise to keep your mind open, and let him decide what to do next.

It’s unlikely to go well if you fill yourselves with fears, assumptions and misconceptions first. You’ll likely end up frustrated, stressed and second guessing everything. If you ask the right questions he may take the time to educate you as to what his experience and education tell him to look for next.

Tell him what you fear. He may allay those fears, With information you currently don’t have. You should give him the opportunity, I think.

I’m just sayin’, if you keep an open mind going in, you could learn something and come out a more informed patient. How could that hurt?

11

For me GERD manifests as nausea and/or burning in the throat with a cough caused by the irritation. I never feel it in the chest, and for a very long time was baffled that it’s called “heart” burn due to that.

12

It is not uncommon to not feel burning in the chest area at all and still have GERD. In fact, it’s likely that you have GERD.

You probably feel like you have a stricture because of the inflammation and irritation of the acid reflux.

Home treatment you can start now (so you can tell your doc you’re doing these things): Don’t eat anything for several hours before bed. Drink lots of water throughout the day (it helps to reduce acid). Cut way down on acidic foods, fried foods, and caffeine. Stop drinking soda. Stop drinking alcohol. Raise the head of the bed.

Take something like Prilosec or Prevacid (both are over the counter). You can also try something like Zantac (also over the counter). Read the labels to be sure that you don’t have any contraindications.

Statistically, GERD is the most likely cause of your symptoms, so it makes sense for a doctor to treat for that first. It’s highly unlikely that you have Barret’s esophagus – people tend to get that after years of untreated GERD. Treatment for an ulcer is generally conservative these days, and involve the same medications as for GERD. H. pylori is the bacteria that is linked to ulcers – again, treated with medication.
If dietary and lifestyle changes, plus medication don’t work, THEN the doctor looks for more.

I’ve had GERD for 25 years, and only needed to have an upper endoscopy last year. Medications kept everything fine for that long. No ulcer, no Barret’s, no webbing, nada. I had a minor narrowing of the esophageus due to eosinophilic esophagitis. This is because I’ve got the fun combination of food allergies plus GERD.

13

Also, the point in taking the antacid medication, and even the proton pump inhibitor, for a week or two before seeing the doctor, is so you can tell the doctor you’ve already tried these and they’re not working.

But you don’t know that, since you’re not trying them. Why would you want to go around so uncomfortable when these meds may give you some - and possibly total - relief? There’s also the possibility you’re causing more damage by not mitigating current acid damage.

If it’s ulcers, not medicating right now with the meds you have OTC available to you, you’re just making them worse. One of the treatments for ulcers is - hey, whaddaya know - taking a proton pump inhibitor (omeprazole) like Prilosec or Prevacid.

Sure, it’s remotely possible you have something else going on. Your doctor will very likely still tell you to start with the antacids and/or proton pump inhibitors to see if those alleviate symptoms. If you’re overweight, your doctor will also likely recommend some weight loss as that can contribute to acid reflux.

14
  • 100 to what SeaDragonTattoo said.
15

Since no one has mentioned it I’ll suggest that it may be GERD. Having had this happen to me occasionally I can tell you that simple antacids may be all you need, but it doesn’t hurt to try and figure out more about the cause. Also, once it starts it can seem to get worse because your gullet is getting repeatedly burned by the acid. Once you stop the reflux the tissue will heal for a while a recurrence won’t feel so bad.

16

Some days seem to be better than other days for me.

One of the big feels of a endoscopy is it is very uncomfortable and you want to gag and throw up.

Also the drink that you have to drink before you have a endoscopy tastes really bad and you can throw up because of the bad taste.

17

You get drugs for that. Tell them you have a sensitive gag reflex.

Your posts don’t make sense. You don’t want to take medications that will help, and you don’t want to undergo the procedure that would diagnose a reason to take those meds.

Why, again, won’t you take the meds that will help and certainly won’t hurt or make you toss your cookies, even?

18

I’ve had an endoscopy and didn’t have to drink anything before the procedure. Also I was under light anesthesia and don’t recall anything at all from during it.

19

You’re obsessed with the endoscopy.

You aren’t likely to need one. And if you do get one, you are under “light sedation”. You won’t remember a thing.

There’s nothing to drink before an upper endoscopy, that’s the lower endoscopy.

20

Do you think this may be related to the recent strict diet your wife forced you on, that you lost 55 pounds on in 6 months but that you were sure was the cause of your bones making sounds, that you were sure had made your bones brittle? That you had been on apparently already for four months before you wondered if starting a strict diet would help your popping joints? Or the fact that despite having described yourself once as lactose intolerant you then in another thread discussed how much cheese and dairy you were eating to help with your self-diagnosed brittle thin bones? Or the arthritis you were sure you had? Or your constipation from using the treadmill?

Thin brittle bones with joints that snap having recent lost more weight in a six month period than most do while on medically supervised very low calorie diets but was considering starting months after claimed it began, having been lactose intolerant and then claiming to be eating lots of dairy of various sorts, constipated from treadmill use, and now with GERD symptoms (!!!), often written in English poorer than non-health related posts you write and with needless exclamation marks … with really only real theme - reluctance to actually see a doctor, refusing to accept any answers you get, and in advance reluctance to believe what a doctor might say.

I wonder what the proper diagnosis is?