[shafyy]

Slighly related, but maybe somebody here has some tips: I've had a sore throat for months. And initially they thought it's from GERD, but it does not appear to be. Checks showed no other issues wiht my oesophagus or stomach. Did anybody experience something like this before?

[jmcgough]

Have you been coughing? Any new life changes since onset of symptoms, like a new pet / house / job?

Most common causes of chronic sore throat are allergies or a chronic cough. Also consider environmental irritants, smoking, or dry mouth (like from snoring). I'd also think LPR ("silent GERD") but sounds like they ruled that out. I assume they examined you for bacterial injection like strep.

[shafyy]

Not been coughing. Not a smoker. Not a snorer (according to my partner). New job, yes, but it's a remote job.

My current suspicion is also environmental irritants, since we have been storing some strong smelling cleaning agents in our office / storage for a client since about that time. We will clear out the storage in January, so let's see if this changes anything.

Did not know about LRP. Doctors ruled out any ulcers or anatomical problems with LES, but it could still be something like this... I'll look into it, thanks!

[glimshe]

How do you know it's not GERD? I had what you described. Took 2 months of careful eating and Omeprazole to get rid of... Doctor did a throat/nose endoscopy but couldn't see anything, so he diagnosed based on symptoms alone.

[shafyy]

I mean it's hard to rule out GERD 100%. But I did try careful eating and Omeprazole (and other PPI) for a few months, too, and it did not get better. Did you notice gradual improvement or did it just go away one day?

[glimshe]

It remained unchanged for a while. Or it would get a bit better, worse, better, worse but never worse than when it started. After a while, there was a "miracle week" where it felt better and didn't come back. I don't remember doing anything special on that week, but I was making tweaks on my eating habits pretty frequently in the hope that something worked. I'm fairly convinced I stumbled upon the winning combination for food, but it's impossible to be sure. One significant change in my eating habits was introducing green/black tea after lunch and reducing coffee.

[shafyy]

Intersting, thanks for sharing! For me it's also better a few days, than worse a few days, and I can't figure out why. Does not seem directly correlated to food or alcohol (sometimes I drink a few beer and feel great the next few days, and then I don't drink alcohol for a week and it gets worse). I also cut out coffee for 2 months and did not see any effect. I eat plant-based and mostly cook at home, not much fatty foods.

For how long did you have the sore throat in total, do you remember?

[glimshe]

Around 6 months. I didn't experience a very direct correlation with food either. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure why it went away, I just know that I kept tweaking things until it did. One thing I also tried was changing my sleep position, which affects silent reflux. As with the food, not sure if this had a role in the remission.

Some people suggest an allergy component. The seasons changed and other allergies improved. The throat got better roughly at the same time as the allergies, but could be a coincidence. We know so little about our bodies...

[shafyy]

Thanks! Yes, so hard to say how things are correlated... Interestingly, my throat has been feeling better the last few days. Anyways, I'll keep trying stuff, your comments were already very helpful. Thank you, again!

[yukinon]

Do you snore? Alternatively, do you have post-nasal drip from a new allergy?

[shafyy]

I don't snore. What do you mean by "post-nasal drip"? I do have allergies to environmental stuff like dust and hay fever, and my nose is running / sneezing from this. Some weeks more, some weeks less. But it's not new, I've had that for years. Do you think this could be related?

[yukinon]

I am not an anything, but allergies can cause inflammation in your nasal passages, which results in post-nasal drip. Post-nasal drip is where you get a lot of mucus being produced that drips down the back of your throat, which can make you cough or get a sore throat. It's pretty bad when you're lying down and asleep.

For me, when I have to deal with seasonal allergies, if I am feeling particularly bad that night, I will take an allergy pill to make sure I don't wake up with a sore throat.

[shafyy]

Very interesting, nobody mentioned this to me before. I'll try and see if there's a correlation in my case. Thanks!

[djmips]

Also some BP medication that are ACE inhibitors cause cough.

[shafyy]

Thanks, I don't take BP medication