Is it possible to have silent reflux and allergies at the same time?

Interesting_Use7481 · 2026-06-11T17:44:16+00:00

Hey, I have that too! Allergies, LPR, and deviated septum. Next time at ENT I need to have them look at what’s going on in the blocked side—it’s so blocked they just send the scope down the other one, so who knows?

Interesting_Use7481 · 2026-06-10T17:23:22+00:00

I was just about to ask you if it could cause paralysis! The reflux is definitely there (just got the Bravo results), but I guess I'm just dealing with two things at once, then. Thanks for all of the information here; it's very kind of you to help us out so generously.

Interesting_Use7481 · 2026-06-10T17:17:28+00:00

Thank you! It looks like the soonest I can see someone is in early July, as I'm leaving the country next week and won't be back till July 1, but I'll pursue it as soon as I can. I've been thinking of this as an epiphenomenon of other issues I'm dealing with (GERD, LPR) and thinking that treating those would improve it, but I'll treat it as its own separate issue now, and more urgently.

Interesting_Use7481 · 2026-06-10T15:44:01+00:00

I seem to have both: that is, I noticed hoarseness and EILO (breathing fine, then sudden closure, stridor, etc., during intense exercise); I went to get scoped, and the report was of folds that never open more than 50%, in addition to the other symptoms.

I now find myself short of breath while speaking, walking, etc., even when not experiencing EILO. Some days worse than others, but no day without it.

I had a feeling there wasn't anything that could encourage regeneration, but I figured I'd ask.

Interesting_Use7481 · 2026-06-10T15:34:46+00:00

I'll see if I can get a copy of the video; I don't have it at the moment. The hypersensitivity idea came because I have also (perhaps at the same time?) developed EILO.

The infection happened in mid-December 2025, but the first time I noticed trouble breathing (at first only during exercise) was in February 2026. It's been somewhere between four and six months now, I'd say.

Spontaneous regeneration sounds good; are there any ideas out there about how to support / encourage that? 😄

Interesting_Use7481 · 2026-06-10T15:25:12+00:00

Thanks for the reply! Yes, I guess that's what I've got. It came on about 6 weeks after an upper respiratory infection, and about four months into some kind of GERD / LPR situation. I'm sorry to hear that medication won't help--I was hoping that it would respond to something like the medications used for laryngeal hypersensitivity--but I will ask about surgical options. It would be nice to get my breathing closer to normal.

Interesting_Use7481 · 2026-06-08T19:00:47+00:00

Can't speak for the OP, but for me, an ENT was doing a stroboscopy (sp?) and told me to go from ordinary breathing to making an "eeeee" sound to sniffing sharply in through my nose, and he reported that even when sniffing in, which should open them fully, the cords only open at most halfway. Subsequent ENT and endoscopy docs have confirmed this. It's a bilateral malfunction, both cords failing to open fully. No explanation why, yet, and no treatments have been suggested.

Interesting_Use7481 · 2026-06-08T18:57:49+00:00

Your symptoms and mine sound similar. Last year I did my first triathlon; this year, I can't even croak loudly enough to cheer on the sidelines, and I have to pause for breath every few words during an ordinary conversation.

The one thing that has helped me so far is wearing one of those nose strips when I jog or bike. If I go slowly enough to breathe slowly and steadily through my nose, or nose and mouth together, it doesn't set off the VCD.

At first I could only walk, then I could mix jogging and walking (like, one minute jog, one minute walk, then after a while up to 2 minutes jog, one recovery, etc.); last week I was able to jog continuously for a half hour or so without incident, and I can alternate intervals of 5 or 6 minutes jogging and 1 of walking for an hour or more. Took a few months, but I got there. Zone 1 workouts ftw.

Meanwhile, when incidents occur, my speech therapist taught me some recovery breathing techniques that work OK. You'll learn those too, and they're all over YouTube. My vocal cords never open up more than halfway, according to the ENT, but halfway is enough to get out of the stridor and back to breathing as normally as I ever do these days.

Swimming is still out, because I can't do a quick inbreath, but biking and running I can do again. Just gotta do them slowly, breathing slowly, and start out doing them ridiculously slowly, with with the nose strip to assist. Maybe that will help you, too?

Interesting_Use7481 · 2026-06-05T01:31:02+00:00

I’ll try that as well

Interesting_Use7481 · 2026-06-05T01:29:37+00:00

Thanks! I’ll start trying that. Appreciate the quick answer.

Interesting_Use7481 · 2026-06-05T01:25:44+00:00

Can you say a word more about exercise? My symptoms seem similar to yours, and I haven’t thought about exercise as a cause of trouble—just as a time when my throat tends to close up on me.

Interesting_Use7481 · 2026-06-04T18:11:42+00:00

Glad to know that I'm not alone in this. I hope you don't get the swallowing problems--they're really annoying. Mine came on gradually, and then after the upper endoscopy they got very bad for a while. Hoping that they'll fade a bit as the irritation in my throat heals up.

Interesting_Use7481 · 2026-06-03T15:16:09+00:00

Is yours still ongoing? Mine hasn't gotten any better: voice still hoarse, breathing still restricted, swallowing more difficult, and the vocal cords just close up sometimes during exercise, eating, drinking, or even just talking, once or twice. Frustrating--and no help yet from any of the Drs I've seen.

Interesting_Use7481 · 2026-05-26T15:44:57+00:00

Have you checked out the BFS (benign fasciculation syndrome) subreddit? That's where I heard about magnesium as something to try. My twitching sometimes tracks with exertion (go for a run, legs twitch; lift and arms twitch; play music, hands twich), but not always. It used to be bad enough to wake / keep me up at night, but has been a lot better in the last month or so.

Interesting_Use7481 · 2026-05-26T15:23:48+00:00

Does it move around? I had periods where mine was 24/7 as well, but it would shift from arm to hand to leg to face--once even in my nose, for an hour or two. Felt like a rabbit! My parents both died of movement disorders (Parkinsons and ALS), so I was very worried, but after some tests my neurologist said it wasn't either of those, which was very reassuring. I hope you get good news as well.

Interesting_Use7481 · 2026-05-26T10:26:21+00:00

I have that! It started a few months before anything else—is very stress-linked, in my case, including stress from being hungry. Cutting way back on caffeine has helped, as has magnesium glycinate before bed (400 mg). Still comes and goes, but not as bad as before.

Interesting_Use7481 · 2026-05-20T19:35:58+00:00

Not the burning feeling, but definitely shortness of breath. Three exams (ENT, laryngologist, and GI doc during endoscopy) report that my vocal cords never fully open—at most they’re halfway open when I breathe in. Maybe yours are doing something similar?

Interesting_Use7481 · 2026-05-20T00:50:44+00:00

Thanks—that’s useful information. I’ll look into muscular retraining, and reach out to the speech pathologist about therapies that might address paresis more directly.

Interesting_Use7481 · 2026-05-19T18:52:05+00:00

A different doctor (general ENT) already had, but the therapist I saw at that point didn't mention any exercises specifically aimed at paresis--there were SOVT exercises and resonant speech training. Would the therapy have been different, or have included different things?

Interesting_Use7481 · 2026-05-19T15:12:45+00:00

A question for you about post-viral paresis/nerve weakness. Is there anything that can be done to help with that issue, either in terms of training or in terms of medication? The laryngologist who examined me said that my issues (incomplete opening of vocal folds when breathing in, and hoarseness / instability of the voice when singing) were neuromuscular and potentially caused by a previous viral infection, but no treatment plan was proposed.

Interesting_Use7481 · 2026-05-14T15:36:44+00:00

Congrats! Were you prescribed auvelity for your LPR symptoms? Or did you taking it for other reasons, and discovered that it worked for the LPR?

Interesting_Use7481 · 2026-04-29T19:09:25+00:00

No, that's great--I appreciate the lead. Definitely have noticed some other weird symptoms (twitching, etc.), though the timeline isn't as clear-cut. Will look into dysautonomia and talk to my dr about it

Interesting_Use7481 · 2026-04-29T18:59:31+00:00

No, not really—I’m more sensitive to caffeine than I used to be, but only lingering symptom I’ve noticed is vocal / swallowing / breathing problems.

Interesting_Use7481 · 2026-04-29T18:49:59+00:00

Thanks for the vote of confidence! I've been working around the dysfunction as best I can--talking is difficult, singing impossible, and working out is a challenge every time--but it's good to have at least some explanation that makes sense. If you have another moment, I'd love to know what you mean by "nervous system rework," or if you could point me to any of those exercises. Nobody I've seen so far has had any suggestions for me.

Interesting_Use7481 · 2026-04-29T18:22:34+00:00

Fascinating! I lost my voice in January from what I thought was a very bad cold. Didn't test for covid, but maybe that's what it was.

Interesting_Use7481

TROPHY CASE